Introductory Course
Anti-Racism Training for Non-Black People of Colour
2025 dates coming soon.
This training is targeted for people who wish to practise anti-racism and who are neither white nor Black. Perhaps you notice that when you encounter discussions about race and racism, you have confusions and questions around where to place yourself. Non-Black People of Colour can be both targets of racial discrimination, and enacters of racism themselves. It is essential that we learn to understand our role in anti-racism.
Because racism is so insidious, when you make changes to how you respond to racism, you make profound changes to yourself on other levels too. The journey can be exciting and deeply rewarding.
This training responds to two specific conditions which are present in our current times:
Racism Itself
Many of us live in diverse communities, and feel that we stand against racism of any form. Yet the facts of the racial disparities which are present at every level of society, show us that racism is still alive and well.
Anti-Racism as White-Focused
Anti-racism teaching most often targets a white clientele. This means that Non-Black People of Colour are pretty much asked to imagine that we are white, or almost-white, in order to have a part in anti-racism!
About Your Teacher
I am a scholar, an author, and a healing practitioner. I am of mixed ethnicity and mixed cultural experience. I have over 20 years’ experience as a scholar of literature and race, and I have been teaching yoga for almost 15 years. I believe in and experience anti-racism as a vibrant combination of cultural education, self-enquiry, and healing.
My academic work focuses on African American and Black British literature, diaspora, cultural memory and aesthetics. My book, The Cultural Memory of Africa in African American and Black British Fiction, 1970-2000, was published by Palgrave in 2016, and my articles have appeared in a range of scholarly journals. My work has been called “boldly progressive” and “exhilarating”, and my yoga and doula clients find me “enlightened”, “welcoming”, and “inspirational”.
In this training I use the specific tools which have helped me to engage in the ongoing journey of decolonising myself, and to build anti-racist resilience in the skin I am in.
These tools include:
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literature, culture, and decolonial theory by writers, artists and thinkers of colour. We look at work from Black, Asian, indigenous, and mixed heritages.
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yoga and embodiment practices as the ground for our journey of anti-racist self-enquiry. Through working with the body we build an honest and committed relationship with self.
How it Works
Timing
This course is delivered over a period of 8 weeks. The course starts 5 September and we will meet every Thursday 7:30-9pm on Zoom. You need to be available for all/most of those dates as the class is not recorded to ensure privacy as we tackle some personal topics.
Format
We will start our 90-minute Zoom sessions with some yoga or embodiment practices, to get us grounded in our bodies. We will then open the floor for sharing which will be composed of discussion of the lecture topic and the reading, as well as sharing from our journalling wherever desired.
Materials
Each week there will be a 20-25 minute pre-recorded lecture, a few pages of reading, and some prompts for reflection and journalling. These will be sent out a few days before class, and you will be expected to attend to those materials before we meet.
Support
All course materials are delivered through our online course hub, which also acts as a community where you can engage in dialogue with fellow course members and your teacher. All course members may also have a 30-minute 1:1 teacher-student debrief at the end of the course.
Secure your place
Book your place on the course. Spaces are limited to keep the course small and intimate.
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Anti-Racism Training for NBPOC
525
or
or contact me to discuss payment options.
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What does this training do differently?This training will hone your self-awareness, and is designed for NBPOC. You will not be a footnote in a training designed for white people. This is a highly personalised, small-group experience. You will learn live and in community. Tools from Black, Indigenous and Global Majority cultures are employed to educate and build racial awareness and competence. Yoga and embodiment practices ground this work in our feelings and our senses, the places where we store our oldest knowings, memories, and even intergenerational experiences. Addresses intellectual and cultural knowledge as well as embodied and felt experience.
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What can I expect from this training as an experience? What will I leave with?There is potential for deep and transformative healing work from this training. If you give the work a good level of attention, and allow some spaciousness around the work, for purposes of integration, it can change your life. The course includes: 8 x 20-min pre-recorded lectures 8 x few pages of pre-reading provided weekly 8 x short taught yoga/embodiment practices 8 x 1 hour supported discussion and reflection Journalling prompts Group and teacher support via course hub 30-min 1-1 debrief with teacher at end of course
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What happens if I miss a class?Our group sessions will NOT be recorded. This is in order to encourage a contained sharing space in which the sacredness of everyone’s individual journey is protected. If you miss one of the live sessions you may still complete the pre-reading and pre-listening, journalling exercises, and join the online forum discussion for that week.
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What level of prior anti-racism education is expected before taking this training?The training is designed to meet people coming from a wide range of prior anti-racism experience, from someone with no or very little reading or experience, to someone who is quite experienced with the topic. We will encounter the set readings together, and each bring our own unique insights. On this course, also, anti-racism is taught in an embodied way, and in that aspect of the practice we are all always discovering and rediscovering our relationship with ourselves.