Moving From Racial Violence and Trauma to Solidarity and Healing

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

The presenters in this session acknowledge that racial violence and trauma stem from white, settler colonialism. They also recognize that it is necessary to move trauma research and scholarship in educational contexts away from pathological discourses that seek to normalize People of Color as their bodies and communities respond to the violence targeting their marginalized identities. In this session, we consider the overarching questions:
What are the existing forms and impacts of racial violence and trauma on marginalized people of color inside, outside, and across various educational spectrums?
How can our work and scholarship influence a greater movement toward solidarity across identity lines?
What are some ways we can cultivate healing opportunities for collective wounds in and around educational contexts?
Essentially, our goal in this session is to name the types of mechanisms that can promote healing and solidarity in and around educational contexts. Our hope is that policymakers, practitioners, and researchers would take the contributions we share and build on them in ways that challenge notions of reductionism and determinism but also encourage collective healing across multiple domains and identity spaces (Alvarez & Farinde-Wu, 2022).

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Esther O. Ohito, Rutgers University

Papers

• Systemically Trauma-Informed Practice: A Case Study - Simona Goldin, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill; Debi Khasnabis, University of Michigan; Addison Duane, University of California - Berkeley; Katrin O Robertson, Wholemindesign Studio for Teaching and Learning

• Racialized Trauma, Love, and Collective Healing - Sharim Hannegan-Martinez, University of Michigan

• Constructing Ecologies of Belonging, Growth, and Healing - Adam J. Alvarez, Rowan University

• (Re)Membering Our Trauma, (Re)Membering Our Lives: The Work of Healing and Mentoring for Black Women Scholar-Leaders - Cynthia B. Dillard, Seattle University; Charisse Cowan Pitre, Seattle University; Paige Gardner, Seattle University

Discussant

• Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Teachers College, Columbia University