GHFP Dialogue, Events, Media, Healing, PsychoSocial

Special Event on 1st June 2023 during 2nd Session UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent Special Event

On 1st June 2023, during the second session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, a Special Event was co-created by the UNESCO and the GHfP Institute, featuring our team’s presentations on how the intergenerational dialogue and inquiry has contributed to healing, resilience and well-being.

Our partners highlighted the magic of the dialogue circles and that it is in the circle where the legacies of enslavement and colonialism are acknowledged, the transgenerational trauma recognised, the human bond cherished, and systemic transformation imagined.

One of young participants articulated clearly as follows: “I lost faith in the current systems, but I regained faith in the circles.” The encountering, listening, storytelling, and re-storying, continue to unfold in the circle where participants of different generations and backgrounds collaborate in healing and co-creating a system of caring.

SchertoGill Announcement, Dialogue, Events, Media, Healing

UNESCO Webinar: Understanding Intergenerational Trauma 11 May 2023 @16.00 UTC / 17.00 BST / 18.00 CEST

The UNESCO Routes of Enslaved Peoples Project and the Global Humanity for Peace Institute, University of Wales Trinity St David (UWTSD), are jointly hosting an exciting international webinar series entitled: New Perspectives on Collective Healing, Social Justice and Well-Being.

The 2nd webinar of the Series featured the presentations from the keynote speakers, Dr Joy DeGruy and Thomas Hübl (PhD), who are both renowned for their insights into intergenerational trauma and collective healing.

Following their keynote presentations, Joy DeGruy and Thomas Hubl engaged in a dialogue about the opportunities and challenges of healing the wounds of history and ancestral trauma, and how global communities must take responsibility for supporting a flourishing future for the whole of humanity.

Keynote Speakers

Dr Joy 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. (JDP). Dr DeGruy is committed to the healing of those that continue to suffer from past and present injuries and for the well being of all people.

As a result of twelve years of quantitative and qualitative research, Dr DeGruy has developed her theory of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, publishing her findings in the book “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome – America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing”. The book addresses the residual impacts of generations of slavery and opens up the discussion of how the black community can use the strengths we have developed in the past to heal in the present.

Thomas Hübl, PhD, is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator whose lifelong work integrates the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. The origin of his work and more than two decades of study and practice on healing collective trauma is detailed in his book Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds. Thomas’ next book, Attuned: Practicing Interdependence to Heal Our Trauma—and Our World, will be published in September, 2023.

Mysticism and the principles that guide the actualization and practice of embodying these profound experiences are at the heart of Hübl’s teachings. In all his courses, participants can expect to learn from his extensive experience as a teacher of meditation and study of wisdom traditions. His didactic talks draw from evidence-based research and the leading edge of transpersonal, interdisciplinary studies.

SchertoGill Announcement, Dialogue, Events, Media, Healing

UNESCO Webinar Series: Opening Session 3rd APRIL 2023 16.00 Paris Time / 15.00 London Time

The UNESCO Routes of Enslaved Peoples Project and the Global Humanity for Peace Institute, University of Wales Trinity St David (UWTSD), are jointly hosting an exciting international webinar series entitled: New Perspectives on Healing, Justice and Well-Being.

In this opening session held on Monday 3rd April on Zoom, Mrs Gabriela Ramos, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, was joined by Professor Medwin Hughes, the Vice Chancellor of UWTSD, to introduce the series.

The keynote speaker for this session was Zeinab Badawi, the award-winning international TV and Radio journalist who has worked on a major 20-part TV series on the History of Africa.

Following the keynote presentation, Mrs Gabriela Ramos and Ms Zeinab Badawi engaged in a deep dialogue about UNESCO’s Routes of Enslaved Peoples project and the significance of learning from the history of Africa, including exploring the importance of giving voice to people of African descent, and valorising their culture and contributions to modern societies.

Keynote Speaker

Zeinab is an award-winning international TV and radio journalist. She produced and presented a major 20-part TV series on the History of Africa through her own production company for BBC World News.  She is currently writing a book on the History of Africa. 

Zeinab Badawi a BA Hons in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and a post-graduate degree in history (awarded with a distinction) from SOAS, London University. She has worked extensively in the British media for four decades, and is best known for her work in the BBC’s international division at BBC World News TV and BBC World Service Radio on programmes such as ‘Hard Talk’, and ‘Global Questions’.

Zeinab is President of SOAS, London University, a member of the International Advisory Boards of think-tanks Afro-Barometer and the Mandela Institute for Development Studies,  a member of the high-level panel of the Africa Europe Foundation, a board member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, a council member of the Arts, Humanities and Research Council of UKRI,  a director of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Royal Opera House and Hampstead Theatre in London, and she is a member of Italy’s annual Venice Seminar.    

Zeinab was a member of the Rhodes Commission (2021) on the future of the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford.  She has previously served on the boards of the British Council, BBC Media Action, the National Portrait Gallery, the Institute for Historical Research, the Overseas Development Institute and has been Chair of the Royal African Society and Article 19, the freedom of speech advocacy organisation.  She was also on the advisory board of the Foreign Policy Centre.  

Zeinab has received many media awards as well as honorary doctorates from SOAS, London University, York University, and the University of the Arts London; and she is an honorary fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford University.  Other awards include the President’s Medal of the British Academy for her services to broadcasting and education, the UN Association-UK Sir Brian Urquhart award for distinguished service to broadcasting, education and the UN, and International TV Personality of the Year awarded by the Association of International Broadcasters. 

GHFP Dialogue, Events, Media, PsychoSocial

Trauma of slavery and epigenetics

Epigenetics is the study of biological mechanisms that can switch genes on and off.  Recent epigenetic studies have shown that stress, socio-economic deprivation, racism and other traumatic experiences of our ancestors can play a part in turning on or off certain genes in our DNA. That is to say, for instance, the trauma of slavery can be passed on transgenerationally.  See an example in the work by Professor Ariane Giacobino.

Several of the forthcoming UNESCO Symposium contributors have argued for the importance of healing the trauma of slavery, such as in the work of Professor Joy DeGruy, who maintains that the systematic dehumanising effects of slavery have continued to impact many African American people’s experiences in the world.  Equally, Professor Aimé Charles-Nicolas has called for systematic healing of transgenerationally transmitted traumas inherited directly from slavery or passed down through racism rooted in slavery.  Such an imperative has been reinstated in the International Scientific Colloquium on “Slavery: what is its impact on the the psychology of populations?” in Martinique and Guadeloupe on October 2016.

Professor Benjamin Bowser and others also urge our societies to pay more attention to how education might continue to perpetuate such trauma, and likewise, new approaches to teaching and learning about trans-Atlantic slave trade and slave history may contribute to healing and cultural transformation.

GHFP Dialogue, Events, Media, Education

Traces of the Trade

TRACES OF THE TRADE: A STORY FROM THE DEEP NORTH

In this Emmy-nominated documentary, filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers that her Rhode Island forefathers were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history.  She and nine relatives decide to retrace the Triangle Trade: from a port town in Rhode Island, to slave forts in Ghana, to the ruins of one of their family’s sugar plantations in Cuba.  Step by step they uncover the vast extent of Northern complicity in slavery, and thus come to see that slavery built the nation, not just the South.  They meet with people of African descent abroad and at home and grapple with questions of white privilege, healing and repair in the present day.

While still in rough-cut form, the film contributed to the Episcopal Church’s 2006 decision to issue an apology for its role in slavery and embark upon research, repentance, dialogue and repair processes in dioceses around the country that are still on-going.

Traces of the Trade premiered in 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival, and then aired nationally on PBS.  The film has contributed significantly to the growing public awareness in the last 10-15 years about the role of the North in slavery.  It has also been broadcast in Canada, Cuba and Bermuda, and has screened in numerous European, Caribbean and African countries.  Family member Tom DeWolf published a book about the family journey: Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History.

The film is used extensively in schools, universities, museums, religious denominations, workplaces and professional conferences for education and heart-felt dialogue.  A nonprofit was formed out of the film, The Tracing Center on Histories and Legacies of Slavery.  It helps museums and historic sites improve how they interpret slavery for the public (including via a published collection of essays) and on helping teachers improve how they teach slavery.  Another ripple has been the formation of the Center for Reconciliation out of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island.

Ms. Browne specializes in bringing attention to “racialized emotions” and particularly the psychological legacies of slavery for white Americans and how those hinder restorative justice.  She contributed a book chapter on how these legacies manifest in the classroom to: The Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery: New Directions in Teaching and Learning.  She is currently developing a multi-session film-based race dialogue series curriculum for the Episcopal Church and other interested denominations.

GHFP Activity, Dialogue, Events, Media, Projects, PsychoSocial

Coming to the Table

Coming to the Table is a national organization whose vision for the United States is of “a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial wounds of the past – from slavery and the many forms of racism it spawned.” It started its work in 2006 from the efforts of Susan Hutchison and Will Hairston, both descendants of European heritage enslavers who had formed bonds with descendants of people their ancestors had enslaved.

The name of the organization comes from the “I Have a Dream” speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King. The mission of Coming to the Table is to “provide leadership, resources, and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal wounds from racism that is rooted in the United States’ history of slavery.” Coming to the Table promotes four approaches to achieving its mission.

Coming to the Table holds National Gatherings every two years. There are also local groups around the country.  Another national but virtual component of Coming to the Table are its working groups, such as the Linked Descendants working group.

Through the Coming to the Table website, anyone may have access to a set of recommended resources. STAR, Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience, is a workshop. Transforming Historical focuses STAR on the trans-generational transmission of harms done by injustice and inequity. Other resources come from the domain of Restorative Justice.

In the local and national gatherings of Coming to the Table, two tools are used consistently: the Circle Process and These Guidelines for Sensitive or Challenging Conversations. The book, Gather at the Table, is an accessible entry into Coming to the Table’s work and a good starting point for conversation.

 

GHFP Activity, Dialogue, Events, Media, Projects

Race, Reconciliation, and Responsibility

For over two decades, Initiatives of Change (IofC) USA has developed Hope in the Cities which aims to transform Richmond, VA, from a symbol of racial division to a model for reconciliation. Richmond was the nation’s largest interstate slave market in the first half of the 19th Century and capital of the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

Hope in the Cities is a citizen-led effort which brings together a network of leaders in non-profit and business sectors, local government, media and education, from across the political spectrum and of all cultural and religious backgrounds. By facilitating honest conversations, by focusing on acknowledgement, healing and understanding, and by encouraging personal responsibilities, Hope in the Cities continues to help build capacity of community leaders who are working for racial healing and equity.

Rob Corcoran, founder of Hope in the Cities, is a facilitator and trainer, and the author of Trustbuilding: An Honest Conversation on Race, Reconciliation, and Responsibility. The book captures the processes, experiences and learnings from engaging in the work and its application to other communities. His paper for the National Civic League entitled Building Trust in the Heart of Community reflects further on this deeply transformative and ongoing journey.

Richmond was selected by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation as one of 14 locales to implement Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation. 

GHFP Activity, Dialogue, Events, Media, Projects, PsychoSocial

Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation

Kellogg Foundation‘s Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) enterprise has initiated a national process aimed at addressing centuries of racial inequities in the United States. TRHT seeks to advance racial healing in communities across the country to create environments where everyone can thrive. It is based on the understanding that the roots of slavery is the belief in a hierarchy of human value, and by jettisoning such a belief, and transforming our collective consciousness, we can re-envisioning a more humane, equitable and loving society.

The Design of TRHT focuses on changing narratives, enabling healing and relationship building, developing more systemic transformation through law and economy. For more information on the TRHT, please read:

TRHT-Booklet

TRHT-Design-Team-Recs

TRHT-Implementation-Guide

 

GHFP Activity, Dialogue, Events, Media, Projects

UNESCO 2018 Symposium Agenda

The partners have intended for the October 2018 Symposium to be truly dialogic and therefore, the provisional agenda allows much space for in-depth conversations and discussions amongst the contributors.

The Symposium will begin with two important sessions, one on the historical contexts of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery, and the other on the psychosocial consequences of that slave history. These two sessions would provide the group with shared understanding of the trans-Atlantic slave histories and the resulting cultural and psychological traumas experienced by African Americans and their descendants. They help us to see more clearly the current deep-seated institutionalised racial prejudices, racism and discrimination in contemporary societies across the Americas.

For the greater part, the Symposium contributors will work in small groups for deeper and more focused dialogue about key questions concerning healing, and mutual recovery.

Most importantly, the participants will review existing healing endeavours in the Americas and identify meaningful and innovative ideas for possible grassroots and community-based projects.

UNESCO Symposium, October 2018, Agenda.

GHFP Dialogue, Events, Media, PsychoSocial

UNESCO 2018 Symposium Announced

Entitled “Healing the Wounds of Slavery: Towards a Mutual Recovery“, the Symposium is co-organised by the UNESCO and GHFP, and hosted by the Berkley Centre at the Georgetown University, Washington DC. on 18-19 Oct. 2018.

This dialogue amongst carefully selected multidisciplinary experts is envisioned to address the root causes of racial prejudices, racism and discrimination derived from slavery, past and present. In particular, this symposium Continue reading “UNESCO 2018 Symposium Announced” →