Grants help prepare for program that helps veterans and others affected by trauma

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Faculty members in Marshall University’s College of Liberal Arts have received three grants to support a new program of training, coursework and outreach that will be offered during the 2021-22 academic year connecting the classics with outlets to help veterans and others cope with traumatic experiences.

Dr. Christina Franzen, an associate professor of classics, and Dr. Robin Riner, an associate professor of anthropology, will coordinate the “The Wars Within, The Wars Without: Lucan’s Civil War in Modern Veterans’ Eyes” program, with assistance from Dr. Kimberly White, an assistant professor of social work, and Dr. Chris White, a professor of history.

The program facilitates public discussions of Lucan’s Civil War, an epic poem about the civil war between Pompey and Caesar at Rome in 49 BCE. It will be supplemented by memoir, fiction, poetry and works from philosophy, history, religious studies and anthropology, to help victims of trauma — particularly military veterans and active duty military — reflect on contemporary war and its aftermath. The project uses humanities texts that address military conflicts throughout history to help bridge the experiences of veterans of earlier conflicts, veterans of recent and ongoing conflicts, and active duty military.

The project will develop a three-day training program for student veterans who will serve as discussion leaders, and it will include five public discussion groups for veterans and the general public, to be led by the student discussion leaders held in various locations throughout West Virginia.

Franzen and Riner say they hope to convey that the humanities in general and classics in particular can serve as at least one tool for coping with traumatic experiences.

In describing the potential benefits of the program, Franzen referred to Bryan Doerries, the founder of “Theater of War,” which presents ancient Greek tragedies to veterans. According to Doerries, ancient literature “can help us face some of the most complex issues of our time, shedding light on universal human experiences, illuminating the moral and spiritual dimensions of trauma and loss.”

“Reading aloud, journaling, discussing and explicating Lucan’s Civil War as a collective, learning some key Latin vocabulary and syntax, and learning Stoic philosophy will become an exercise in the transformative power of the humanities and especially classics in West Virginia,” Franzen said.

The course is supported by a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council in the amount of $16,299, and a $1,250 Classics Everywhere Initiative grant from the Society for Classical Studies. The project also received a Marshall University Hedrick Program for Teaching Innovation grant in the amount of $5,000.

Anyone interested in participating can e-mail Franzen at franzen@marshall.edu or Riner at conleyr@marshall.edu. The program will run during the academic year 2021-2022, but they are running a pilot course this fall 2020, for those who would like to enroll.

Contact: Jean Hardiman, University Relations Specialist, 304-696-6397, jean.hardiman@marshall.edu

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