There is a powerful historical relationship between our disconnection from the natural world and systems of human oppression. By grounding our social justice work in connection with nature, and our nature connection work in social justice, we gain access to new tools and strategies to bring healing and justice to all wounded places--our psyches, our human communities, and our ecosystems.
Join Pinar Sinopoulos-Lloyd and Darcy Ottey of Youth Passageways’ Cross-Cultural Protocols Working Group for an experiential, body-based, trauma-informed workshop. Together, we will build an ecological understanding of power, privilege, and oppression, and explore our own niche within these contemporary structural dynamics.
We will explore power and privilege through the eyes of nature, gaining naturalist skills in awareness, observation, and tracking, and applying them to our social world. The skills and insights gained through our time together will further prepare you to show up with the community you serve, by providing new tools for working with trauma, addressing barriers to inclusivity embedded within your program or organization, and interrupting harmful behaviors.
The intention for our time is to build a community of practice from the region, who can continue to strengthen the intersection of nature connection and social justice work beyond our weekend together. This program is a collaboration between Wilderness Awareness School, Youth Passageways, and Queer Nature
We will cover:
- Mapping our social positions
- Giving environmental educators a systems view of power and privilege
- Widening awareness
- Identifying our impact on the world
- Building a community beyond this day
I am honored to be co-teaching this workshop with Pinar Sinopolous-Lloyd. Pınar has always been allured by how the natural world mirrors one’s internal landscape and the intersections they carry. Enchanted by the liminal, Pınar is a genderfluid QTPOC (Queer/Trans Person of Color) with their mother’s side native to the Americas and father’s side from Turkey which is where they grew up. Their self-designed studies include a B.A. in “Somatic & Depth Ecopsychology” from Prescott College, graduating from the Wilderness Awareness School’s Anake Outdoor School and Wildlife Tracking Intensive as well as other immersive studies at School of Lost Borders, Animas Valley Institute, Naropa University, and Esalen Institute. Pınar is the co-founder of Queer Nature, a collaborative vision with their spouse, So, to cultivate an earth-based queer community rooted in decolonial and queer rites of passage.
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