The Community Psychologist Podcast Dominique Thomas and Allana Zuckerman

In this episode, Dr. Vanessa Goodar and Dr. Hareder McDowell speak with us about Black women's radical self-care and sexual communication empowerment. Catch up on the rest of our episodes at https://scra27.org/publications/tcp/podcast/. We've included below the abstracts from their presentations at the 2021 SCRA Biennial.

Dismantling Health Disparities among Black Women, Dr. Vanessa Goodar

Black women are disproportionately affected by heart disease, stroke, diabetes, breast cancer, cervical cancer, fibroid tumors, premature birth rates, obesity, sickle cell disease, sexually transmitted diseases, mental health issues and most recently COVID-19 compared to white counterparts. Resilience and strength characteristics support coping; however, further investigation of research-based, community self-care practice that centers Black Women’s voices is needed to address urgent racial health disparities as well as social and environmental stressors that impact Black women’s health and quality of life. A theoretical socio-cultural economic framework was developed to explore the role of the Strong Black Woman and the five obligations with the highest impact on Strong Black Women’s self-care barriers. Vulnerability resistance, help obligation, religious affiliation, income, and marital status were analyzed (The High Five). Twenty-five self-identifying SBW aged 18- 74 engaged in Photovoice training and defining one of the High Five self-care targets. Next, participants discussed their lived High Five self-care barrier experiences through photographs and collective storytelling. Future research includes identification of culturally responsive stakeholders interested in prioritizing Black women’s self-care actions and stress reduction and planning a High Five Self-care Photovoice exhibit.

Research Specific to Black American Women and Sexuality, Dr. Hareder McDowell

Since the inception of American culture, Black women have been breeders to literally Birth a Nation. However, breeding does not directly correlate with an actual sexual experience. Because sex is required for reproduction, it is assumed Black women were offered the opportunity to explore sex. No, Black women were born into a sexual construct that allowed them to be raped before the term was formally defined. Sex and sexuality are inclusive of body parts that are necessary for sexual pleasure and reproduction. If provided with instruction and education on how the body is used with a consensual partner can lead to healthy and happy sexual experiences. Yet, the ancestors of Black women had no concept of this. To conceptualize the idea that current trends among Black American women and adverse sexuality including lack of orgasms, fulfilling sexual experiences resulting in appeal and satisfaction of sexual encounters, body positivity and reproductive health are directly correlated with the historic sexual abuse, hypertextualization and overall bestiality of forced reproduction. A team of community stake-holders in the sexual health and Black women arena’s ( Christian Community Health Centers, Planned Parenthood, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health) will participate in the Story-telling method, detailing experiences surrounding current sexual health trends and compare concepts inclusive of arranged rape, experimental property for science, body parts as transactional tools and methods during slavery and post-reconstruction compared to what is currently challenging Black women and sexual health today. Should the qualitative method of storytelling\post analyzing photo-voice recordings reflect a potential correlation between current sexual trends of Black women that may directly reflect subconscious and even genetic trauma of the past, continued research would ensue to better gather data on a broader scale to inform the medical field as to how Black women are educated surrounding sexual health and reproductive justice.

This episode is our conversation with Dr. Geraldine Palmer on the issue of cultural looting, specifically relating to the Benin sculptures stolen and claimed through British imperialism. We discuss imperialism, cultural trauma, and the need to dismantle cultural looting to preserve living heritages.

Commentary by Wilfrid Laurier University graduate student Ann Marie Beals on their land acknowledgement from this year's SCRA Biennial Conference: Uprooting White Supremacy

Community psychology graduate students occupy several roles in their institutions. This gives graduate students unique vantages to some of the underlying issues in higher education. Disparities in graduate programs, student mental health, and mentoring are key issues that graduate students may organize themselves around. In our time as graduate students, we walked the various tightropes of scholar/student-activist, student-researcher, lecturer, junior mentor, and student organizer. The typically isolating experience of graduate school is improved when students can find common cause to advocate for and with each other.

For our newest episode of The Community Psychologist Podcast, we invited Georgia State University graduate student Alesha Bond. Alesha is a doctoral student in the Cognitive Sciences program in the department of psychology. She previously co-wrote a TCP article discussing the organizing students engaged in to address issues of diversity and mentoring. We talked about the necessity of student organizing to push for change and the intersections of her research and organizing. Alesha shares some accomplishments, discusses the challenge of navigating power differentials, and provides advice to graduate student organizers.

Cokley, K. & Garba, R. (2018). Speaking truth to power: How Black/African psychology changed the discipline of psychology. Journal of Black Psychology, 44(8), 695-721

Ray, V. (2019). A theory of racialized organizations. American Sociological Review, 84(1), 26-53.

Stewart, T. J. (2020). Capitalism and the (il)logics of higher education’s COVID-19 response: A Black feminist critique. Leisure Sciences, 1-7. DOI: 10.1080/01490400.2020.1774011

Thornhill, T. (2018). We want Black students, just not you: How white admissions counselors screen Black prospective students. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 1-15

We are always looking for additional topics and guests for future episodes. If there is a topic you would like to be featured in a future episode or if you would like to be a guest, please email tcp@scra27.org

For our first episode, we discuss relevant issues to the field of community psychology including key areas we feel are important to consider for community psychology moving forward. We discuss topics such as mentoring in graduate programs, colonialism in the US education system, the increased need for a critical discussion of concrete social issues, the role of the intellectual, and recommendations for the future.

http://scra27.org/publications/tcp/podcast/

References


Daboin, I., Zuckerman, A., Thomas, D., & Borgman, R. (2015). Culturally sensitive mentoring: Reflections from a SCRA roundtable. The Community Psychologist, 48(3), 28-30.
Davis, F. E. (2019). Little book of race and restorative justice: Black lives, healing, and US social transformation. Good Books: New York.
Dutta, U. (2019). Decolonizing “community” in community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62, 272-282.
Lomotey-Nakon, L. L. (2018). Du Bois’s decolonial dragmatism: Teaching community psychology toward epistemological liberation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62, 364-373.
Mayorga, E., Leidecker, L., & Gutierrez, D. O. (2019). Burn it down: The incommensurability of the university and decolonization. Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, 8(1), 87-106.
Thomas, D. (2019). Black Lives Matter as resistance to systemic anti-Black violence. Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, 8(1), 30-45.
Thomas, D., & Zuckerman, A. (2018). Black lives matter in community psychology. Community Psychology in Global Perspectives, 4(2), 1-8.

We are always looking for additional topics and guests for future episodes. If there is a topic you would like to be featured in a future episode or if you would like to be a guest, please email tcp@scra27.org