“Self-Realization is a process of radical inclusion.”
Bhambra, 2014
In the book Decolonizing Trauma Work (2016), Linklater refers to the work of Couture (2005) who says:
“traditional learning modalities eventually bring one to think intuitively, to think with the heart, to think Circles, to understand and utilize dream, metaphor, and symbol” (p. 13).
I feel a natural curvature happening this week, one that takes me into phase three of this project, which includes a spiraling back to the “beginning” to re-imagine and re-focus as I reflect on where I have been and where I now see this going. While this practicum has a window of time that suggests I move towards a sense of completion, Tiokasin Ghosthorse (2021) reminds us that there is no beginning and no ending, as this journey is a continuum, and we are a spiral, a relational reverberation, and a fractal experience of multi-dimensionality that is highlighted in the phrase ‘as above so below’.
I am mindful that I do not want to attempt to tie loose ends prematurely or create an expectation for myself to have everything figured out, especially not while I am still very much in process. Ghosthorse (2021) mentions this several times in his online series in reference to the Lakota word Wacan, which speaks to the pure energy of life and the continual choice to consciously apply mystery to everything. The way this resonates with me at this point is a reminder to embrace uncertainty, allow myself to be surprised, and to hold my beliefs loosely.
Resmaa Menakem (2021) says that when trauma is decontextualized, in other words, when we don’t see trauma as energy stored in the body and impacting individual and collective choices, it looks like culture. Much of our Western culture is the byproduct of unprocessed (and more often than not, misunderstood) trauma. As we deconstruct colonial consciousness, we must deconstruct our language (Ghosthorse, 2021) and the implicit biases and impulses that are a legacy of the trauma we have inherited (Menakem, 2021; Okun, 2023).
With that in mind, I propose another change to my project’s title. In honor of simplifying, orbiting relationality and healing, and centering a heart-led way of being, I am moved towards the title:
Re-centering the heart to deconstruct colonial consciousness: An autoethnography
I set out on this project to see myself more clearly within the landscape of colonization and white supremacy culture while I engaged in an honest and vulnerable process of sharing. In many ways I was seeking a deeper connection with parts of me that I felt had been both traumatized and indoctrinated from intergenerational and present day experiences as a colonizer and as the colonized. It was important to me to articulate why I was embarking on this path and what I was discovering. As a white-bodied, middle-class, able-bodied, heterosexual, neurodivergent, Canadian cis gender female, who is passionate about the “helping” and “healing” profession, I am aware of the harm perpetuated by folks like me whose good intentions are tainted by lack of awareness and white saviorism (Cargle, 2020). The profession of social work has been scrutinized for many years as towing the line of oppression as “helping” can only go so far when it’s enacted within the confines of an institution regulated by systemic racism and patriarchal domination (Maylea, 2020). I have become astutely aware that I am not interested in simply making the status quo more comfortable for myself or those around me, and for that reason, my audience and scope for this project, and my next steps as a social worker, have become more clear.
To add a bit of context, I attended a webinar this week titled Social Work 101: Unlearn and Practice Authentically, hosted by Kim Young (March, 2024). She spoke to many issues that are perpetuated by the social work profession, including too much focus on micro or individuals and not enough emphasis on the macro of systemic change. Additionally, she made a powerful proclamation that no one needs to be rescued, what people need is equitable access to resources and support that arrives in the form of relationships and ‘walking with’ rather than ‘power over’ (personal conversation, March, 2024). This echoes the aspects of my social work education that I have focused on and why I deem it a top priority to align with a model of practice that expands beyond the limitations of an individualistic, patriarchal and positivist paradigm that is currently embedded within and constraining the field of social work (Boetto, 2017).
At the end of her presentation, I asked Kim Young something along the lines of:
“I hear often that to create change we need to do it from the inside. However, I am hesitant to get both feet inside an agency or institution and am wondering if it is necessary to have that experience to truly be an agent of change?”
She responded by sharing her own experience of working within various agencies and nonprofits, and that it is vital to have connections with folks on the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ as co-conspirators in the pursuit of systemic change (personal communication, March, 2024). This lit me up. Aligning with the Indigenous wisdom of relationality (Wilson, 2019), rather than a singular focus on what I can do as an individual, I am reminded to focus on my connections and relationships, and foster a network of co-conspirators at various levels and positions in society.
While I recognize the need to balance micro and macro social work as “social problems require complex and sustained intervention at all levels of social work practice” (Rothman & Mizrahi, 2014, p. 91), it is the centering of relationships that shifts the epistemological underpinning of practice and its social objectives (Payne, 2020). What this tells me is that my broader goal of deconstructing colonialism and restructuring systems of equity and heart-led ways of being must include the individual and collective work of developing existential intelligence (Gardner, 2020) and dismantling of “ism’s” (Wong, 2018).
For these reasons, I have come to recognize the need for a social work model of practice that is transformative (Braidotti, 2019) and eclectic (Hanrahan, 2011), with a critical framework that encourages the ongoing deconstruction of ‘power-over’ and how that shows up in what we think we know, how we came to know it, and how we developed our skills and responses (Fook, 2015). Transformational social work is a holistic approach that relies on visionary and creative practitioners (Baldwin & Dylan, 2018) who embody the ontologies of relationality and interconnectedness (Besthorn, 2003). Similarly, an eclectic approach with interdisciplinary practice honors relational accountability and equity as core features (Hanrahan, 2011).
With all of that said, at this point in my project, in my career, and in my life in general, my ideal audience are folks who I can co-conspire with through educational and somatic experiences that lead to deconstructing colonial consciousness of our individual psyches and ban together to be more effective in deconstructing colonial tenets of society.
Deconstruction can be quite disorienting and discombobulating. It is an experience of differentiating, and at times, falling apart, in the midst of coming home to what is infinitely stable and enduring. As I rebuild what has been pieced apart, I am reassured by Tiokasin Ghosthorse (2021) who reminds us that this is not a process of re-connecting with self, as that language is what is keeping us separate with the illusion that what we seek is something outside of us, or something that is not inherently a part of who we are already. Coming back to interconnectedness is a coming home to re-membering that we never have been separate. To me this brings life to Bhambra’s (2014) words at the start of this post. What could be more radical than the recognition that who we are is inherently inclusive and interconnected.
References:
Baldwin, C. & Dylan, B. (2018). Critical social work: Past, present and future. Canadian Social Work, 20(1), 7–14.
Besthorn, F. (2003). Radical ecologisms: Insights for educating social workers in ecological activism and social justice. Critical Social Work, 3(1), 66–107. https://ojs.uwindsor.ca/index.php/csw/article/download/5632/4602?inline=1.
Bhambra, G. K. (2014). Postcolonial and decolonial dialogues. Postcolonial Studies, 17(2), 115–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2014.966414
Boetto, H. (2017). A transformative eco-social model: Challenging modernist assumptions in social work. British Journal of Social Work, 47(1), 48–67.
Braidotti, R. (2019). A theoretical framework for the critical posthumanities. Theory, Culture and Society, 36(6), 31–61.
Cargle, R., Hayes, S., & Plummer, S. (2020, June 30). SWCAREs: Social work so white W Rachel Cargle. YouTube. https://youtu.be/WA5ZwkfHLCA?si=3Y566IvNxRY2d5j5
Fook, J. (2015). Critical social work practice. International Encyclopedia of the Social Work; Behavioral Sciences, 287–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-097086-8.28022-7
Gardner, H. (2020). Existential intelligence: Why now? https://www.multipleintelligencesoasis.org/blog/2020/7/8/a-resurgence-of-interest-in-existential-intelligence-why-nownbsp
Ghosthorse, T. (2021). Deprogramming the colonial mind: Re-languaging regeneration. Restorative Practices. https://restorativepractices.com/product/re-languaging/
Ginwright, S. (2018). The Future of Healing: Shifting From Trauma-Informed Care to Healing-Centered Engagement. Medium.
Hanrahan, C. (2011). Challenging anthropocentrism in social work through ethics and spirituality: Lessons from studies in human and animal bonds. Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work, 30(3), 272–293.
Linklater, R. (2016). Decolonizing trauma work: Indigenous stories and Strategies. Langara College.
Maylea, C. (2020). The end of social work. The British Journal of Social Work, 51(2), 772–789. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcaa203
Menakem, R. (2021). My grandmother’s hands: Racialized trauma and the pathway to mending
our hearts and bodies. Penguin Books.
Okun, T. (2023). White Supremacy Culture. WHITE SUPREMACY CULTURE. https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/
Payne, M (2020). The social construction of social work theory. In Modern Social Work Theory (5th edition) (pp. 3-31). New York: Oxford Press.
Rothman, J., & Mizrahi, T. (2014). Balancing Micro and macro practice: A challenge for Social Work. Social Work, 59(1), 91–93. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swt067
Wilson, S. (2019). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Langara College.
Wong, Y.-L. R. (2018). “Please call me by my true names”: A decolonizing pedagogy of mindfulness and interbeing in critical social work education. In Batacharya, S. & Wong, Y-L. R. (Eds.). (2018). Sharing breath: Embodied learning and decolonization (pp.253–277). essay, AU Press. Retrieved November 18, 2023, from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/lib/ucalgary-ebooks/reader.action?pq-origsite=primo&ppg=264&docID=5574863.