"How do you say 'trauma' in Arabic?" is a project that begins with Palestinian writing, and re-engages much of the field of Trauma Theory. Reading and identifying key texts around an array of events and phenomena--the arrival of the British Mandate (c.1919), the Jericho earthquake of 1927, the Nakba (catastrophe) both around 1948 and its discussion since as an ongoing process, and the 'naksa' (setback) of 1967 (how it was understood both 'inside' and 'outside' of different Palestinian communities)--the project traces the meaning of 'trauma,' and crucially how this meaning is constructed in relationship to local, national, trans-national and 'global' forces. Drawing on findings, analysis reads the often striking differences between Trauma Theory's understanding of 'shock' and 'out-of-timeliness' and the long-term expressions and understandings of violence that emerge within Palestinian writing.