Community Recovery
The Community Recovery and Memorialization Hub focuses on the social effects of community remembrance during and after periods of trauma. These traumas can include man-made disasters, ranging from hate crimes and school shootings to crimes against humanity and genocide, but can also include public health pandemics. Utilizing a range of methodological and theoretical frameworks, the hub addresses the broad question of: how do communities respond to experienced trauma through social and cultural means? Some key topics in this hub include cultural trauma, community solidarity, memorialization, and collective memory.
BOOKS:
Hawdon, James, Donna Sedgwick, C. Cozette Comer, and Pekka Räsänen. 2025. Perceptions of a Pandemic: A Cross-Continental Comparison of Citizen Perceptions, Attitudes, and Behaviors During Covid-19. Emerald Publishing.
Quigley, Paul and James Hawdon (editors). 2018. Reconciliation after Civil Wars: Global Perspectives. Routledge.
Articles and Book Chapters
Hawdon, James. Forthcoming. Virginia Tech 17 Years Later: Reflections on Data and Personal Observations. C. White and M. Perez (Eds), Concealed West Virginia: Higher Education’s Role in the Campus Carry Debate. West Virginia University Press.
Hawdon, James, Donna Sedgwick, C. Cozette Comer, and Pekka Räsänen. 2025. “Perceptions of a Pandemic: The Impact of COVID-19 on American and Finnish Societies.” Pp. 3 -14 in James Hawdon, Donna Sedgwick, C. Cozette Comer, and Pekka Räsänen (eds.), Perceptions of a Pandemic: A Cross-Continental Comparison of Citizen Perception, Attitudes, and Behaviors During Covid-19. Emerald Publishing.
Hawdon, James and Donna Sedgwick. 2025. “The Pandemic’s Effects in Finland and the United States: The Long-term Consequences of Early Perceptions and Behaviors. Pp. 143 -168 in James Hawdon, Donna Sedgwick, C. Cozette Comer, and Pekka Räsänen (eds.), Perceptions of a Pandemic: A Cross-Continental Comparison of Citizen Perception, Attitudes, and Behaviors During Covid-19. Emerald Publishing.
Hawdon, James, Donna Sedgwick, C. Cozette Comer, and Pekka Räsänen. 2025. “A Look Ahead: How to Better Handle the Next Pandemic and Other Crises.” Pp. 171 - 182 in James Hawdon, Donna Sedgwick, C. Cozette Comer, and Pekka Räsänen (eds.), Perceptions of a Pandemic: A Cross-Continental Comparison of Citizen Perception, Attitudes, and Behaviors During Covid-19. Emerald Publishing.
Reichelmann, Ashley and James Hawdon. 2025. “Facilitating Feeling? The Relationship between Memorials and Emotions.” Sociological Inquiry http://doi.org/10.1111/soin.70041
Reichelmann, Ashley and James Hawdon. 2025. “Is the Past Present: Localized Effects of Memorializing Lynching Victims on Intra- and Inter-Group Attitudes.” Sociological Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1177/07311214251388660
Reichelmann, Ashley V. 2023. “Racialized Emotions When Thinking about Slavery: Associations between Group Identification and Feelings of Threat, Shame, and Guilt among White Americans.” Social Currents. Online First
Reichelmann, Ashley V. 2022. “Guest Essay.” Monuments by Craig Walsh (Moss Arts Center). Virginia Tech.
Reichelmann, Ashley V., J. Micah Roos, and Michael Hughes. 2022. “Racial Identity, Reparations, And Modern Views of Justice Concerning Slavery.” Public Opinion Quarterly, Special Issue on Race and Views of Justice. 86(Special Issue):547-575.
Reichelmann, Ashley V., and Matthew O. Hunt. 2021. “White Americans’ Attitudes toward Reparations for Slavery: Definitions and Determinants.” Race and Social Problems. Online First. doi: 10.1007/s12552-021-09348-x
Reichelmann, Ashley V., and Matthew O. Hunt. 2021. “White Racial Identity and Reparations for Slavery.” Pp. 85-109 in Identities in Action: Developments in Identity Theory, edited by P. Brenner, R. Serpe, and J. Stets. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Reichelmann, Ashley V., James E. Hawdon, and John Ryan. 2020. “Threatened Halos of Perception: Residents’ Accuracy of Crime Changes in a Developing Tourist Area.” Journal of Tourism and Hospitality. 9(5):441. doi: 10.35248/2167-0269.20.9.441
Experiments to assess the effects of memorialization designs on observers
Surveys to understand how collective memory of an event changes across time
Case study and evaluation research to explore the localized effects of memorialization on residents and communities
Surveys measuring support for post-conflict assistance, such as policies improving the lives of those directly affected and/or their descendants
Reichelmann, A.V., Hawdon, J., Ryan, J. Memorialization and Community Project, Alabama – 2018-2019. Funded by the National Science Foundation. Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (1822295). https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/39061