The Daily Free Press: Incoming Assistant Professor Gómez Introduces New Book on Cultural Betrayal Trauma Theory
Last week’s Equity & Inclusion Speaker Series event featured BUSSW incoming assistant professor Jennifer M. Gómez, who led a virtual presentation and discussion on her forthcoming book, “Cultural Betrayal: From Violent Silencing to Healing from Sexual Abuse for Black Women & Girls.” The book focuses on Dr. Gómez’s research on cultural betrayal trauma theory (CBTT), which describes the unique impact of interpersonal trauma on marginalized individuals.
Boston University’s independent student newspaper The Daily Free Press shared highlights from the virtual event, including thoughts from Assistant Professor Daniel Jacobson López, the event moderator, and event attendees Corinne Beaugard, a doctoral candidate at BUSSW, and Professor Ellen DeVoe, the School’s associate dean for research.
Excerpted from “New book addressing cultural betrayal and sexual abuse for Black women and children introduced at BUSSW” (The Daily Free Press) by Sydney Topf:
Attendee Ellen DeVoe, a professor in SSW and associate dean for research, reiterated López’s point that Gómez is “surfacing what is happening [to Black women] already.”
“[Gómez] is naming what’s happening, she’s naming the experience of many survivors of color who are often in a bind,” DeVoe said. “That’s one of the things about trauma more generally and about sexual victimization, in particular, is that it’s very much silenced.”
… “I often get asked how I can do this work,” Gómez said. “I continue to persevere because within the world of senselessness and depravity are the souls that remain. That there is beauty and a fight for what’s right. And with that beauty of solidarity, freedom and hope, radical hope that by all the evidence to the contrary, the world and each of us in it, are worth saving.”