1 00:00:12,090 --> 00:00:14,310 My name is Denise Nadeau and I'm a 2 00:00:14,850 --> 00:00:17,070 affiliate Assistant Professor in the 3 00:00:17,070 --> 00:00:19,560 Department of religions and cultures at 4 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:23,160 Concordia University, which is in Tiohtià:kei 5 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:29,430 and in Kanien’kehá:ka territory. And I'm 6 00:00:29,430 --> 00:00:31,530 currently actually residing in Lkwungen 7 00:00:31,530 --> 00:00:34,110 territory on Vancouver Island. So I'm 8 00:00:34,110 --> 00:00:39,870 speaking at a distance here. And I'm a 9 00:00:39,870 --> 00:00:43,230 settler, and my field of study is 10 00:00:43,260 --> 00:00:48,900 Indigenous settler relations, decolonizing 11 00:00:48,900 --> 00:00:52,260 of the body, and in particular, 12 00:00:52,290 --> 00:00:55,170 deconstructing whiteness and Christianity. 13 00:00:56,400 --> 00:01:00,270 And I just published a book called 14 00:01:00,300 --> 00:01:02,430 “Unsettling Spirit, A Journey Into 15 00:01:02,430 --> 00:01:07,380 Decolonization” And my main passion right 16 00:01:07,380 --> 00:01:09,780 now is looking at decolonization and 17 00:01:09,780 --> 00:01:14,640 decolonization of the body. This is a 18 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,100 topic that I think is really important, 19 00:01:17,100 --> 00:01:20,910 which is what I call "the politics of 20 00:01:20,910 --> 00:01:23,610 trauma" in relationship to racism and 21 00:01:23,610 --> 00:01:30,150 colonialism. So we have a time where there 22 00:01:30,150 --> 00:01:34,080 has been so much exposure of the 23 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:36,510 incredible inequities in our society, 24 00:01:36,510 --> 00:01:38,460 because of COVID, because of Black Lives 25 00:01:38,460 --> 00:01:45,570 Matter (BLM), because of the pandemic. And so we 26 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:48,630 are, there's a tendency to get a lot of 27 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,800 medicalize pathologized language into how 28 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:54,840 to deal with people who are suffering at 29 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,920 this point. So I want to briefly speak 30 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,510 about how some of the discourse about 31 00:02:03,540 --> 00:02:06,960 trauma reinforces racist and colonial 32 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,750 structures. And I want to talk a bit about 33 00:02:09,750 --> 00:02:11,820 white body supremacy and how that's 34 00:02:11,820 --> 00:02:15,480 playing into this. And also, I want to 35 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:16,890 talk about what this means for the 36 00:02:16,890 --> 00:02:18,960 classroom right now, the ritual and real 37 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:19,650 classroom. 38 00:02:24,810 --> 00:02:27,780 Trauma discourse has become very popular in 39 00:02:27,780 --> 00:02:30,750 our culture. A friend came over and said: 40 00:02:31,650 --> 00:02:34,200 “Oh, my friend's daughter has been 41 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:36,150 traumatized because she's had six French 42 00:02:36,150 --> 00:02:38,280 immersion teachers in the last five 43 00:02:38,310 --> 00:02:40,080 months. And that's very traumatic!” And I 44 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,320 go: “Oh, yes, very traumatic.” But I don't 45 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:45,000 really think that's traumatic. I think this 46 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,240 word is used for any kind of discomfort. 47 00:02:50,580 --> 00:02:55,020 Often that white people suffer. But what 48 00:02:55,020 --> 00:02:57,060 does the word mean in the context of 49 00:02:57,060 --> 00:03:00,150 certain disciplines? And a lot of these 50 00:03:00,150 --> 00:03:06,690 disciplines are social work, often in 51 00:03:06,690 --> 00:03:08,640 religion, but more religion in terms of 52 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:12,990 service, counseling, medicine, therapy, 53 00:03:12,990 --> 00:03:16,050 nursing. So the helping professions, this 54 00:03:16,050 --> 00:03:19,500 word is used a lot, and just a little 55 00:03:19,530 --> 00:03:24,690 aside, that social work and counseling had 56 00:03:24,690 --> 00:03:28,740 origins in Christian mission; which 57 00:03:28,740 --> 00:03:30,900 the purpose of the Christian mission was 58 00:03:30,900 --> 00:03:34,050 to civilize the uncivilized. So 59 00:03:34,050 --> 00:03:37,710 already, there's a problematic dynamic in 60 00:03:37,860 --> 00:03:40,950 how these disciplines were set up. 61 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,100 And the main thing was, they were problem 62 00:03:44,100 --> 00:03:47,310 people in the world that we needed to fix, 63 00:03:47,490 --> 00:03:49,740 and help incorporate them into the white 64 00:03:49,740 --> 00:03:51,360 capitalist world, which I think is the 65 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:53,310 dynamic that still is very much part of 66 00:03:53,310 --> 00:03:56,940 these disciplines. So trauma itself is a 67 00:03:56,940 --> 00:04:00,690 term that refers to a group of symptoms 68 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,620 that occur in the mind and body, body 69 00:04:04,620 --> 00:04:09,330 mind, that happen when someone experiences 70 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,200 an event of danger, and they are unable to 71 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,810 get out of the situation. They're unable 72 00:04:15,810 --> 00:04:19,920 to fight, they're unable to flee, and 73 00:04:19,950 --> 00:04:26,040 they're unable to fight, flight or flee. 74 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,770 Those are the usual kind of term 75 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,370 terminology. And so, what happens is the 76 00:04:32,370 --> 00:04:37,440 response gets almost frozen in the body or 77 00:04:38,610 --> 00:04:43,380 is internalized in the body. And then 78 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:47,940 what happens, as long as that experience 79 00:04:47,940 --> 00:04:51,930 isn't metabolized or processed, then there 80 00:04:51,930 --> 00:04:55,440 is trauma patterns developing in the 81 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,920 person's behavior because whenever 82 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,800 something similar happens even a tiny 83 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,100 thing like somebody whose back is turned 84 00:05:05,100 --> 00:05:07,080 when you were going to attack from the back 85 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,430 and your back and they are behind you, then 86 00:05:11,820 --> 00:05:16,290 all the old symptoms re-emerge with even 87 00:05:16,290 --> 00:05:18,180 more of an intensity and you have 88 00:05:18,180 --> 00:05:21,570 flashbacks, hypotension, or another 89 00:05:21,570 --> 00:05:23,670 response, which is called hyporesponse, 90 00:05:23,850 --> 00:05:27,930 immediately go into placidity: don't feel 91 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,290 coldness, numbness. And so that's kind of 92 00:05:32,100 --> 00:05:35,100 just a brief overview of what 93 00:05:35,970 --> 00:05:38,670 trauma patterns are, and they have a 94 00:05:38,670 --> 00:05:41,550 psychological component. You can be - if you 95 00:05:41,550 --> 00:05:43,620 have what's called a hyper-response, which 96 00:05:43,620 --> 00:05:48,000 is when there's a high hypertension 97 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,720 response, there's often an anger within 98 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,660 you. And if you've had a hypo-response, 99 00:05:55,380 --> 00:05:58,920 which is, the more of a collapse and not 100 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,080 feeling in the muscles, then there is a 101 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:05,490 giving up. So while these symptoms vary, but 102 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,310 how the individual 103 00:06:08,310 --> 00:06:10,980 was unable to process it is a key 104 00:06:11,190 --> 00:06:15,360 component of it. Now, at the same time, 105 00:06:15,870 --> 00:06:18,720 these responses were brilliant survival 106 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:23,250 strategies in a situation of danger, 107 00:06:23,250 --> 00:06:25,440 and they were very useful. So they- 108 00:06:25,530 --> 00:06:27,720 no one has to be criticized for that 109 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,350 response when they were a woman being 110 00:06:31,350 --> 00:06:34,170 raped, someone being attacked by the 111 00:06:34,170 --> 00:06:37,440 police, all these things are survival 112 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:41,490 responses, which are very useful. So there 113 00:06:41,490 --> 00:06:43,260 are two types of trauma "life and death 114 00:06:43,260 --> 00:06:48,630 trauma," which is usually accidents, 115 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,810 earthquakes, no more natural phenomenon 116 00:06:51,810 --> 00:06:53,820 falling off the ladder. And then there's 117 00:06:53,820 --> 00:06:56,400 "relational trauma," trauma that happens 118 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,430 because of an abuse of power and abuse in 119 00:06:59,430 --> 00:07:02,640 the relationship. And my interest has been 120 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:04,260 in relational trauma. 121 00:07:05,940 --> 00:07:06,720 So 122 00:07:07,860 --> 00:07:10,860 what has become more apparent, as there's 123 00:07:10,860 --> 00:07:13,710 been more and more study into the field of 124 00:07:13,710 --> 00:07:15,870 trauma, is that trauma can be passed on 125 00:07:15,870 --> 00:07:20,970 through generations, through culture, and 126 00:07:20,970 --> 00:07:22,590 so you have now the terms, 127 00:07:22,620 --> 00:07:24,840 intergenerational trauma and the terms 128 00:07:24,870 --> 00:07:30,900 historical trauma. So what is interesting 129 00:07:30,990 --> 00:07:33,750 is that the language about trauma and 130 00:07:33,750 --> 00:07:35,730 healing that has been dominant in the 131 00:07:35,730 --> 00:07:39,540 healing professions, in our government, in 132 00:07:39,540 --> 00:07:45,090 social services, in the media, is very much 133 00:07:45,090 --> 00:07:48,540 based on a medical model of illness, which 134 00:07:48,540 --> 00:07:51,840 pathologizes symptoms that people 135 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:58,200 have. And I was doing my own work with 136 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:00,480 Indigenous women in the downtown eastside 137 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,390 of Vancouver, luckily with an Anishinaabe colleague 138 00:08:03,390 --> 00:08:06,810 and a few colleagues, who 139 00:08:06,990 --> 00:08:10,260 educated me about the work of medical 140 00:08:10,260 --> 00:08:12,930 anthropologists who challenged the 141 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:16,590 discourse of trauma and specifically of 142 00:08:16,590 --> 00:08:19,620 the term Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, 143 00:08:19,740 --> 00:08:21,990 which is often used interchangeably, 144 00:08:22,140 --> 00:08:23,850 interchangeably and describes these 145 00:08:23,850 --> 00:08:28,200 symptoms. And what I discovered for 146 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:30,390 medical anthropology is a term called 147 00:08:30,390 --> 00:08:32,700 "social suffering," which refers to 148 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,960 collective suffering and Arthur Kleinman 149 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,930 and Robert Desjarlais were two medical 150 00:08:39,930 --> 00:08:42,060 anthropologists who were looking at 151 00:08:42,060 --> 00:08:44,430 returning Vietnam War veterans who had all 152 00:08:44,430 --> 00:08:47,100 these same body symptoms, and realized 153 00:08:47,100 --> 00:08:50,190 that this was not a question of individual 154 00:08:50,190 --> 00:08:53,010 pathologies, it was a question of moral 155 00:08:53,010 --> 00:08:57,420 and unjust structures. And that certain 156 00:08:57,420 --> 00:08:59,970 population to experience war, state 157 00:08:59,970 --> 00:09:03,060 terrorism, unjust political and economic 158 00:09:03,060 --> 00:09:06,030 structures had these responses in their 159 00:09:06,030 --> 00:09:08,310 body. And this was not a problem of 160 00:09:08,310 --> 00:09:10,980 medical quality, it was a moral ethical 161 00:09:10,980 --> 00:09:15,870 injustice problem. So what happens is 162 00:09:15,870 --> 00:09:19,410 labels like PTSD and trauma can be used to 163 00:09:19,410 --> 00:09:23,250 individualize and deny race, class, gender 164 00:09:23,250 --> 00:09:26,130 and colonial violence. And that has been 165 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:29,910 one of the most important things that I 166 00:09:29,910 --> 00:09:32,820 have focused on in the last few years. 167 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:39,300 There was a Jesuit psychologist who was 168 00:09:39,300 --> 00:09:42,900 killed during the war within El Salvador in 169 00:09:42,900 --> 00:09:45,720 1989, who coined the term "psycho-social 170 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:49,170 trauma." And he was talking about how 171 00:09:49,170 --> 00:09:51,420 violence affects a whole network of social 172 00:09:51,420 --> 00:09:54,240 relations, and that you have to change the 173 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:58,230 social relations between the colonizer and 174 00:09:58,230 --> 00:10:00,990 the colonized. You're going to have a 175 00:10:01,020 --> 00:10:04,230 change. And so there's not a lot of point 176 00:10:04,230 --> 00:10:09,090 on focusing just on individuals. So how is 177 00:10:09,090 --> 00:10:11,160 trauma politicized? Like that's the 178 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,550 framework within which trauma discourse 179 00:10:14,550 --> 00:10:16,230 happens, but how does it become 180 00:10:16,290 --> 00:10:20,430 politicized? And Dian Million, who's an 181 00:10:20,430 --> 00:10:24,660 Athabaskan social worker, has a wonderful 182 00:10:24,660 --> 00:10:26,670 book called: “Therapeutic Nations” where 183 00:10:26,670 --> 00:10:29,640 she's saying that the focus on individual 184 00:10:29,940 --> 00:10:33,330 healing benefits neoliberalism. And she 185 00:10:33,330 --> 00:10:36,360 uses the term "trauma economy." So the 186 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:39,540 solution for trauma economy to 187 00:10:39,540 --> 00:10:42,240 endemic injustice, poverty, poor health, 188 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,750 suicide risk, is a healing of trauma. Her 189 00:10:45,750 --> 00:10:48,390 term: “the colonial subject becomes a 190 00:10:48,390 --> 00:10:51,840 trauma victim” is really important because 191 00:10:51,870 --> 00:10:54,630 when you look at the whole dynamics around 192 00:10:54,930 --> 00:10:57,330 the politics of residential 193 00:10:57,330 --> 00:11:01,590 schools and dealing with Indigenous 194 00:11:01,590 --> 00:11:04,500 reparations, and the need for resurgence 195 00:11:04,500 --> 00:11:07,050 and sovereignty, what you have is a 196 00:11:07,050 --> 00:11:10,080 government response that is focused on 197 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:12,900 healing more mental health resources, 198 00:11:13,020 --> 00:11:15,330 rather than dealing with unjust structures 199 00:11:15,330 --> 00:11:16,440 and returning land. 200 00:11:17,789 --> 00:11:20,159 Trauma’s used for other difficult different 201 00:11:20,159 --> 00:11:22,649 political ends. There's a book called: “The 202 00:11:22,649 --> 00:11:27,449 Empire Trauma” by Didier Fassin and Richard Rechtman 203 00:11:27,479 --> 00:11:31,709 who discuss how the politics of 204 00:11:31,709 --> 00:11:34,949 reparations testimony and proof are now 205 00:11:34,949 --> 00:11:37,709 based on the degree of trauma a person has 206 00:11:37,709 --> 00:11:40,049 suffered rather than the unjust structures 207 00:11:40,049 --> 00:11:42,899 that they've endured. And so often you get 208 00:11:42,899 --> 00:11:47,579 financial settlements, but no reparation 209 00:11:47,609 --> 00:11:49,919 of the fundamental inequities in the 210 00:11:49,919 --> 00:11:54,869 situation. And again, that I point to the 211 00:11:54,869 --> 00:11:57,569 settlement agreement with residential 212 00:11:57,569 --> 00:12:00,509 schools survivors here in Canada, where 213 00:12:00,509 --> 00:12:02,879 individuals who had been in residential 214 00:12:02,879 --> 00:12:06,239 school, and had been sexually or 215 00:12:06,239 --> 00:12:09,569 emotionally or physically abused, were 216 00:12:09,629 --> 00:12:12,749 paid out money according to how many years 217 00:12:12,839 --> 00:12:15,779 they had been in residential school. This 218 00:12:15,779 --> 00:12:18,389 does not solve the problem of colonialism, 219 00:12:18,449 --> 00:12:20,429 the fact that residential school is part 220 00:12:20,429 --> 00:12:23,309 of a whole system to eradicate Indigenous 221 00:12:23,309 --> 00:12:27,659 connection to land. So, again, the 222 00:12:27,659 --> 00:12:29,969 discourse of trauma is used to 223 00:12:29,999 --> 00:12:34,469 individualize a social problem. Indigenous 224 00:12:34,469 --> 00:12:37,619 scholar Lawrence Gross, who's an Anishinaabe, 225 00:12:37,649 --> 00:12:40,769 coined the term: “Post Apocalyptic Stress 226 00:12:40,769 --> 00:12:45,719 Syndrome”, And he talks about how 227 00:12:45,929 --> 00:12:47,999 Indigenous people experienced with 228 00:12:47,999 --> 00:12:51,479 colonialism there in time. And with the 229 00:12:51,479 --> 00:12:54,989 loss of education structures, their health 230 00:12:54,989 --> 00:12:58,739 structures, their language, government 231 00:12:58,739 --> 00:13:01,919 structures. Though, luckily, there's 232 00:13:01,919 --> 00:13:05,249 always been resilience and survival within 233 00:13:05,249 --> 00:13:07,379 these communities. And so now these 234 00:13:07,979 --> 00:13:11,069 structures have been revitalized. But I 235 00:13:11,069 --> 00:13:13,289 remember at the beginning of the pandemic, 236 00:13:13,349 --> 00:13:16,919 Linda Smith, who's a Maori scholar, also 237 00:13:16,949 --> 00:13:19,529 critiquing apocalypse language, because Indigenous 238 00:13:19,529 --> 00:13:21,479 people have experienced their 239 00:13:21,479 --> 00:13:23,849 own apocalypse. And you will find that 240 00:13:24,569 --> 00:13:27,719 Indigenous communities are almost the most 241 00:13:27,719 --> 00:13:31,769 prepared to deal with the pandemic. In 242 00:13:32,729 --> 00:13:35,189 here in Canada, and here in BC, 243 00:13:35,189 --> 00:13:37,529 for instance, where you have from the 244 00:13:37,529 --> 00:13:41,759 government and the media: “Oh, these poor 245 00:13:41,759 --> 00:13:44,549 communities.” It's true have, often, no 246 00:13:44,549 --> 00:13:47,699 water and/or housing where it's impossible to 247 00:13:47,699 --> 00:13:52,289 social distance. But there's still they 248 00:13:52,289 --> 00:13:54,479 are it's the same victim narrative. 249 00:14:07,350 --> 00:14:11,910 In terms of Black people, there is a Dr. 250 00:14:11,910 --> 00:14:14,130 Joy Degruy who coined the term: “Post Traumatic 251 00:14:14,130 --> 00:14:17,010 Slave Syndrome.” So again, getting out of 252 00:14:17,010 --> 00:14:20,010 this individualizing of pain. I remember 253 00:14:20,010 --> 00:14:23,760 being so disturbed when one of the 254 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:26,730 descriptions of George Floyd's murder 255 00:14:26,730 --> 00:14:29,370 would say: “Oh, he had PTSD” And I went: “Oh 256 00:14:29,370 --> 00:14:32,310 my god, what!” It just showed the same 257 00:14:32,610 --> 00:14:36,780 mentality of individualizing the economic 258 00:14:36,870 --> 00:14:38,970 and social and racial injustice, that 259 00:14:38,970 --> 00:14:43,020 George Floyd had experience. And I 260 00:14:43,020 --> 00:14:45,930 always want to say, after talking about 261 00:14:45,930 --> 00:14:49,500 trauma, is that resilience and complexity 262 00:14:49,500 --> 00:14:51,930 of responses even now in the pandemic, 263 00:14:51,930 --> 00:14:53,760 that you find it Indigenous and Black 264 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:57,330 communities and how people are surviving 265 00:14:57,330 --> 00:14:59,250 and developing their own forms of healing 266 00:14:59,250 --> 00:15:00,990 and have always had their own forms of 267 00:15:00,990 --> 00:15:03,510 healing based in their cultures despite the 268 00:15:03,510 --> 00:15:09,090 violence of racism and slavery. So, how 269 00:15:09,090 --> 00:15:12,030 does white supremacy fit into this 270 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:18,810 discourse on trauma? So our physical 271 00:15:18,810 --> 00:15:23,310 behavior, our non-verbal communication, our 272 00:15:23,310 --> 00:15:25,410 ways of moving through the world, 273 00:15:25,470 --> 00:15:27,780 reproduce systems of power such as 274 00:15:27,780 --> 00:15:31,890 racism, and white body supremacy affects 275 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,940 all bodies. For people who aren't 276 00:15:35,940 --> 00:15:38,640 white and might be, they might feel the 277 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,340 need to whiteness skin, or straighten hair 278 00:15:41,370 --> 00:15:44,130 or adopt certain white patterns of 279 00:15:44,130 --> 00:15:47,640 behavior to be accepted. It's very 280 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,460 important to understand white supremacy, 281 00:15:50,610 --> 00:15:53,070 especially for white people, but also for 282 00:15:53,070 --> 00:15:57,630 all of us in terms of how it works 283 00:15:57,630 --> 00:16:00,600 within the culture, and I've been 284 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:03,060 influenced by an African American educator 285 00:16:03,060 --> 00:16:06,720 called Tema Okun who talks about white 286 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:08,790 supremacy culture, and she names the 287 00:16:08,790 --> 00:16:13,470 different aspects. She, with the late 288 00:16:13,470 --> 00:16:16,020 Kenneth Jones, initiated a series of 289 00:16:16,020 --> 00:16:18,480 "dismantling racism workshops" in the United 290 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,510 States. And I just want to read this 291 00:16:21,510 --> 00:16:26,730 list of characteristics of white supremacy 292 00:16:26,730 --> 00:16:29,310 culture, because they're also very 293 00:16:29,310 --> 00:16:32,310 embodied and as I read them, and I myself 294 00:16:32,430 --> 00:16:35,520 do work on how I embody white supremacy 295 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:38,340 culture. Either/or thinking, 296 00:16:38,790 --> 00:16:41,400 perfectionism, which means push push 297 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:46,500 push in the body, individualism that's a 298 00:16:46,500 --> 00:16:49,680 whole world to unpack, a belief that 299 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,340 there's only one right way neatly tension 300 00:16:53,340 --> 00:16:56,490 in the body one right way, worship of the 301 00:16:56,490 --> 00:16:59,400 written word, what more can I say as if 302 00:16:59,430 --> 00:17:01,350 the written word is the only right way of 303 00:17:01,350 --> 00:17:07,770 communicating, the right to conflict, the right 304 00:17:07,770 --> 00:17:09,750 to comfort sorry, the right to comfort, 305 00:17:10,140 --> 00:17:14,280 that I have a right to comfort, fear 306 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,790 of conflict; whoo conflict bad thing. 307 00:17:18,510 --> 00:17:21,420 Paternalism. Whoo, you can I mean, right, 308 00:17:21,420 --> 00:17:23,910 that word immediately brings out my great 309 00:17:23,910 --> 00:17:27,540 white helper, a term I like, I created to 310 00:17:27,540 --> 00:17:31,050 look at how I was conditioned to feel that 311 00:17:31,050 --> 00:17:36,030 I had to help others. Defensiveness, sense 312 00:17:36,030 --> 00:17:39,060 of urgency. So these are some of the 313 00:17:39,060 --> 00:17:41,130 things that (Dr. Tema) Okun, has identified as 314 00:17:41,130 --> 00:17:42,810 part of white supremacy culture, which 315 00:17:42,810 --> 00:17:44,850 infiltrates the structures of 316 00:17:44,850 --> 00:17:47,880 organizations like universities, like 317 00:17:47,910 --> 00:17:52,020 Christian churches that are white. And 318 00:17:52,830 --> 00:17:55,530 these all have embodied expressions. And 319 00:17:55,530 --> 00:17:56,910 they also come out in what's called 320 00:17:56,910 --> 00:18:00,990 microaggressions. What queer embodied 321 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:05,760 somatic therapist call 1000 paper cuts a 322 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,910 day you can get from just some of the 323 00:18:09,390 --> 00:18:12,810 hidden kind of unspoken aggressions that 324 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:17,130 you can experience as racist behavior, 325 00:18:17,130 --> 00:18:18,390 sexist behavior. 326 00:18:19,980 --> 00:18:21,960 So my own work has been on the great white 327 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,540 helper and myself in the different ways I 328 00:18:24,540 --> 00:18:28,560 carry them in my body. But white supremacy 329 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:30,690 is not rational, we're not gonna be able 330 00:18:30,690 --> 00:18:33,570 to talk ourselves out of, no, think 331 00:18:33,570 --> 00:18:36,480 ourselves out of white supremacy. And I 332 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:38,370 believe those whose interests lie in a 333 00:18:38,370 --> 00:18:39,840 white supremacy system, are not going to 334 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,180 give them up easily with just thinking: 335 00:18:42,180 --> 00:18:44,220 “Oh, this is bad.” I mean, this with any 336 00:18:44,250 --> 00:18:49,080 group that has their financial privileges, 337 00:18:49,260 --> 00:18:51,810 and interests invested in power, they're 338 00:18:51,810 --> 00:18:53,250 not going to willingly give it up. 339 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:56,730 Anyways, white supremacy is internalized 340 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:58,770 deep in our bodies and has traumatic 341 00:18:58,980 --> 00:19:05,130 impacts on our bodies. So the person who, 342 00:19:05,610 --> 00:19:10,020 okay back to myself, who was living this 343 00:19:10,020 --> 00:19:12,900 kind of helper disconnect from the own 344 00:19:12,900 --> 00:19:14,790 violence that I'd experienced in my life. 345 00:19:14,790 --> 00:19:17,700 And like many women, queer women, I've 346 00:19:17,700 --> 00:19:19,230 experienced a lot of violence in my life, 347 00:19:19,530 --> 00:19:23,160 totally disconnected. I had frozen part 348 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,710 of myself so that I could help others. And 349 00:19:25,710 --> 00:19:29,190 so the white person constructs their 350 00:19:29,190 --> 00:19:32,400 identity on what other people, that they 351 00:19:32,430 --> 00:19:34,320 aren't what other people are. So it's 352 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:36,900 already, as James Baldwin says, "a totally 353 00:19:36,900 --> 00:19:41,460 false identity." Always read James Baldwin, 354 00:19:41,490 --> 00:19:43,200 he's who I recommend if you want to 355 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,920 to understand about whiteness, a famous African 356 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:50,280 American author. Now, just a few points 357 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:52,620 about how we understand the body itself. 358 00:19:53,070 --> 00:19:56,250 The notion of the autonomous boundary body 359 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,470 is a product of the 17th century 360 00:19:58,500 --> 00:20:01,320 scientific revolution. This is the 361 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,710 biological body as a distinct object 362 00:20:04,740 --> 00:20:06,750 separate from the non-human and more than 363 00:20:06,750 --> 00:20:11,640 human world. And a Moroccan 364 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,130 anthropologist, Frédérique Apffel-Marglin, 365 00:20:14,130 --> 00:20:17,850 who looked at different 366 00:20:17,850 --> 00:20:19,440 understandings of the bodies with 367 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:22,200 Indigenous people in Odisha, in India and 368 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,110 in different Indigenous nations in Peru, 369 00:20:25,620 --> 00:20:28,500 and found that within these groups both 370 00:20:28,500 --> 00:20:31,080 saw the body as very fluid at open, there 371 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:33,930 wasn't a sense of this boundary body, and 372 00:20:33,930 --> 00:20:35,970 hence interconnected with a plant and 373 00:20:35,970 --> 00:20:37,980 animal world with the waters with the 374 00:20:37,980 --> 00:20:41,160 land. And with the spirit worlds. So 375 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:45,330 ritual and ceremony were integral to, and are 376 00:20:45,330 --> 00:20:48,660 integral to Indigenous ways of living in 377 00:20:48,660 --> 00:20:50,370 the world, because you're involved in a 378 00:20:50,370 --> 00:20:53,430 reciprocal relationship with all these 379 00:20:53,460 --> 00:20:57,030 bodies, that you're interconnected with. Now 380 00:20:57,030 --> 00:21:00,300 what white body supremacy does, based on 381 00:21:00,300 --> 00:21:02,970 this boundary biological body, it 382 00:21:03,390 --> 00:21:05,970 reinforces the view of the autonomous 383 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,240 individual disconnected body. And if 384 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,640 bodies are disconnected, we don't have to 385 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,040 worry about economic and social structures 386 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:15,390 because everything is out to the 387 00:21:15,390 --> 00:21:21,420 individual, right? So, with the 388 00:21:21,420 --> 00:21:23,850 connected body, it's harder to separate 389 00:21:23,850 --> 00:21:25,770 the world of fact and values which is very 390 00:21:25,770 --> 00:21:28,260 separated and when, and is a premise of 391 00:21:28,260 --> 00:21:33,690 Western universities. And so when we're, I 392 00:21:33,690 --> 00:21:34,980 want to mention that because I just want 393 00:21:34,980 --> 00:21:37,080 to move on to talk about what this means 394 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:41,610 for the classroom. And often, there's not 395 00:21:41,610 --> 00:21:43,950 a lot of space for the spirit world and 396 00:21:43,950 --> 00:21:47,100 interconnection in university and justice 397 00:21:47,130 --> 00:21:51,690 issues are about interconnection. So in 398 00:21:51,690 --> 00:21:54,120 terms of the classroom what this means. 399 00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:56,910 First, I want to talk about educators. I 400 00:21:56,910 --> 00:21:59,970 personally rarely use the word trauma. I 401 00:21:59,970 --> 00:22:02,100 often use "collective suffering or social 402 00:22:02,100 --> 00:22:05,580 suffering, sometimes collective trauma," I 403 00:22:05,580 --> 00:22:08,310 talk about stressors and stress as they 404 00:22:08,310 --> 00:22:11,970 impact the body spirit. If a course 405 00:22:11,970 --> 00:22:14,430 content is specifically about trauma, I 406 00:22:14,430 --> 00:22:16,410 explain how traumatic reactions in the 407 00:22:16,410 --> 00:22:18,780 body function and I now I'm providing some 408 00:22:18,780 --> 00:22:20,970 basic skills to help students stay in the 409 00:22:20,970 --> 00:22:23,280 present moment. And I'm doing another 410 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,370 video just introducing some basic body 411 00:22:26,370 --> 00:22:28,680 skills. And then I talk about the 412 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:30,600 politics of trauma and how trauma can be 413 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:34,530 misused in the discourse, and can often use 414 00:22:34,530 --> 00:22:40,080 to serve political agendas. So when an 415 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:41,820 educator is discussing the physical and 416 00:22:41,820 --> 00:22:43,650 mental health challenges of specific 417 00:22:43,650 --> 00:22:45,990 communities, they can be placed within the 418 00:22:45,990 --> 00:22:48,510 larger context of colonial and racist 419 00:22:48,510 --> 00:22:50,250 violence, which needs to be addressed. 420 00:22:51,930 --> 00:22:53,850 Some of my Indigenous colleagues use the 421 00:22:53,850 --> 00:22:56,460 term "genocide informed practice" as opposed 422 00:22:56,460 --> 00:22:59,190 to trauma informed practice. And the main 423 00:22:59,190 --> 00:23:02,010 thing is to avoid victim framing when, as 424 00:23:02,010 --> 00:23:04,770 an educator, I always focus more on 425 00:23:04,770 --> 00:23:06,450 resilience and collective healing 426 00:23:06,450 --> 00:23:09,090 approaches. And there's a danger with 427 00:23:09,090 --> 00:23:11,400 trauma language, especially historical 428 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:13,410 intergenerational trauma language, this is 429 00:23:13,410 --> 00:23:15,630 important that people know about it. But 430 00:23:15,630 --> 00:23:17,340 it can also leave people feel like they're 431 00:23:17,340 --> 00:23:19,050 victims, because they're caught in this 432 00:23:19,050 --> 00:23:21,990 body and it's got all this historical trauma. 433 00:23:22,260 --> 00:23:25,440 And so it's more important to move stories 434 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:28,350 away from risk and damage, and to focus on 435 00:23:28,350 --> 00:23:30,750 resurgence and sovereignty, sovereignty 436 00:23:30,750 --> 00:23:33,600 over lands and bodies, body sovereignty to 437 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,630 be self-determined in the body as a 438 00:23:36,630 --> 00:23:38,340 framework, rather than trauma and 439 00:23:38,340 --> 00:23:42,120 suffering. But trauma is real, and the 440 00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:45,450 body is in the classroom. And so how do we 441 00:23:45,450 --> 00:23:46,860 deal with social suffering in the 442 00:23:46,860 --> 00:23:50,580 classroom or in the virtual classroom? How 443 00:23:50,580 --> 00:23:53,640 do we deal with disturbing material, this 444 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:58,110 includes subject matter that might connect 445 00:23:58,110 --> 00:24:00,690 with racialized trauma in the room. So 446 00:24:00,690 --> 00:24:03,030 again, I framed the discussion of trauma, 447 00:24:03,060 --> 00:24:06,720 teach some skills. But I'll give an 448 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,140 example. I often have shown a film around 449 00:24:10,140 --> 00:24:11,940 the murdered and missing women and if I 450 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,350 can have a local woman come in, who speaks 451 00:24:16,350 --> 00:24:19,020 to this, local indigenous woman, what I do 452 00:24:19,020 --> 00:24:21,780 is I myself create a ceremonial container 453 00:24:21,780 --> 00:24:25,380 in the room. I acknowledge the spirits of 454 00:24:25,380 --> 00:24:27,420 these women are still with us. I 455 00:24:27,420 --> 00:24:29,910 acknowledge the ancestors, I spend a lot 456 00:24:29,910 --> 00:24:32,400 of time in silence acknowledging the pain 457 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,460 in the room. After the film, I’ll allow for 458 00:24:35,460 --> 00:24:38,070 silence. I usually break up people 459 00:24:38,070 --> 00:24:41,430 according to Indigenous, people of color 460 00:24:41,460 --> 00:24:44,700 white people, I really, I don't feel we 461 00:24:44,700 --> 00:24:46,860 should mix everybody up when there's so 462 00:24:46,860 --> 00:24:48,030 much pain in the room. 463 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:49,920 And, 464 00:24:50,580 --> 00:24:52,500 again, it's best to have someone come in 465 00:24:52,500 --> 00:24:54,180 who can speak to the topic, but if you 466 00:24:54,180 --> 00:24:56,370 can't, it's very important to create a 467 00:24:56,370 --> 00:24:59,850 ceremonial container and use silence and 468 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:02,670 you get some people to have some idea of what's 469 00:25:02,670 --> 00:25:05,910 happening in their bodies. And lastly, I 470 00:25:05,910 --> 00:25:08,220 encourage each of us to do our own work, 471 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,100 be it on white body supremacy or 472 00:25:11,100 --> 00:25:14,760 Indigenous, Black or brown. Work for 473 00:25:14,940 --> 00:25:17,610 Indigenous, Black or brown people become 474 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:19,470 aware of the healing traditions in 475 00:25:19,470 --> 00:25:21,630 your own culture and learn to become aware 476 00:25:21,630 --> 00:25:24,060 of when races and constructs when 477 00:25:24,060 --> 00:25:25,770 you're in a situation and you hold your 478 00:25:25,770 --> 00:25:28,530 breath and get to know one's body in 479 00:25:28,530 --> 00:25:30,690 racially charged situations. And that will 480 00:25:30,690 --> 00:25:32,250 give us resources to deal with them 481 00:25:32,250 --> 00:25:38,490 better. Now, I have a few resources. I 482 00:25:38,490 --> 00:25:43,020 have a five I want to share with you. 483 00:25:43,470 --> 00:25:46,200 One is Dian Milion’s book “Therapeutic 484 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:49,290 Nations”, which is an academic analysis but 485 00:25:49,290 --> 00:25:52,170 brilliant of how the trauma economy 486 00:25:52,170 --> 00:25:55,350 relates to Indigenous people. Resmaa Menakem 487 00:25:55,350 --> 00:25:58,710 he is an African American therapist, 488 00:25:58,740 --> 00:26:00,420 he has a book called: “My Grandmother's Hands” 489 00:26:00,420 --> 00:26:05,850 dealing with racialized trauma. 490 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:07,740 I disagree with this one part that we're 491 00:26:07,740 --> 00:26:09,720 going to resolve all racism through 492 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,030 bodywork, because as I said, it's 493 00:26:12,030 --> 00:26:14,310 collective, there are structures that have to 494 00:26:14,310 --> 00:26:16,440 be dealt with. But he has some great 495 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,500 activities for people really helping to 496 00:26:19,500 --> 00:26:22,020 work through the body, the body pain and 497 00:26:22,020 --> 00:26:25,200 suffering, white body supremacy and the 498 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:28,260 pain for racialized bodies as well. And 499 00:26:28,260 --> 00:26:31,080 he's got a great bibliography. Ruth King’s 500 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,240 “Mindful Of Race”, a Buddhist from the 501 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:36,840 insight meditation tradition, very good 502 00:26:37,020 --> 00:26:39,330 work, inner work for people of all 503 00:26:39,330 --> 00:26:42,360 races, that isn't a therapy text where an 504 00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:46,410 author does do, you know, raise issues 505 00:26:46,410 --> 00:26:49,800 for you. She's much more chill with working 506 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:53,160 with meditation. And then I'm recommending 507 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,680 my own book. So a lot of, which looks at 508 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,800 white, white supremacy in the "Great White Helper" 509 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:01,560 but also has a lot of references I've 510 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,950 made. And then, an article an Anishnaabe 511 00:27:05,310 --> 00:27:06,240 Alan Lyon 512 00:27:06,420 --> 00:27:08,100 Lyon, who I 513 00:27:08,730 --> 00:27:12,390 and I’ve written many on Indigenous pedagogy 514 00:27:12,390 --> 00:27:16,050 one is an excellent book on embodiment 515 00:27:16,050 --> 00:27:19,890 and decolonization to help create a more 516 00:27:19,890 --> 00:27:23,070 embodied classroom. So thank you for 517 00:27:23,070 --> 00:27:24,960 listening. I hope this has been helpful.