Heather Hackman
After Heather Hackman received her doctorate in Social Justice Education from the University of Massachusetts, she served as a tenured professor in the Department of Human Relations and Multicultural Education at St. Cloud State University and taught courses on a wide range of social justice issues. In 2005 she founded Hackman Consulting Group and began to regularly consult on issues of deep diversity, equity and social justice with an emphasis on issues of racism and whiteness, gender oppression, heterosexism / homophobia, classism, and climate justice. In 2012 she resigned from SCSU in order to consult and train full time.
Presentations from Facing Race 2018
No Wholeness, No Liberation / Know Wholeness, Know Liberation: Embodying Living Systems and Decolonization to Strengthen Our Racial Justice Work and Resiliency
What kinds of futures of belonging and liberation can we envision and embody? How can we look to creative models of change such as arts-based engagement, mindful reflection, and living systems theory and practice to improve our analysis, actions, and resilience?
In broad brush strokes, this workshop suggests that creating deep change regarding the systems of racial oppression relies on four main elements: 1) being able to hold a vision that we can move into once the system is dismantled (liberatory capacity and decolonized vision for what is next / what we can be), 2) being able to accurately assess the system and name what it is doing (awareness of how the system racism and whiteness function), 3) being able to change the system (skills and tools to advance real, deep change rather than superficial shifts that leave the roots of racial oppression intact), and 4) embodying belonging and liberation as we go, leading to greater resiliency and well-being.
This session uses embodied racial justice tools (grounding in, tracking, engaging with artistic representations, and resiliency tools), critical race theory, and social justice education strategies in order to connect decolonization on the individual level to the dismantling of racial oppression on the systemic and structural levels. More specifically, participants will further develop authentic (systems) analysis frameworks, rooted tools for systems change, and capacities for living into liberation by engagement with concrete strategies on the four elements via partner conversation, silent reflection and small group work.
Speakers: Sonali Sangeeta Balajee, Heather Hackman