Recognizing that increasing number of students are suffering from mental distress, as well as an overall cultural disembodiment that links directly to our social and environmental crises, this workshop offers hands on pedagogical practices aimed at ‘healing our collective and individual identities’. A sociology professor and three of her former students will share their insights and classroom activities gathered and adapted from a social theory course they all participated in this past spring semester. Each will lead a particular activity and then invite the audience to reflect on its effectiveness, potential applications for other courses and possible ways to further develop the activity to maximize its efficacy. Special attention will be paid to how the activities address, unpack and possibly promote healing for the socially constructed, yet highly embodied, identities of race, gender and class, as well as our relationships with the ‘natural world’.
