March 25 Workshop with Dr. Kerr Mesner

Bodies on the Line: Contemplative Practice and Gender Diversity

In this online workshop with Dr. Kerr Mesner, participants will explore how contemplative practices can strengthen and sustain our work in fighting transphobia in our educational institutions, governments, healthcare systems, and communities.

• Friday, March 25th, 3 – 4:30 pm ET (12 noon – 1:30 pm PT)
• Registration: ACMHE Members: $10 / Non-members: $35 (ACMHE members receive a $25 discount: join ACMHE)
• Broadcast via Zoom. Connection information will be shared once registered. Registration closes an hour before the event.

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2021 is on record as being one of the deadliest years for trans people, with the vast majority of victims being trans women of color. In addition to Texas’ recent anti-trans directive, there are currently more than 100 state level bills circulating that aim to restrict trans folks’ access to a range of systems, services, and activities. Some of these bills directly target trans youth, many of whom are students in our college and university classrooms.

In this workshop, we’ll learn about the current sociopolitical climate for trans, non-binary, and gender expansive individuals, as well as some of the ways that gender diversity directly impacts the culture of our own college or university. We’ll look at ways that we can engage and get involved in this activism ourselves, as well as how our own contemplative practices can ground and support us in this work.  We will do all of this work with an intentional focus on the practice of reflexivity: that is, the ways that our own identities, experiences, perspectives, and beliefs, shape and inform our engagement with this work.

This workshop will combine contemplative practice, discussion, and information sharing, to help us forge connections between our own contemplative practices and our commitment to gender justice. This shop is facilitated responsively to the needs of the participants, and will be experiential, interactive, and participatory. Participants will receive a resource handout with additional links for further reading and professional development.

Participants will leave with:

• A deeper understanding of the current sociopolitical climate for trans, non-binary, and gender expansive individuals;
• An understanding of the ways that gender diversity impacts the culture of our own college or university;
• An awareness of the ways that contemplative practice can support and deepen our work in honoring gender diversity;
• An understanding of how our own social location shapes and informs our engagement with this work;
• A sense of community, connection, and support as we explore how to do this work in our own communities

This will be a live workshop; it will not be recorded.
We invite you to be present with us!