Mediating adolescents' insights into shared traumatic experiences through drawings

[摘要] Drawings as mediators of communication are utilised in multiple contexts across national andcultural divides. The value of drawings in eliciting meaning that transcends the boundaries ofwords has been documented for centuries. In educational practice, drawings are utilised in awide range of settings, ranging from therapeutic to psycho-educational assessment, disclosurein forensic and sexual abuse cases, and for artistic expression. Furthermore, researchconfirms the usefulness of drawings in empowering marginalised populations from aparticipatory action-research stance. Using drawing in research to mediate communication ina group context when studying adolescent perceptions of a traumatic event has not beenexplored extensively in South Africa. This study therefore sought to explore adolescents'experiences of a shared traumatic incident as facilitated through their drawings. The researchprocess set out to answer the following research question: What insights regardingadolescents' experiences of a shared traumatic incident can be gained from using drawing in agroup context?This investigation is underpinned by an eco-systemic theoretical perspective whichrecognises the influence of the community in the experiences of its individual members. TheAfrican concept of ubuntu, meaning whatever happens to the individual happens to thewhole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual, thusinforms the research. Within the context of psychoanalytical theory in trauma research,international literature acknowledges that families and communities are important resourcesto help bring about healing. The findings of this study confirm that the dynamic interactionbetween personal factors and interpersonal factors relating to one's peers, family andcommunity influence how individual and collective experiences are shaped and assimilated.The findings of the study led me to conclude that drawing became a non-confrontationalfacilitator for traumatised participants to express difficult feelings that may otherwise havebeen silenced. Furthermore, in addition to self-expression, the co-analysing of drawings in agroup context created opportunities for collective remembrance. Its potential to empowermarginalised populations such as the adolescent participants in this study to express theirviews on social injustice also emerged. The study's findings could serve as a motivator forfurther investigation of drawings as mediators of communication in a variety of traumarelatededucational settings.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University