Embodied Social Justice introduces an embodied approach to working with oppression. Grounded in current research, the book integrates key findings from education, psychology, sociology, and somatic studies while addressing critical gaps in how these fields have addressed pervasive patterns of social injustice.
At the heart of the book, a series of embodied narratives bring to life everyday experiences of oppression through evocative descriptions of how power implicitly shapes body image, interpersonal space, eye contact, gestures, and the use of touch. This second edition includes two new "body stories" from research participants living and working in the global South. Supplemental guidelines for practice, updated references, and new community resources have also been added.
Designed for social workers, counselors, educators, and other human service professionals working with members of disenfranchised and marginalized communities, Embodied Social Justice offers a conceptual framework and model of practice to assist in identifying, unpacking, and transforming embodied experiences of oppression from the inside out.
1. Introduction
Section I: Body Stories
2. Embodied Inquiry
3. Crissy’s Body Story
4. Alex’s Body Story
5. Pat’s Body Story
6. Bani’s Body Story
7. Natalie’s Body Story
8. Zaylie’s Body Story
9. Rae’s Body Story
10. Learning from the Body Stories
Section II: Oppression and Embodiment
11. (Un)learning Oppression
12. Learning Through the Body
Section III: Grasping and Transforming the Embodied Experience of Oppression
13. The Cycle of Embodied Critical Learning and Transformation
14. Implications and Applications
15. Community Resources
Biography
Rae Johnson is a social worker, somatic movement therapist, and scholar-activist working at the intersections of embodiment and social justice. They are the author of Elemental Movement (2000), Knowing in our Bones (2011) and Embodied Activism (2023). They teach internationally on embodied activism, nonverbal expressions of implicit bias, and the poetic body.
"Johnson’s scholarship on embodied social justice has been leading the field for over a decade. Their cycle of embodied critical learning has become the cornerstone for social justice education in somatic psychology. The revised edition updates their integrative approach to social justice through compelling personal disclosure combined with case examples and practice models to help practitioners everywhere. This second edition is so very timely and is an essential read for somatic practitioners and mental health professionals alike."
Chris Walling, Former President, United States Association of Body Psychotherapy
"Ground-breaking and indispensable for critical and feminist theory, this book provides important new ways of thinking about how bodies are shaped, influenced, and colonized within unequal societies. In a time of growing social inequality, the author offers real insights into how we might resist the social, political, and cultural changes that are lived through our bodies."
Sherry Shapiro, Professor Emerita of Dance Education, Meredith College, USA
"Oppression spares no body. The injustices we craft our lives within are both systemic and intimate, taking root in the flesh. Rather than pit the political against the body, Embodied Social Justice reveals their interpenetration, opening up mindful awareness of the life of the political within our very tissues and movements."
Mary Watkins, Professor Emerita of Community, Liberation, Indigenous and Ecopsychologies, Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA
"A much needed, well-written, and profoundly useful book that will help change the course of somatics and social justice work. Through research and first-hand stories, the author shows us the effects of oppression on all bodies, then follows up with practical, powerful, and progressive practices that can bring us back home to ourselves."
Christine Caldwell, Professor Emerita of Somatic Counseling Psychology, Naropa University, USA
