Workshop | Interrupting Oppression: Embodiment and Strategies

Have you ever experienced or observed situations of oppression and/or microaggressions, and not been sure about how to respond or intervene? This workshop will help participants build skills and confidence in interrupting oppression when it happens. In this session we will discuss how the cycle of emotions we experience may hinder us from taking action or seeking resolution in times of conflict. We will explore the different factors, contexts, and nuances to consider in the “who”, “when”, and “how” of interrupting oppression.

In this interactive workshop we will give participants the opportunity to understand, practice, and implement strategies that can be used in any setting. We will provide tools for managing bodily responses to potentially tense situations. We will help participants ground themselves in the “heart” and intentionality behind their interruptions as a way to create more just relationships, communities, societies, and systems. We will also explore how power, privilege, and positionality inform how to intervene. There will be an opportunity to practice these strategies with a case scenario, and participants will share their own ideas as well, through a popular education model.

This is an intermediate-level session that assumes some basic knowledge of foundational anti-oppression concepts but will be accessible to a wide range of learners. All humans, no matter the level of expertise, can experience activation in these difficult moments and benefit from regulation of those emotions and bodily reactions. We believe there are opportunities for learning for everyone who wishes to join. 

Isabel Mesa Vasquez is an Equity, Education and Development Strategist in the state of Oregon. She identifies a queer woman, and is from Medellin, Colombia. Her professional background is in public health, specifically racial health equity. Isabel is passionate about equity work in all its complexity and looks forward to contributing to a more equitable society through intersectional analyses of oppression and unjust systems. In her free time Isabel is painter and greatly enjoys spending time artist/creative communities.

David Kennedy-Wong facilitates equity and anti-oppression learning experiences at the Oregon Health Authority. He has past experience at the Fair Housing Council of Oregon, as an equity specialist for a social services nonprofit, as a high school math and science teacher, as well as doing contract-based equity work. He has volunteered with various community organizations in Portland - serving on nonprofit boards, teaching bike mechanics, and organizing a divestment campaign - agitating for racial and social justice every step of the way. In his free time, David enjoys riding his bike out of the city and into the hills, building things, and hammocking under trees.