Programming: Community Conversations

A dije Community Conversation on Healing and Liberation from Racism with Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis

On September 17th, 2020, the dije Office invited Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis to lead a community conversion on Healing and Liberation from Racism. Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis is a licensed psychologist, professor of psychology at Pepperdine University, and director of the Culture and Trauma Research Lab. She is a past psychology representative to the United Nations and a past president of the Society for the Psychology of Women. Dr. Bryant-Davis has published and presented on the societal trauma of racism.

During the community conversation, Dr. Bryant-Davis discussed the psychological effects of trauma and racism. The key themes that emerged from the discussion were racial trauma, healing, liberation, Black Women, mental health, and the superwoman syndrome. We would love to have Dr. Bryant Davis back for future events because she was magnificent.

“There is Nothing Fragile About Racism:” A Community Conversation on Decentering Whiteness with Dr. David Humphrey & Dr. Maren Oberman

On November 20th, 2020, dije’s own Dr. David Humphrey and Dr. Maren Oberman led a community conversation entitled “There is Nothing Fragile About Racism: A Community Conversation on Decentering Whiteness with Dr. David Humphrey & Dr. Maren Oberman.” The conversation focused on racism at the systemic and personal levels, and key strategies to reckon with the manifestation of White Supremacy in our own institution. During the conversation, participants broke out into affinity groups to discuss ways in which identity groups can dismantle white supremacy. Overall, the workshop encouraged participants to understand their own whiteness, positionality, and identity, as well as to develop knowledge about how to decenter whiteness on an institutional level.

WHAT THE BODY REMEMBERS: A dije Post-Election Community Conversation on Healing and Liberation

On November 4th, 2020, the dije Office invited Dr. Maria Hamilton Abegunde to host a healing space and community conversation entitled “WHAT THE BODY REMEMBERS: A dije Post-Election Community Conversation on Healing and Liberation.” Dr. Abegunde is founding Director of The Graduate Mentoring Center and Visiting Lecturer, Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. Her research is grounded in contemplative practices and respectfully approaches the Earth and human bodies as sites of memory, and always with the understanding that memory never dies, is subversive, and can be recovered to transform transgenerational trauma and pain into peace and power. During the conversation, Dr. Abegunde explored notions of care during difficult times, addressing racial trauma and creating and sustaining personal and community practice. Dr. Abegunde’s words allowed SOE community members to breathe, pause, and listen in a stressful time.