Trauma, Memory, and the Brain

Reading Racial Stress through Neurohumanities in Ijeoma Oluo’s Works

Abstract

The current research aims to investigate Ijeoma Oluo’s activist discourse through the lens of Neurohumanities. The study focuses on how racial trauma operates as both a social condition and a neurological reality. Drawing on Catherine Malabou’s theory of neuroplasticity from The New Wounded, the research employs a textual and theoretical analysis of So You Want to Talk About Race and Be a Revolution to trace the neural and emotional imprints of systemic racism. The analysis discloses that Oluo’s portrayals of fatigue, hypervigilance and emotional labour mirror the neurological effects of toxic stress and chronic trauma, illustrating how racism alters fear and memory systems in the brain. At the same time, her emphasis on resilience, empathy, and collective action reflects the brain’s capacity for plasticity and repair. The findings demonstrate that Oluo’s works bridge the gap between activism and neuroscience, presenting racism not merely as a cultural or political phenomenon but as a neurobiological scar that shapes cognition and affect. This research contributes to Neurohumanities and trauma studies by positioning activism as a form of neural resilience, highlighting how Oluo’s writing redefines social justice as both psychological recovery and collective empowerment.