This session is interactive — please be prepared to participate, on-camera when possible. Due to the topics and form of this session, it will not be recorded.
There has been a renewed commitment to equity in various domains. This is a heartening trend! But implementing equity is a challenge because we are shaped by oppressive norms that are often hidden from view. Without surfacing and uprooting such norms, any attempt to create alternative futures is bound to founder. For instance, our historical emphasis on economic efficiency can crowd out frameworks that center love and societal flourishing. If we bring such an “efficiency lens” to our social justice efforts without understanding the importance of relationality – of (re)building communities by centering love – our efforts may end in conflict. Since efficiency-oriented initiatives are also deficient in interpersonal trust, conflicts prompt us to abandon our quest for equity and social justice.
In this interactive session Dr. Mamgain will play with two main themes. First, she will share a compassion protocol that will help participants deepen their compassion. These practices, done iteratively, are indispensable in sustaining the work for social justice. A compassionate stance offers us a safe space to reveal oppressive norms within us. It also allows grace for ourselves and others, when we falter.
Secondly, she will delve into issues of power, inviting folx to draw on their own experiences to understand how power has historically played out in society. Using exercises drawn from Nonviolent Communication, participants will explore ideas of Power Over, Power Under, and Power With. Clarity about these concepts can inform our efforts toward equity and accountability and allow us to harvest conflict as a potentially generative force, as we work to create alternative humane futures.
Speaker
Vaishali Mamgain is an Associate Professor of Economics and the Director of the Bertha Crosley Ball Center for Compassion at the University of Southern Maine. She received her PhD in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; her past research focused on the contributions of (im)migrants and refugees in the Maine economy; her current research is in contemplative pedagogy. A leader in the field of contemplative education she is passionate about creating a joyful learning environment.
She also facilitates compassion training and anti-oppression workshops for corporate and nonprofit organizations in the US and abroad, specializing in somatic and immersive nature training to undo oppression, and help vision different, more equitable, loving societies. She served on the Board of Directors of The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, and was a frequent contributor to their programming. She is also faculty and Board member of the Courage of Care Coalition where, with others, she designs and facilitates trauma informed courses to support global majority folx.
A working contemplative, she has meditated, wandered and ‘retreat’ed for many years. In 2017, she completed a three-year meditation retreat at Samten Ling Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado and now lives in Maine where she enjoys swimming in the sea, admiring seaweed, running, hiking, singing, and cooking.