Through amnesia, denial, systemic racism, and suppression of “other,” Academia reinforces the underlying power of white superiority. Our current embodied systems evolved from colonization, eradication, expropriation, enslavement, and legislation. Normalized and protected by our mental frameworks, denial and amnesia facilitate "comfortably numb" and disembodied white-identity. Performance artists at the intersection of academia, wellness, and community with narratives of legacy and rememory are wayfinding paths to cognition, acceptance, apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Immersion in spoken word and movement, workshop participants use contemplative practices for reflection and white-identity awareness. Participants will co-create resonating whiteness by connecting body with mind in a shared space that is a challenge to open awareness. A facilitated reflective discussion of a contemplative practice for application in higher education will illuminate the implicit power structure of social control.
