Disrupting the Single Story: Challenging Dominant Trauma Narratives Through a Critical Race Lens

The links between individual and structural racism and trauma are insubstantial in the trauma literature. Drawing on a few of the tenets of critical race theory (CRT), the ordinariness of racism, differential racialization, and counterstorytelling narratives, this article provides a brief history of CRT and makes connections between CRT and trauma-informed practices. The authors position CRT as a useful vehicle in more intentionally linking trauma work to discussions of race and racism. They offer a perspective about ways to begin explicit conversations about race, racism, and Whiteness in the context of trauma work. This article addresses a gap in the trauma literature that does not take up racial oppression as a form of "trauma" and ultimately disrupts the trauma narrative by centering race, racism and whiteness.