Faculty Advisor

Kigar, Sam

Area of Study

Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Publication Date

Summer 2021

Abstract

Healing justice (HJ) is a term and movement created by queer and trans people of color which combats the burnout and ableism in social justice work. It was created in response to the lack of access to quality healing services and health care for oppressed peoples and centers the decolonial modalities of healing used by oppressed communities. Healing justice holistically intervenes on intergenerational trauma and violence by providing individual and collective care, pushing back against the co-opting and capitalizing of Black and Indigenous healing practices to exclude the communities they were originally created to serve. I conducted virtual ethnographic research with a Los Angeles-based grassroots organization at the center of this movement, called Dignity & Power Now. Community members in the organization participate in digital healing justice spaces which were created due to the inability to gather in person. Work within these spaces facilitates connection to nature, spirituality, and activism in the non-digital lives of the individuals who participate. Work within these spaces allows individuals to claim their stories, develop sovereignty over the bodies, and empower their communities.

Award

Chism Award

Publisher

University of Puget Sound

Download

Share

COinS