The seventh annual Center for Communication, Difference and Equity (CCDE) Conference, 鈥淩esistance Through Resilience,鈥� will be held in collaboration with the (91爆料RL).
The two-day conference will consist of listening sessions, workshops and a spotlight panel. This year鈥檚 theme builds off last year鈥檚 event, 鈥�.鈥�
鈥淲hat we started to hear overwhelmingly from those who were involved in the 鈥楺uarantining While Black鈥� project was that they were exhausted,鈥� said, CCDE director and 91爆料 communication professor, 鈥渁nd that they needed other ways to help take care of themselves and their community members.鈥�
With that in mind, Joseph and Resilience Lab director started discussing how to bring contemplative practices into anti-racist work. A grant from the, a nonprofit based in Virginia that was co-founded by the Dalai Lama, the CCDE and the Resilience Lab to unite and address those issues.
The 鈥淩esistance Through Resilience鈥� training and speaker series brings together leaders on campus and in the community to focus on mindfulness and compassion-based practices as tools for interrupting racism.
For months, those thoughts leaders have engaged in conversations about resistance and resilience, said , a doctoral student in communication and a CCDE research assistant. Heading into the conference, she鈥檚 most excited for the opportunity to reflect on those discussions.
鈥淩esisting is tiring work,鈥� moultrie said. 鈥淭he point of this conversation is to have the opportunity to say, 鈥楬ow do we tend to ourselves through the work? How do we tend to our bodies? How do we tend to be present in those moments?鈥� How do we say to ourselves, 鈥業 want to affect change in my communities, but I also want to take care of myself?鈥欌��
Kennedy said working with the CCDE was a chance for the Resilience Lab to think deliberately about racism and how to address it: with a set of practices designed to help people build dialogue.
鈥淚 think we are really in the moment where we鈥檙e needing these types of skills to not just think about, 鈥楬ow I disrupt this moment of microaggression,鈥� but also, 鈥榃hat do I do with the surging anxiety that happens before and afterward?鈥欌�� Joseph said. 鈥淚 hope people will leave the conference feeling like they have some skills in that area.鈥�
The conference will open May 18 with two online sessions. The morning session, 鈥淓veryday Microaggressions, Everyday Awareness鈥� will serve as a primer on the forms of lived discrimination. The afternoon session will be: 鈥淭he Power of Inquiry: Introducing Questioning as the First Anti-Racism Tool for Interrupting Microaggressions.鈥�
鈥淕iven what we know about college, mental health and well-being, we know that BIPOC students are experiencing high rates of mental health struggles,鈥� Kennedy said. 鈥淭hat points to social factors like the climate and culture and experiences of imposter syndrome, discrimination and microaggressions.鈥�
On May 19, four community leaders will participate in an afternoon spotlight panel. The speakers are, an information systems retiree who grew up in Texas during the Jim Crow era;, acting chair and associate professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health at the 91爆料;, assistant director of graduate student affairs in the 91爆料 Graduate School; and Marsha Rule, retired editor of 91爆料 Medicine Newsroom.
鈥淭he way that we do our work matters,鈥� Kennedy said. 鈥淧art of resisting is working collaboratively rather than at cross purposes with one another toward common outcomes. I think coming together is part of how we鈥檙e going to create better outcomes for students and all of us. How we work together matters.鈥�
The conference is sponsored by the Mind & Life Institute, the 91爆料鈥檚 Diversity and Inclusion Seed Grants, the 91爆料 Department of Communication and the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.