Reclaiming Black Wellness
Through exclusive portrayals of self-care and wellness, we, as people of color, are often taught to earn rest. Our workshop seeks to decenter systems based in white supremacy and capitalism that perpetuate the myth that Blackness and wellness cannot coincide. Black Diasporic communities have been keeping ourselves well for generations. Following this tradition, this wellness session will offer participants various activities that allow us to tap into modes of rest, healing and connection for us and by us. These activities include guided and movement meditations, collaborative group discussions on wellness, and reflective journaling. The purpose of this session is to create much needed space to explore what wellness means to us, why it is important, barriers to accessing wellness as people of color, and ways to reclaim wellness practices despite these barriers. The session will conclude with actionable and personalized means of incorporating wellness into their daily lives. Join us as we breathe, slow down and tap into a practice of collective care.
Presenters: Whitney Grinnage-Cassidy and Destiny Rosulme
Track I: Joy and rest as resistance: (Re)envisioning wellness, self-care, and resilience
Stokes Hall 104
Prioritizing Joy through Values-Based Self-Care
In the relentless pursuit of academic success, the importance of holistic wellness often gets overshadowed. This workshop aims to delve into the vital but often neglected realm of mental, emotional, and physical health, particularly for students of color. By reframing rest as an act of resistance against systems that perpetuate burnout culture, participants will explore strategies for reclaiming agency over their well-being. Drawing inspiration from James Clear’s book “Atomic Habits” and therapist Kirsten Fuchs’ article where they share their insights on self-care, attendees will craft personalized plans for self-care rooted in their core values and aspirations through interactive activities and discussions. Through this journey of self-discovery and habit formation, we will embark on a path where joy thrives, resilience flourishes, and self-care becomes our greatest act of resistance.
Presenters: Woodkensia Charles and Gabriel Angrand
Track I: Joy and rest as resistance: (Re)envisioning wellness, self-care, and resilience
Stokes Hall 014
Stillness Within Movement: A Contemplative Approach to Protests
This workshop delves into the unique concept of Buddhist protest and its application in the modern world. It offers a fresh perspective on protests, promoting a contemplative approach that blends stillness and movement, silence and sound. Participants will be introduced to meditation techniques, aiming to foster spiritual discomfort as a tool for growth and change. The session includes a group discussion and video analysis of a protest.The concluding talk emphasizes the value of presence, understanding, and non-judgmental witnessing in the face of conflict. This workshop seeks to equip participants with the ability to approach protests in a mindful, contemplative manner, fostering a deeper understanding of the dynamics at play.
Presenters: Paola Monseratt and Kaya Fruchtman
Track II Artivism, sound, and movements: (Re)fashioning the ways we organize and advocate for change
Stokes Hall 102
Haverford’s Janitors’ School (and the Racial History of our Buildings)
This workshop gives a summary of what can be known about Haverford’s 1934 program, “Janitors’ School,” where Haverford’s janitors were offered classes in history, economics, and psychology. After a few years, this program fell into abeyance. Today, the story of Haverford’s Janitor’s School is not well known. The workshop includes the story of Janitors’ School as an introduction to a Regional Geography of Haverford’s buildings. Participants are invited to share their experiences of similar buildings on their own campuses, and how they may reflect their institution’s racial or cultural history. How can we think through critical theories of our academic buildings? What impact can this have on our organizing for change? The story of Janitors’ School and Critical Geography will take about seven minutes. The remainder of the workshop will be an interactive discussion: Conversation about the buildings in which we have our classes or work; as well as our own work for racial justice. Using specific examples, how can this research be made accessible, and amplify movement-building? How can we avoid the pitfalls of academic subculture?
Presenter: Sachio Takashima
Track III: (Re)imagining what’s possible for ourselves, our institutions, our communities, and our world
Founders Hall 2nd floor Landing and Balcony (right above Founder’s front entrance)
Yellow Peril Supports Black Power: 1960s Solidarity Movements Inspiring the Present
In the United States, the interests of different racial and ethnic groups are portrayed as conflicting or entirely antagonistic in an effort to divide People of Color (POC). Rather than reinforce harmful stereotypes, Organizing to Redefine “Asian” Activism (ORAA) will focus on building greater solidarity between affinity groups on campus. This workshop will explore the ways in which POC can engage in productive interethnic collaboration using the legacies of ethnic organizing groups from the 1960s-1970s, such as Fred Hampton’s Rainbow Coalition, to inspire what is possible in the TriCo and beyond. This workshop will combine teaching and discussion to connect the efforts of the Black Power Era to today and to gauge how to best increase engagement in organizational efforts. Our discussions will focus on the ongoing pro-Palestine demonstrations in the TriCo and last semester’s sit-ins as relevant current issues of interethnic solidarity and support. Our work matters because without a broad base of interethnic collaboration, there is little hope for institutional change from the ground up. Existing scholarly journals and historical newspapers will be used for the research of our workshop’s teaching component, and interviews with anonymous participants in TriCo demonstrations will be used to shape group discussion questions.
Presenters: Marco DeStefano, Evan Wang, Akira Tanglao-Aguas
Track III: (Re)imagining what’s possible for ourselves, our institutions, our communities, and our world
Lutnick Library 202
Intention and Identity as Catalyst for Resistance/Activism
The past few years have been a politically tense environment for both colleges and the nation alike. Pulling from the 2020 Haverford strike along with the ongoing pro-Palestinian activism, two current Haveford students dive deep into a reflective conversation about the role of student organizers in academic institutions. This moderated panel will explore how one’s intention and different identities while organizing can play a role in the long-term sustainability of student-led movements. The panel will be followed by an audience Q&A session.
Presenters: Aissatou Seck, Aysha Syeda, and Julian Jackson moderating
Track III: (Re)imagining what’s possible for ourselves, our institutions, our communities, and our world
Stokes Hall 106
Resilience as Existence: Reimagining Healing and Rest
We will explore the topic of joy and rest as resistance, particularly from our perspectives as first-generation POC children of immigrant parents. Our presentation will focus on the importance of resting and healing, re-examining what resilience means to us in particular, and how to practice self-care. We will be challenging the audience to question their own definitions of these terms, with the hopes of unlearning negative patterns of guilt or shame when practicing self-care or healing.
Presenters: Sam Kim and Veronica Mellado
Lutnick Library 230