OPERATION WRITE: A QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF BEST PRACTICES FOR CREATING, MAINTAINING AND EXPANDING COMMUNITY LITERACY PROGRAMS IN POSTTRAUMA CONTEXTS

Abstract

In this dissertation, I collect and present data on a variety of literary organizations dedicated to providing writing and publishing opportunities to military veterans and their families. I use this data to explain and justify the policies and procedures I have developed for the community literacy program I founded and run, Writer Corps. In chapter 1, I establish the legitimacy of my position as a facilitator of creative efforts for veterans while not having served, myself, in the military by examining the familial origins of my altruism. In chapter 2, I investigate trends within the field of composition studies by discussing Charles M Anderson and Marian M. MacCurdy’s Writing and Healing: Toward an Informed Practice. I also include theories about expressive writing therapy that emerge from the work of James W. Pennebaker’s publications such as Writing as Healing. In chapter 3, I define Posttraumatic Stress Disorder as both a psychological and a neurological condition and pay special attention to the specific nature of PTSD as it relates to veterans of combat by alluding to Charles W. Hoge’s Once a Warrior Always a Warrior. In chapter 4, I present a survey of veteran-oriented writing programs and publishers from around the United States. In chapter 5, I detail a qualitative ethnography of the founding and growth of the Writer Corps program. In chapter 6, I conclude with a list of best practices for working with survivors of trauma, which is based on the research presented in chapters 2 and 3, as well as on my own empirical experiences.