Burnout, trauma and care: Dreaming new types of human rights activism together

INVITATION TO A WORKSHOP 

Burnout, trauma and care: 
Dreaming new types of human rights activism together

December 12, 2024, 10 am–1pm — Harvill Building, Room 234

Please RSVP to ivana.radacic@pilar.hr

This gathering is an opportunity to share the hardships and joys of our activism and engage in collective imagination, an opportunity to dream new structures into being. Together we will examine the main problems in human rights framework and the mental health implications of human rights activism, as well as discuss how we can do it more holistically and take care of ourselves and one another. We will share both our hardships and our practices of self-and collective care. In addition to interactive discussion, we will try out a few well-being practices together. There is no cost for registration.

Background
The world as we know it is falling apart, at this time of the dance of Cannibal Giant (Mitchell, 2018).  The international human rights framework seems to be mostly impotent in addressing the multiple and intersecting crises and wars we are currently facing and bringing us closer to unity consciousness. Moreover, there is significant trauma, burnout and depression among human rights defenders, exacerbated by the culture of martyrdom prevalent in human rights activism.

The time of crisis is, however, also a time of opportunity. There is a greater interest in spiritual activism in human rights scholarship, many human rights collectives are coming up with innovative practices of self and collective care, and more emphasis is placed on pleasure, joy and imagination in the human rights activism.

Details

When? December 12, 2024, 10 am – 1 pm

Where? University of Arizona, Harvill Building Room 234

For whom? All directly or indirectly involved with or concerned with human rights and social justice issues (teachers, students, activists, concerned citizens)

By whom?

My name is Ivana Radačić (PhD), and I am human rights academic and activist based at the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia. I have an extensive experience as a researcher, educator, activist in the area of women’s rights in particular, and I was a member of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls. In the recent years, my main research interest has been exploring the inter-relationship between spirituality, healing and social justice, linking spiritual and social transformation. My passion is to bridge the gap between spirituality and social justice.

Last year, as a Fulbright fellow, I developed and ran a course Self- and collective-care, well-being and spirituality: A holistic human rights framework, at Human Rights Practice program of the University of Arizona (Rethinking human rights (education): Spirituality, well-being and social change | Human Rights Practice) and published a paper A spiritually oriented (self)care approach to human rights published which sets out my (initial) approach.

My own spiritual practices and healing modalities include Kundalini yoga, conscious dance, shamanism. I am also trained in integrative body-oriented psycho-therapy. I am regularly teaching Kundalini yoga at Yoga4all Tucson and I was holding women’s circles for many years.

Please RSVP to Ivana at ivana.radacic@pilar.hr