Reading Group

FORTHCOMING READING GROUP

Saturday 25th January 2025, 2.00pm – 4.30pm

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem

In this book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.

The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. Menakem argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn’t just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans—our police.

My Grandmother’s Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.

• Paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system.
• Offers a step-by-step healing process based on the latest neuroscience and somatic healing methods, in addition to incisive social commentary.

The book is divided into three main parts:

• Part I: Unarmed and Dismembered This section introduces the concept of “white-body supremacy,” which refers to the trauma embedded in the bodies of all Americans, regardless of race. Menakem argues that racism is not just a cognitive issue but a bodily one, passed down through generations.
• Part II: Remembering Ourselves This part offers body-centered activities and exercises to help readers heal from racialized trauma. It includes specific guidance for Black, white, and law enforcement bodies.
• Part III: Mending Our Collective Body The final section provides tools for extending individual healing to communities, workplaces, and society at large. It emphasizes that everyone can contribute to healing racial trauma.

Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, is a therapist with decades of experience currently in private practice in Minneapolis, MN, specializing in trauma, body-centered psychotherapy, and violence prevention. He has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil as an expert on conflict and violence. Menakem has studied with bestselling authors Dr. David Schnarch (Passionate Marriage) and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score). He also trained at Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute.
Free on Amazon Audible and widely available in bookshops / libraries.

Saturday 22nd March 2025, 2.00pm – 4.30pm

The Shamima Begum Story (2023) by Joshua Baker, BBC

In this reading group, we will discuss the BAFTA award winning, BBC documentary on the story of Shamima Begum.

Shamima is a British-born woman who left her home in Bethnal Green, London, at the age of 15 in 2015, with two school friends of similar age to join the caliphate created by the Islamic State.

In 2019, Shamima was found in a refugee camp, having suffered terrible loss. Shamima was considered a threat to British safety, and the decision was taken by the then Home Secretary to remove her British citizenship. Shamima is currently stateless and appears to have exhausted the legal means to challenge the court decision without political intervention. Shamima’s lawyers argue that Shamima was a victim of child trafficking.

In this BAATN Midlands Reading Group we will also discuss the implications of this story. For example, how Shamima’s situation invites us to reconsider ideas of nativism, whether people born into the UK with migration ancestry should have the same rights, and how safeguarding processes and national security can at times appear at odds with the rights of trafficking victims.

We have added below a link to the documentary available via the BBC. The programme is also available on various subscription streaming channels. Please be aware that this is a very emotive subject, and therefore may require extra effort to look after yourself when engaging with the requirements of this group.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001j079

Outline

BAATN Midlands will hold a bi-monthly Reading Group focusing on a particular piece of writing (fiction/non-fiction), film, podcasts and/or other media, relevant to the theme of race.

In the Reading Group we will discuss the background of the author(s), the socio-political contexts, the thoughts, feelings and experiences when engaging with the material and consider how the themes generated through reading and discussion are relevant to theory and practice.

This Reading Group has been created for the practitioners amongst us that enjoy to read, but find little space and time to immerse themselves in the experiences of reading.

Facilitators

Edieneh Spence | Vedia Maharaj | Ian Thompson | Jill Morgan

Gathering Statement of Purpose

Read the Statement of Purpose for all our gatherings.

Venue

Online meeting via Zoom.

Zoom is free to download and use. For more information about Zoom click here.