The Advisory Board has been brought together by the UNESCO Routes of Enslaved People in 2018. The members of the Advisory Board are scholars, professionals, experts and practitioners of collective healing and racial justice. Each member generously offers their time on guiding and advising the progress of the collective healing initiative.

Benjamin Bowser (Ph.D. Cornell University) is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Social Services, California State University East Bay in Hayward, California. He was the university’s outstanding professor in 1996. As a sociologist, he specializes in research methods, public health, and community assessments. He has served on three Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Science) expert panels focused on drug abuse and HIV risk. Dr. Bowser was elected President of the Association of Black Sociologists in 2004, served as Interim Dean of his college and department chair. He was a visiting professor at the University of Paris (La Sorbonne) in 2005. His books include: co-edited with Aimé Charles-Nicolas (eds.) The Psychological Legacy of Slavery in the Western Hemisphere (2021); with Chelli Devadutt, Racial Inequality in New York City Since 1965 (2019); and Paul Lovejoy and B.P. Bowser (eds.) The Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery: New Directions in Teaching and Learning (2013).

Katrina Browne produced/directed the Emmy-nominated Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, a documentary about her slave-trading ancestors from Rhode Island, the hidden history of the North’s complicity in slavery, and her family’s reckoning with questions of privilege and repair today. Traces premiered at Sundance (2008), and then aired on PBS (broadcasts also in Canada, Cuba and Bermuda). Katrina travels extensively with the film as a speaker/trainer – in the U.S. and overseas. She co-founded The Tracing Center on Histories and Legacies of Slavery to help improve how slavery is taught in schools and interpreted at historic sites and museums. The film contributed to the Episcopal Church’s 2006 decision to atone for its role in slavery. Katrina now works for the Church as a consultant on their Becoming Beloved Community racial justice and healing initiatives. She has a particular focus in her work on the range of psychological/emotional legacies of slavery and racism in white Americans, and how to transform dynamics such as denial, defensiveness or shame into heart and mind-states that can be in service to racial justice and right relationship.

Aimé Charles-Nicolas is a professor of medicine, medical psychology, and psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine of the French West Indies and Guiana. Specialised in addiction medicine, he participated in the creation of the Marmottan Hospital in Paris in 1971 and served for several years as the director of the Pierre-Nicole Centre in Paris, a residential facility for people with severe drug addictions. He is credited with introducing the concept of conduite ordalique (ordeal-seeking behaviour). He is also the founder and president of the association FIRST CARAIBES. In September 2008, he was awarded the Légion d’honneur. Together with the Regional Association FIRST CARAIBES, he co-organised the first International Scientific Colloquium on the theme “Slavery: What impact on the psychology of populations?” as part of the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent 2015–2024, held in Martinique on 26–27 October and in Guadeloupe on 28 October 2016.

Rob Corcoran is a trainer, facilitator, writer, and racial healing practitioner. He has led workshops among diverse and polarized groups across North America, Europe, South Africa, Brazil, India, and Australia. He is Trustbuilding Program Design & Training consultant for Initiatives of Change International. He served as the national director for Initiatives of Change USA and founded Hope in the Cities, its internationally recognized program for racial healing in Richmond, Virginia, engaging city government, universities, museums, business leaders, faith communities and nonprofit organizations. He collaborated in the creation of a dialogue guide for President Clinton’s race initiative and consulted with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in the launching of its national Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation enterprise. He is the author of Trustbuilding: An Honest Conversation on Race, Reconciliation, and Responsibility, (University of Virginia Press, 2010). He currently lives in Austin, Texas.

Joy Angela DeGruy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication, a Master’s degree in Social Work (MSW), a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Social Work Research. Dr DeGruy is a nationally and internationally renowned researcher and educator.  For over two decades, she served as an Assistant Professor at Portland State University’s School of Social Work and now serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Joy DeGruy Publications Inc. Dr DeGruy’s research focuses on the intersection of racism, trauma, violence and American chattel slavery. She has over thirty years of practical experience as a professional in the field of social work. She conducts workshops and trainings in the areas of Intergenerational/Historical trauma, mental health, social justice, improvement strategies and evidence-based model development.

Amina Dikedi-Ajakaiye has been actively involved in the work of the Initiatives of Change (IofC) since 1982. In 2001 Amina and others launched an international pan-African ethical leadership programmes across Africa for 10 years. From 1994 to 2013 Amina served as International Coordinator to the Creators of Peace (CoP), a global network of women in 50+ countries using Creators of Peace Circles, workshops, personal encounters, community building activities and international conferences to effect change. Amina has been a Board member of IofC Nigeria since 2012 and has been a member of the IofC African Coordination Group (ACG) 2007 – 2010, and from March 2014 to 2017, as convenor of the ACG. Amina served as the President of Creators of Peace International (2017- 2023). Currently, she is a trainer for the Dialogue for Social Cohesion module of IofC UK’s Refugees as Re-Builders course (2024-present) and co-designed the Collective Healing Circles (CHC) programme.

John Franklin serves as Cultural Historian and senior manager in the Office of External Affairs at Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Mr Franklin received his bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Stanford University, with a focus on French-speaking West Africa and Caribbean societies. He later did graduate work at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies focusing on African development issues. Prior to joining the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Mr. Franklin served as a Program Manager and Curator with Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, where his responsibilities included curating the annual Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival’s programming around Washington, D.C, Mali, Cabo Verde and Bahamas. Mr Franklin also served as Programme Specialist in the Smithsonian’s Office of Interdisciplinary Studies where he organized conferences on Black Francophone Presence in the U.S, African Americans and the Evolution of the Living Constitution, African Immigration, West Africa Research and Human Rights and Scientific Progress and seminars on Cultural Diversity.

Sylvester Jones was a former Program Officer at Fetzer Institute. His professional work experience includes serving as city administrator for the City of Flint; working as a program officer for the Ruth Mott Foundation; serving as the president and CEO for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Flint; serving as a 21st Century Community Learning Center Coordinator for the Flint Community Schools; and working as a senior associate for the United Way of Genesee County in both fund development and fund distribution. Sylvester thus brings a wealth of experience in human services, youth development, and spiritual transformation. Sylvester has been instrumental in supporting the UNESCO Intergenerational Dialogue and Inquiry (IDI) for Collective Healing pilots, and the UNESCO Collective Healing Circles (CHCs) pilots in global communities.

Machiel Keestra is the co-founder of Keti Koti Table, an initiative that facilitates personal dialogue method focusing on the mitigation of racism, discrimination and stereotyping, in the context of shared post-slavery and post-colonial histories. He is the Central Diversity Officer at the University of Amsterdam since February 2022, implementing diversity, equity and inclusion, coordinating and supporting the University’s Diversity Officers and other relevant networks in their efforts in offering (un)solicited advice on relevant issues.  With a background in philosophy, psychology and cognitive neuroscience, Keestra is also an assistant professor with tenure at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies at the UvA, teaching bachelor and masters programmes in philosophy, history of science, diversity, philosophy of cognitive neuroscience and interdisciplinary research.

Katherine Marshall is Senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, where she leads the center’s work on religion and global development, and a professor of the practice of development, conflict, and religion in the Walsh School of Foreign Service. She helped to create and now serves as Executive director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue. Marshall, who worked at the World Bank from 1971 to 2006, has nearly four decades of experience on a wide range of development issues in Africa, Latin America, East Asia, and the Middle East, particularly those facing the world’s poorest countries. She led the World Bank’s faith and ethics initiative between 2000 and 2006. She serves on the boards of several NGOs and on advisory groups, including AVINA Americas, the International Shinto Foundation, the Niwano Peace Prize International Selection Committee, and the Opus Prize Foundation.

Ali Moussa Iye holds a PHD in Political Sciences from the Institute of Political Sciences in Grenoble, France.  He was journalist, editor in Chief of a weekly Newspaper and Director of Press and Audio Visual in Djibouti . He joined UNESCO in 1997 as Coordinator of the Programme of Culture of Peace in the Horn of Africa and then of the Programme on the Fight against Racism and Discrimination. Before leaving UNESCO in 2019, he directed two important UNESCO Programmes: The Routes of Dialogue (Slave Route Project, Silk Roads project ) and the General and Regional Histories Project. He is the Coordinator of the General History of Africa project. Dr Moussa Iye is involved in research in Political Anthropology and has published several books on the endogenous democratic institutions and practices in the Horn of Africa. He is the founder of a new think tank called “AFROPROSPECTIVE: A Global Africa Initiative”.

Ola Osman is an Assistant Professor of African Studies at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow at Trinity Hall, and a senior gender consultant with the United Nations World Food Programme. She earned her Ph.D. in Politics and International Studies from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar and her Master’s degree in Women’s Studies from the University of Oxford, supported by the Clarendon Scholarship and the Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud Scholarship. Her research reframes what are often described as “ethnic” wars in Africa by situating them within the longer history of Atlantic slavery. She is also engaged in applied research on women, climate change, and food security in Ethiopia.

Joe Louis Washington is a human rights advocate, social critic, curator of stories, and peacebuilder. Joe’s professional background spans the areas of university related teaching and training (including in various capacities as an international lecturer and trainer in human rights and conflict resolution); public policy development and analysis; philanthropy; and peacekeeping. Joe has presented papers and/or published articles on topics related to conflict prevention, the right to self-determination, human security, Gandhian approach to non-violence, the rights of indigenous peoples, and barriers to the effective implementation of human rights, specifically economic, social and cultural rights. Among Joe’s various activities include: Organizer and Curator, hiSTORY, herSTORY, theirSTORY, mySTORY, ourSTORY; Collaborator, Ubuntu House; President – Global Vision Institute (GVI); Fellow, Complexity University; and Managing Director of the soon to be launched The Nia Foundation (TNF).

Mercedes Zandwijken is a social activist and the founder of the Keti Koti Dialogue Table. Trough dialogue and rituals, Zandwijken commemorates the history of enslavement and the contemporary consequences thereof. She does this by specifically bringing Black and White people in contact with each other, in order to exchange experiences and raise awareness about the history of enslavement.