Judging when triggered: exploring the trauma of the judge as a captive audience member within intercollegiate forensic tournaments

Abstract

Intercollegiate forensics provides space for students to learn through performance, to challenge normative frameworks, and explore intersectionality. Increasingly, student performances include content and live-action portrayal of traumatic events. Judges become captive audience members who are unable to leave if they experience (re)trauma(tization) during a performance. Through iterative thematic analysis of exploratory data (n = 65) researchers found that participants connected being triggered within rounds to the concepts of automated reactions; feeling bound by forensic norms; triggering student performance characteristics; material lived experience compared to embodied performance; and meditated judge responses.

Keywords:

• Trauma
• trigger
• forensics
• debate
• judge
• captive audience
• ballots

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the forensic community for their support in this project, especially those who took time to participate and provide feedback to the study. Your vulnerability and willingness to answer the questions showed your commitment and dedication to creating a safer space for all in the forensic community. Without your voices, change will not and cannot occur. We pledge to represent your voices and experiences as accurately and respectfully as possible. We pledge to continue the research until our community feels safer and more supported. We also thank the leadership of the NFA-NIET for supporting the research endeavours and for the community leaders who helped recruit participants. The authors received no funding to complete the present research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Speechwire is a tournament-hosting platform used to collect tournament entries, distribute tournament materials, and tabulate results.

2 Walker et al. (2018).

3 For example, Grace et al., (2018, November); Marsh et al. (2018, November); and Oehm et al. (2018, November).

4 For example, students present at the 2019 NFA-NIET student meeting reported continued conversation about strategies for emotional well-being related to triggering experiences.

5 The 2019 NFA tournament invitation included a new “Open Door Policy.” The policy stated,

The NFA is committed to providing safe performance spaces for all competitors. We acknowledge the art of performance may be a healing process and/or opportunity to speak on important issues. As a performer, it is impossible to know all the ways in which content or a performance may unintentionally harm our peers. To better serve our competitors, the NFA is implementing an open door practice in rounds at the National Tournament. Meaning, competitors may choose when they feel comfortable being present in the room, which includes choosing only to be present in the room when performing. Competitors may discretely leave, even when not double-entered without question or penalty. This policy will be communicated to each judge at the national tournament.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julie L. G. Walker

Julie Walker is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and the Assistant Director of Forensics at Southwest Minnesota State University. Walker studies identity through the frameworks of performance and materiality. She hopes her work elevates voices whose stories are otherwise unheard within structures and throughout research. Her scholarship appears in several journals, edited books, and conference proceedings.

Jessica M. Samens

Dr. Jessica Samens is an instructor of health communication at Bethel University. Her research interests include identity creation after a health diagnosis, how people disclose health status, and forensic pedagogy.