"Conflicting Trauma: Collaborative Uptake of Complex PTSD" by Ana Cooke

Contemporary public discourse is increasingly shaped by conflicts surrounding how “expert” or “technical” knowledge circulates within and through “popular” or vernacular discourse communities online. This talk addresses the literate and rhetorical practices that shape those circulations by exploring how a controversial trauma diagnosis (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or C-PTSD) is taken up in online forums.  Ana Cooke uses this case to explore how knowledge viewed as “controversial” within technical discourses is taken up through collective reading and knowledge curation, personal writing, and the structuring and sedimentation of online space.

Cooke is an assistant professor of English at Penn State. Her work focuses on how networked media shapes public and professional discourses, particularly in collaborative online environments.