Publisher's Synopsis
These politicized practices invite an embodied sense of collective safety while making militarized borders, policing, and nation states obsolete. We need the resources offered in this book; from understanding geopolitical impacts of intergenerational trauma, to self-regulation in conflict, to cultivating long-haul relationships. The book uses the case study of Jewish embodied experience by interrogating how Zionism weaponizes Jewish trauma while antisemitism drives a wedge between Jews and other oppressed people. These tactics of white nationalism, imperialism, and fascism are addressed through an anti-Zionist orientation to historical events alongside practical somatic tools to move through internalized trauma and oppression and interrupt cycles of intimate and systemic violence. This framework is situated in a lineage of politicized healing and somatics that is rooted in resistance to authoritarianism - including many antifascist Ashkenazi Jewish practitioners in 1930s Europe. As the terms 'somatics' and 'trauma' have been mainstreamed, this book is a timely offer to move from individual awareness to collective action. Weaving political theory and embodied practice, each chapter opens with a connection to a plant or body part and closes with list of embodied practices to fuel resistance and resilience. At a time where colonial imperialism in the US and Palestine are rearing their heads and right-wing authoritarianism is on the rise globally, this book will equip you with the theory and action to move from rugged individualist models of self-help/preservation to liberatory frameworks of collective care and solidarity.
