mapping transformation - a study of abolitionist praxis

mapping transformation

diana ballesteros

a study in abolitionist praxis published 2023

what radicalizes a person? what conditions are necessary for us to transform?

all that you touch you change. all that you Change Changes you. the onlylasting truth is Change.

God is Change.

EARTHSEED: THE BOOK OF LIVING -Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower

becoming a social worker and then an educator, for me, has been the moment of "radicalization." being aware of and witnessing the challenges my students face in often oppressive, violent spaces has me pondering about a few things:

1) what is the purpose of schools?

2) what if we could redefine that purpose?

3) what could these institutions become? tackling these questions requires the activation of

our collective radical imagination.

how do we activate our collective radical imagination?

“Historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz talks about the process of

“unforgetting.”

The divisions between us are only possible because we have forgotten our history, forgotten our creation stories. Forgotten how to articulate the knowledge that is held in unspoken ways. Unforgetting is the process of reclaiming that knowledge—of moving these truths that our society holds silently out to where we can articulate them and examine them. Then we can see if they really are a center worth revolving around, worth the emotional response they engender."

-Patty Krewac, Becoming Kin

how far back does the harm go?

John Gast, Manifest Destiny, 1872

The Morrill Land Grab Act, 1862

what do we do with the harm?

when we are in conversation with one another, we activate parts of ourselves and our memories that may be lying dormant. it's been through learning and unlearning with my students, that i've come to trace the lines between seemingly disparate harm.

questions i have been pondering: 1) what strategies allow us to engage in vulnerable, loving, liberated relationships that encourage collective growth?

2) how do we move beyond acknowledgement of interpersonal and/or institutional harm towards healing?

3) how might engaging with land support our healing efforts? What role can schools play?

everything worthwhile is done with others.

-Mariame kaba

ategy r t S t n erge m E f o own ments r e l b E e e e r h T e ma adrienn ween t e b p i onsh i t a l e r rge al: the t a l c a d r n F a 1. all the sm hange c e w how : e v i t p da ce & A n e d n . e 2 p re and a e Interde w o : wh n 3. o i t a z i ral share decent e w w tive ho a m r o f Trans & e and c r n e e i l v i o s c e e we r 4. R w o h : e Justic rm transfo ilities: how ossib p e r o s life ting m d a r e a r C w o .

5 ve t we mo

what you pay attention to grows.

focus on one thing at a time.

music will help you get through.

take risks.

allow yourself to rest. sleep fuels our dreams & vision. community is everything

communicate in your own special and unique ways!

be adaptive.

when all else fails...

interdependence is key. move at the speed of trust.

be your own light. trust your pace.

dance!

ies t i l i b i ss o p t a wh th e d n o ey b t s i e ex w s e r tu s tru c ? kn ow

de Oliveira Andreotti, Stein, Ahenakew, Hunt (2015). Mapping interpretations of decolonization in the context of higher education. Decolonization: indignity Education & Society 4(1), pp. 21-40.,

where life is precious, life is precious.

-Ruth Wilson Gilmore

notes

coming soon: www.abolitionpraxis.wordpress.com