Challenging the Colonial Gaze of Racial Violence: Decentring Whiteness in Trauma-Informed Social Work Practice with Racialised Communities
This workshop invites participants to engage with emerging and shifting perspectives in trauma studies, grounded in the lived knowledge and practices of racialised communities- a core concern in social work practice.
Detailed Description
Tuesday 10 March at 2pm-5pm
£50 per person
Online via MS Teams
Open to: Social workers, teachers and professionals working with BIPOC communities
Speaker: Dr Jordanne Edwards (Practitioner-Researcher in International Development and Social Work)
This workshop invites participants to engage with emerging and shifting perspectives in trauma studies, grounded in the lived knowledge and practices of racialised communities- a core concern in social work practice. The session draws on Dr Edwards’s research exploring how anti racism activists in Luxembourg and Australia construct the meanings and experiences of trauma. Building on these insights, she highlights the crucial importance of understanding how racialised communities make sense of racial violence, the trauma it produces, and the strategies of resistance and response that arise from within these communities. This workshop offers a reorientation: Recognising that while trauma profoundly affects racialised communities, responses are often deeply rooted in agency, historical wisdom, and collective action. It also challenges practitioners to reflect on how their own perspectives of trauma may be shaped by whiteness and it’s colonial gaze. This gaze risks positioning racialised people as disempowered or lacking knowledge and awareness of systemic violence.
For enquiries please contact us at socialchangehub@sussex.ac.uk.
Please read out terms and conditions and cancellation policy on Sussex Social Change Hub website.
