Pre-conference Intensive on Friday November 9th
Online Registration closed! Come to room 324 at NUNM to pay at the door.
But I am an Ally!: How Healing and Herbalism can be Oppressive and How to Not be That "Ally"
pre-conference intensive with La Loba Loca
Space is LIMITED
12:30-5:00 Friday, November 9th
How does healing/herbalism equate with liberation for all peoples? In what ways does white supremacy and colonialism impact how we "perform" healing? How do we move away from liberal "cultural sensitivity" towards dismantling white supremacy? How does academia/capitalism/white supremacy impact non western knowledge systems? How are we implicit in oppressive herbalism/healing? These are many of the questions that we will talk about in our session. We will analyze our relations to power structures, power dynamics and our privilege. Through mindfulness, personal narrative, group exercises, presentations and herbal medicine we will address these issues from a decolonial, queer feminist and political perspective.
Since the political is never separate from healing, we will be working with Flower Essences (F.E.). They are medicines that work in many levels, we will focus on calling in courage and addressing fear. Healing and restructuring oppressive behavior is not a "feel good" place. This is not a "feel good" intentisive, the goal is not for you to feel like you "did something". Our goal is for you to have tools to go out there and do something about it. Be about it and honestly not be that "ally" that forgot allyship is constant work and not an identity.
What I bring to the space:
I have been involved in the autonomous health movement for over a decade. I first started this work greatly influenced by the feminista and autonomous health movement in Abya Yala (South America). I am a Brown Queer Migrant GNC Folk Herbalist from the Andean region. I have mostly learned my crafts from my aunts, grandmothers, my garden, Indigenous Elders and fellow radical POC practitioners. While I do not have all the answers, I wanted to create this space to talk about the ways in which herbalism/healing can replicate oppressive patterns. My identities greatly impact how I unpack these issues, and my privileges limit my analysis too.
Who is this for?
The workshop is particularly set up towards educating white practitioners but all are welcome.
Medicine Making:
All participants will get to take home a zine about this very topic. At the end of the session we will be making flower essence mixes for people to take home. Flower essences are energetic imprints of a flower in water that is later stabilized with alcohol. They do not smell nor do they have material parts of the plant. Participants will get to make their own personalized flower essence mixes. THE FLOWER ESSENCES WILL CONTAIN ALCOHOL. Participants will get a mini-zine with further instructions on how to work with the flower essence.