Collective Trauma, Collective Intelligence

“Collective Trauma, Collective Intelligence” explores communities’ collective intelligence that emerges and operates in times of collective traumas. The project derives from a very personal experience of the researcher during the 2023 Turkey-Syria Earthquakes and aims to research, document, and create an archive of the collective grassroots rescue, aid, and relief efforts that gave back hope to her in times of struggle.

The research adopts a trauma-sensitive mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews, case studies, and surveys, collecting narratives and data from disaster-affected communities, volunteers, and organizations. It will examine how these practices emerged in response to unforeseen needs, how they operated, what challenges they faced, how they translated their learnings into action during the ongoing crisis operation, and how they self-organised and adapted to limited resources, capacity, and dynamic priorities changing hour by hour; seeking to answer: “What can the collective intelligence do in the absence of functioning authorities?”