#77 Camille Sapara Barton on growing cultures of care in communal grief tending
“Grief work and embodiment work are both portals, they are gateways that can lead to lots of different places, should we choose to be in practise, because I think we have a cultural tendency in the west to talk a lot about stuff, but maybe not practise. That’s something I really am trying to emphasise a lot; what are we practising and how do we make space to practise what we are talking about? It’s not to say it’s easy, but whether it’s with grief, tending, or embodiment, I think there is an unfolding beauty in the durational practise of them and what that can offer.”
When growing up in a culture that instills individualistic healing modalities in us as children, what then can restorying grief tending as a communal praxis do for caring for our individual and collective selves? We centre this crucial question in this month’s episode with Camille Sapara Barton, exploring key pathways in inspiring cultural shifts for grief work in times of sociopolitical divides and ecological degradation.
Camille is a writer, artist and somatic practitioner, dedicated to creating networks of care and liveable futures. Rooted in Black feminism, ecology and harm reduction, Camille uses creativity, alongside embodied practices, to create culture change in fields ranging from psychedelic assisted therapy to arts education. Based in Amsterdam, Camille designed and directed Ecologies of Transformation (2021 - 2023), a masters programme exploring socially engaged art making with a focus on creating change through the body into the world. They curate events and offer consultancy combining trauma informed practice, experiential learning and their studies in political science. Camille’s debut book "Tending Grief: Embodied Rituals for Holding Our Sorrow and Growing Cultures of Care in Community", published last month by North Atlantic Books, offers deeper insight into their work and informs the themes of this conversation.
What will be covered:
The domino effect of grief tending and having to process other traumas as you tend to one
Seeking inspiration from the Dagara people and their monthly grieving rituals for community
Addressing the lack of grieving spaces and invitation to practise and process in the west, particularly for BIPOC and queer people
Noticing the ways our bodies engage in grieving and some embodied release techniques to process this energy
Importance of finding the root cause of our pain, loss and fear
Healing in liminal spaces and the importance of choice and permission
Shifting from avoidance to acceptance by being truthful to what you feel and how you feel it
Having a blended approach of proactive and reactive measures for social movements, weaving together pace and urgency
Positive incentives and tying in the personal to activism
Unsustainable western therapy models which individualise healing rather than integrating communal healing practices
Nervous system regulation and capacity-building as central to Camille’s work in grief tending
Valuable insights of Camille’s book (link below), specifically the stories readers can look forward to and the tools they can expect to be equipped with
Resources:
Purchase Camille’s new book Tending Grief: Embodied Rituals for Holding Our Sorrow and Growing Cultures of Care in Community
Camille’s website
Connect with Camille on Instagram
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all other major podcast platforms
Mind Full of Everything is a podcast calling for the radical healing of the self and community to outgrow the broken dominant culture of radical individualism and disconnection from our place as interdependent beings, so that we can collectively re-envision a safer, healthier and equitable world. Each episode takes a healing-centric approach to explore the embodied ways in which we can collectively restore and transform our journeys as stewards of community and earth through conversations with writers, researchers, coaches and educators, as well as reflection episodes with the host Agrita Dandriyal on her journey navigating the world as a deeply conscious, culturally-rooted and relational being. Learn more here.
