Fractured lines: Aboriginal women, feminism, and the production of trauma

This paper reveals how trauma is not only endured but reworked into practices of survival, resistance, and knowledge-making. Trauma is conceptualized not solely as an individual psychological response, but as a collective, historical, and intergenerational condition shaped by the enduring impacts of colonization, dispossession, and systemic racism. The narratives reveal the layered ways in which trauma is embodied, resisted, and negotiated in daily life, whilst highlighting the silences and burdens imposed by dominant Western frameworks within the university. Drawing on Indigenous feminist and Aboriginal research methodologies, the analysis raises Aboriginal women’s voices emphasizing how cultural practice, kinship systems, and collective resilience function as critical sites of healing. By situating personal accounts within broader structural contexts, the article challenges deficit-based understandings of Aboriginal women and contributes to both critical trauma studies and Indigenous methodologies. It argues for the necessity of privileging Aboriginal women’s perspectives in shaping trauma research, policy, and practice.