Somatic Abolitionism offers the body as an entry to healing and transformation. What can the application of this concept by Resmaa Menakem and the practices that accompany it provide towards our reimagination of theatre?
Mpoe Mogale and dancer Pam Tzeng reflect on what it means to bring abolition into the body — the embodied connection being a fundamental piece of abolition in addition to, of course, theatre.
Featured artists
Credits
Director: Mpoe Mogale
Cinematographer and Editor: Alyssa Maturino
Featuring: Mpoe Mogale and Pam Tzeng
Choreographer: Mpoe Mogale
Content based on work by Resmaa Menakem
Transcription
Mpoe: My name is Mpoe Mogale, and I am recording this on Treaty 7 Territory, specifically in Mohkinstsis, where the bow and elbow rivers meet.
I came to abolition through Black Feminists scholars and the abolition writings of Angela Davis and Mariame Kaba for instance. As well as I came to abolition with a historical context that made this more than a concept for me. It resonated, and I had seen what these Black Feminists were proposing in action. I had seen it growing up. My mama was raised in a village called Ga-Mphahlele, which was only a few kilometres away from where I grew up. This community is a bit far from “social services” such as police stations for example. So, the community continues on with their traditional methods of justice, which are centered around relationality and healing. So, I had seen that, and know that, there are other options that really hit at what justice is, and that don’t put – that don’t equate justice with punishment necessarily.
So, I’ve practiced abolition in my daily life for several years now, but somatic abolition is something that is very new to me; and when I came across the podcast by Trista Tippe with Resmaa Menakem, it seemed to me that somatic abolition was a necessary addition to my lens.
So, I’ve known Pam Tzeng for quite some time now and recently have gotten the most delightful pleasure of deepening my relationship with her.
Pam: As I came upon the book My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem, who is an incredible specialized trauma therapist who works with police, who works with just clients of all different lived and experiences who are Bodies of Culture. Specifically Bodies of Culture, in contrast to using the words or the term “People of Colour.”
Mpoe: Right.
Pam: And body of culture as a reclamation of the culture that was stolen from so many of us.
Mpoe: When you mentioned that you came [to Somatic Abolition] through Transformative Justice, abolition theory, and the framework and the work as well, and I am curious how you see the connection between the two.
Pam: Yeah. Well, I mean TJ to me is about really honouring and finding within oneself the sense that no one is disposable.
Mpoe: Mmm.
Pam: That is a big, big, ask.
Mpoe: Yes, yeah, yeah.
Pam: Uhm, and that there is always – there is the potential for accountability, and there is the attending to who is harmed as a priority.
Mpoe: Yes.
Pam: But also having compassion and grace.
Pam: If I am really angry…
Mpoe: Mhmm
Pam: Oftentimes, it all gets caught into my throat, and I feel like I actually can’t speak.
Mpoe: Mmm.
Pam: And sometimes, what is beautiful – what’s interesting about the practices of somatic abolition or as Resmaa shares the work, is thinking about, ‘well, is that old pain or new pain?’
Mpoe: Right, right.
Pam: And what have the voices of my lineage…
Mpoe: Mmhhmm
Pam: …been silenced, and how does that show up in my expression, in my ability to voice what is true to me?
White bodies need to build the culture to deal with the reality of race on their own. Somatic abolition insomuch is about communally – we’re culture building.
Mpoe: Right.
Pam: Essentially. Building a culture that acknowledges that – acknowledges white body supremacy, that acknowledges the humanity and diginity of bodies of culture. That affirms that there is time. There is time. We’ve been taught that there is none, but, there is… time.
Mpoe: Yeah.