Transformation – Race Reflections Internal Conference, Saturday 9th July 2022
INTERNAL RACE REFLECTIONS CONFERENCE
‘TRANSFORMATION’
09.30 AM – 16.30 PM (BST)
Talks will take place throughout the day from members of the Race Reflections team, with the addition this year of breakout rooms to facilitate true, rigorous reflection, and exploration of ideas and thoughts, as well as to aid accessibility for members. We hope that you can join us for another jam-packed year of provocative talks and discussions around this year’s theme of ‘transformation’.
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Confirmed Speakers:
Mel Green – Teaching to Transgress in Online Education
The phrase ‘Education as a practice of freedom’ became even more of an oxymoron during the global pandemic when teachers and students were forced into lockdown and teaching and learning were pushed online. However, Mel Green believes online educators are still able to teach to transgress by offering critical, engaged and compassionate pedagogies.
In this talk, Mel considers the seminal work of bell hooks ‘Teaching to Transgress’ in relation to online education.
Dionne Anderson – Black Joy Isn’t Radical. Transformational Thinking in the Pursuit of Happiness
The self-work required to transformatively approach thinking, feeling, being and seeing joy can be difficult for those that live on the outer periphery – even as the global majority. As marginalised people, we can often feel unworthy of joy, fearful when sharing joyful moments publically and unsure of if the joy we do receive is going to last. This short talk will aim to leave guests inspired by the notion that joy is our birthright and, in a position to question thoughts and ideas that no longer serve us, as we embark on a life set to overflow our cup with fulfilment and happiness.
Charlotte Maxwell – Transforming Participatory Research in Mental Health
Coproduction and PPI have become increasingly common in mental health service provision and research. Whilst being important and necessary elements of this work, the nature of these processes can reenact power dynamics and harm those with lived experience who participate. This talk will explore current problems in the practice of co-production and means of transforming current processes to centre on lived experience and mitigate co-option by those in power.
Guilaine Kinouani – Thinking with the body, music as knowledge
Black musical practices and the way we move our bodies to rhythms are deeply connected to African philosophical assumptions. Despite what western science seeks to demonstrate, movement and music are a source of embodied knowledge. In this musical intervention, I will seek to use Congolese music and dance to illustrate these points to encourage us to think with the body.
Simone Koylsh – Transforming the Reproductive Justice Agenda: Including Trans and Non-Binary People
In this talk, Dr. Kolysh will discuss their current research and the importance of including transgender and non-binary people in conversations about reproductive justice. Transgender and non-binary people take up reproductive journeys such as fertility treatment, pregnancy, and labor and face hostility and marginalization because of
their gender and other statuses. It’s time to move beyond discussing these issues as ‘women’s issues’ to reflect a more expansive reality.
Lucia Sarmiento – Anti-oppressive praxis: exploring transformative ways of being and relating.
In our journey to develop an anti-oppressive praxis and unlearn many of the messages we have internalised, we might sometimes reproduce the same dynamics that we are trying to fight. Individualism, perfectionism, blaming and shaming can become ways in which we harm ourselves and others. This talk will reflect on these realities and on what taking care of
oneself might mean in light of them, and beyond modern capitalistic notions of self-care.