On May 24, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States, where 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a former student at the school, fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers, while seventeen others survived despite being injured. The words “The sound of Children Screaming has been removed,” were an editor’s note attached to a video, published by the Austin American-Statesman of Uvalde of the shooting. As a response to this note, Professor Anthony Collins delivers a theoretical conceptual lecture on representations of violence.
Professor Anthony Collins is an interdisciplinary social scientist and social justice activist. Their work integrates a range of disciplines including criminology, cultural studies (including gender and decolonial studies) and psychology, with attention to culture and identity. Their primary focus is on violence and trauma, with specific attention to South Africa, both in terms of developing better critical conceptualization of violence in postcolonial settings, and more effective violence reduction interventions. Prof Collins has a specific interest in gender-based violence, including GBV in universities, and community interventions for reducing GBV. Their work also focuses on secondary and vicarious trauma amongst people researching and supporting survivors of violence, and further extends to the broad topic of globalization, consumer culture and youth identities.