Understanding Racial Trauma and Cultivating Awareness & Healing through Embodied Practice for Intersecting Jewish Identities

The Jewish Somatic Antiracism Collaborative is a project of Mitsui Collective that brings together somatic healing frameworks, antiracist and counter-oppressive praxis, and Jewish cultural and spiritual wisdom to enable greater individual and collective liberation in and beyond Jewish communal life. 

Community Session Info & Invitation

Be a part of our community-engaged research — conducted by and for the communities most impacted — on the dual embodied impacts of both racism and antisemitism on Jews of Color.

As part of our first community-engaged research project, we are seeking Jews of Color to participate in a 90-minute community engagement session. Sessions are facilitated by members of our research team — all Jews of Color — and include embodied learning and guided reflection, questions about your experiences with racism and antisemitism in both Jewish and non-Jewish spaces, somatic resourcing, and facilitated group discussion and sharing. 

Interested Jews of Color are asked to sign up for one community session (you’ll see multiple dates available — note that some dates may become full as we are limiting numbers for each session to maintain an appropriate size). 

Participants will receive a $72 honorarium in the form of gift cards sent by email post-session. Please also share amongst your communities and networks! 

Following our community sessions, we will synthesize and analyze what we’ve learned from the community sessions alongside other related research and resources; and will then publish our research and design resources primarily intended to benefit Jews of Color in navigating and healing the traumatizing impacts of racism and antisemitism in and beyond Jewish spaces. Anticipated Publication Date: September 2023 // Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) 5784

Please join us! Your input and shared experience is a critical and invaluable contribution to this research that we hope and intend will be of deep learning and benefit to our communities.

Note: If sessions are sold out, additional spots may be available on a case by case basis. Please email info (at) mitsuicollective.org and let us know which session you are interested in attending.

Register Below

FAQ

Background 

  1. What is somatic antiracism?

Somatic antiracism applies the understanding and navigation of how our bodies experience and are impacted by the world around and within us (somatics) to the multi-layered construction of racialized identity, the impact of these identities on our own sense of self, on our perception of others, and on interpersonal and communal dynamics as work towards dismantling racism and other forms of oppression (antiracism).

  1. What is this research project?

The formal title of our project is “Understanding Racial Trauma and Cultivating Awareness & Healing through Embodied Practice for Intersecting Jewish Identities.” 

  1. Who is involved in this project?

The Jewish Somatic Antiracism Collaborative was founded by Enzi Tanner, Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife, and Yoshi Silverstein. It is organizationally housed within Mitsui Collective, a Jewish non-profit who mission is to build resilient community through embodied Jewish practice and somatic antiracism. Enzi, Keshira, and Yoshi are involved in this project as both Project Designers and Communal Facilitators. Also involved in this project are Ngozi Williams (Project Coordinator) and Imani Romney-Rosa Chapman (Project Design and Research Lead).

The Jewish Somatic Antiracism Collaborative is funded by the Jews of Color Initiative and Schusterman Family Philanthropies.

  1. What is Community-Engaged Research?

As a community-engaged research project, our primary objective framework is “to involve the people who are most likely to be affected by an issue as partners in the research process [so that] research becomes a tool to be used by communities, rather than knowledge taken from communities.” This research is not intended to be viewed or understood as “academic” research such as that conducted through formal academic institutions. Ethical obligations are not under formal review through an Institutional Review Board (IRB) but are nonetheless upheld with responsibility to individuals and communities involved and served through the research and its intended outcomes.

Data Usage

  1. Who will have access to raw data? Who will have access to published results? Who does this research belong to?

Only the members of the Collaborative, which includes three session facilitators, two project coordinators, and one research leader will have access to raw data. Published results will be shared as part of an open-source resource for the Jewish community, both JOC and non-JOC, to access and use to inform community practices. This resource will be hosted on the Mitsui Collective website for all to access. This research, however, belongs to the JOC community. Rather than the traditional exploitative model through which community research is traditionally collected, we will centralize the JOC community in all we do to ensure that our processes are always respectful and collaborative rather than extractive.

  1. How will this research be used? 

This research will be quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed to examine the dual impact of racism and antisemitism on Jews of Color, and to create a resource that helps JOCs navigate the trauma and healing around these experiences.

  1. What are the goals of this research? 

Our highest goal is to support Jews of Color as they experience the dual impact of racism and antisemitism both inside and outside of the Jewish community. Through the information we gather, we intend to create a resource that helps Jews of Color heal from these impact forces, and helps the Jewish community at large mitigate the harm of these forces on our community. A more complete list of our research goals is also below.

Methodology

  1. How do engagement sessions work?

Two (sometimes three) facilitators will be co-running the session and moderating the space. One project coordinator will also be present for admin of the Zoom space and note-taking. We are requesting cameras on as it is required to take notes on group dynamics, body language, etc. Transcript will be running but sessions will not be recorded. Direct quotes may be taken but will be decoupled from identifying characteristics to preserve privacy.

  1. How long will sessions take? 

Sessions are scheduled to run for 90 minutes.

  1. Are participants compensated for their time and labor? 

Yes! Honoraria of $72 per participant will be disbursed via emailed gift card after the completion of the sessions.

Demographic Information

You’ll be asked to share information that helps us learn more about who is participating in our programs and helps us strengthen our progress towards equity goals. Information shared here may be used to quantify research findings and is kept fully confidential. Any personally identifying information from the application above will be separated from any shared demographic response data. 

Overall Research Goals

While final content and design for resources and materials will be influenced by our learnings from community engagement sessions, we anticipate these materials will serve: 

  1. To better support Jews of Color in understanding the complex dual impact of racism and antisemitism on their personal identities and experiences.
  2. To better support Jews of Color in navigating trauma & healing related to the above dual impact through culturally expansive somatic frameworks and practices. 
  3. To strengthen collective capacity for JOC-oriented programs and organizations to cultivate communities of mutual care and support. 
  4. To strengthen the ability for Jews of all racialized backgrounds and identities to understand the complex intersection of racism and antisemitism as they impact embodied identity. 
  5. To strengthen the ability for the Jewish community at large to cultivate more nuanced and whole understandings of how racism and antisemitism impact the entire community.