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Reviews tagging 'Slavery'
My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
4 reviews
katharina90's review against another edition
slow-paced
1.5
I completely agree with the foundational argument of this book. White supremacy lives in our bodies, not just our minds. Trauma, incl. racial trauma, is carried in our bodies and passed down through the generations. It affects and harms all bodies, incl. white ones.
As a result, healing trauma has to include working with the body. Don't rely on only rationally processing trauma (talk therapy). Learn to recognize how trauma shows up in your body and how to regulate your nervous system.
If you process your trauma and protect others from it, e.g., your children, you can pass down resilience instead of trauma.
After the author laid out the above early on, the book started to resonate less and less. Mostly I just found it repetitive but it also contained some very weird takes and offputting statements, incl. fatphobic and police apologist/reformist nonsense.
We can't self-care our way out of systemically violent and racist policing. Officers who meditate, get massages and take bubble baths will not magically stop being agents of white supremacy and state violence. And referring to the murders of unarmed Black adults and children as "errors" is really not it.
As a result, healing trauma has to include working with the body. Don't rely on only rationally processing trauma (talk therapy). Learn to recognize how trauma shows up in your body and how to regulate your nervous system.
If you process your trauma and protect others from it, e.g., your children, you can pass down resilience instead of trauma.
After the author laid out the above early on, the book started to resonate less and less. Mostly I just found it repetitive but it also contained some very weird takes and offputting statements, incl. fatphobic and police apologist/reformist nonsense.
We can't self-care our way out of systemically violent and racist policing. Officers who meditate, get massages and take bubble baths will not magically stop being agents of white supremacy and state violence. And referring to the murders of unarmed Black adults and children as "errors" is really not it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Fatphobia
leweylibrary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.25
First, I want to thank audiobooks for helping me finish a book I just could not bring myself to read the physical version of 🙌
Second, this book made me realize how much I absolutely just do not pay any attention to my body and how it reacts to things. Because of that and because of my other attention issues, the body exercises in this book were so weird and difficult for me. I just couldn't do them or take them seriously, even when I was really genuinely trying. It's like yoga, I'd always overthink it or ruin the mindfulness in one way or another. I'm sorry, but I just don't think I'll ever be able to literally see my ancestors and don't really have any desire to wash anyone's feet.
So! If you're like me, you might struggle too with that part of this book, but I'm sure many others will get a lot of value from these bits, so read this book! It's at least worth it for the discussions on how our bodies remember and react to trauma, generational body trauma, white body supremacy, white body fragility, and creating healing cultures. I also want to keep this book to refer back to some of the strategies for grounding and settling your body because I feel like those could be really useful for my socially anxious and non-confrontational self.
Second, this book made me realize how much I absolutely just do not pay any attention to my body and how it reacts to things. Because of that and because of my other attention issues, the body exercises in this book were so weird and difficult for me. I just couldn't do them or take them seriously, even when I was really genuinely trying. It's like yoga, I'd always overthink it or ruin the mindfulness in one way or another. I'm sorry, but I just don't think I'll ever be able to literally see my ancestors and don't really have any desire to wash anyone's feet.
So! If you're like me, you might struggle too with that part of this book, but I'm sure many others will get a lot of value from these bits, so read this book! It's at least worth it for the discussions on how our bodies remember and react to trauma, generational body trauma, white body supremacy, white body fragility, and creating healing cultures. I also want to keep this book to refer back to some of the strategies for grounding and settling your body because I feel like those could be really useful for my socially anxious and non-confrontational self.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Police brutality, Torture, Death, Violence, and Slavery
lucy12345's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Slavery, Murder, and Gaslighting
Minor: Body shaming and Gaslighting
caterina's review
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
So torn. There is valuable stuff in here about embodiment and racialized trauma. But also very reformist-apologist approach to police (barely made it through the "police bodies" sections), some concerning comments on physical health (e.g. fatphobia), and other things in need of critique. Yet - in the end, thinking about intergenerational trauma for both white and Black bodies and thinking about racialized trauma in bodies was worth the read. And the body practices were, on the whole, solid.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Police brutality, and Racism
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Fatphobia
The animal cruelty and animal death is the first few paragraphs of chapter 16, and it's very shocking and jarring.
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