Resetting The Table
By Maria Mulder, Trixie Ling, & Céline Chuang
Resetting The TableAug 23, 2022
Rest as Rhythm, Rest as Resistance
This is a special episode we recorded on a summer podcast retreat on Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) territory, Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast. While resting ourselves, we explore how we can embody rest as a radical and reciprocal practice. We discuss rest as a form of resistance to capitalism and white supremacy, essential to community care and advocating for systemic change, and our own understanding and experiences of rest as a rhythm of life—whether it be napping, building boundaries, connecting to the land, and sacred attentiveness. As we touch on lessons from Black feminism and Jewish shabbat, precursor to the Christian sabbath, we ask: who has access to rest? What would rest redistribution look like? How can rhythms of rest lead us into broader and transformative changes? We hope you will be challenged and inspired by this conversation to practice a rhythm of rest in your own life and community.
A huge THANK YOU to our Patreon supporters for making this retreat possible for us!
Episode Notes & Annotations:
- When speaking about rest as resistance, Trixie references The Nap Ministry by artist, writer, and activist Tricia Hersey
- Maria mentions radical birth workers who rejuvenate themselves so they can care for others
- Céline references Jewish shabbat as a rhythm of rest, culminating in Jubilee, a theme explored in Geez issue 63, Sound The Trumpet
- Céline references Adrienne Maree Brown on pleasure activism and rest as a joyful and life-giving act
- We refer back to reconnecting with the land in our earlier episode in Season 1, Relating to the Land, with Lori Snyder
Currently, we do not have the capacity for releasing updated transcripts per episode. We plan to update Season 2 episodes with transcripts as soon as we're able. If you have the interest, skills, and volunteer capacity to help us out with this, get in touch: resettingthetablepodcast@gmail.com
Me, You, and Media Representation
In this episode, Céline, Maria and Trixie talk about the importance of representation, the pervasiveness of whiteness in books and stories we read growing up, and the powerful recognition that comes with seeing ourselves in the media. We takedown some tropes and discuss the emergence of Asian experiences and storytelling, including Turning Red, Never Have I Ever, and Scarborough (no spoilers!).
Rent Scarborough online through TIFF: https://digital.tiff.net/film/scarborough/
Get Behind Me, White Feminism
In this fiery episode, which builds off our Gender Troublemaking episode, Maria, Céline, and Trixie have a candid conversation about white feminism 101. What is white feminism, how does it show up in everyday interactions and norms as well as society and culture more broadly? How have we experienced and witnessed the harm done by white feminism, historically, and today? In this salty, laughter-filled discussion, we cover the history of white feminism as in league with white supremacy, pop culture examples, and TERFism as a form of white feminism.
Content note: In this episode, we mention slavery, sexual violence and lynching. These topics are not covered in depth or detail. As always, do what you gotta do to take care of yourself and skip this episode if that’s what you need.
Technical note: We had some sound issues with this episode, so you might notice some weird blips, background noise, and static. Thanks for the patience as we do our best to address this moving forward.
Notes & Annotations:
- Maria references a previously-mentioned book, White Tears/Brown Scars by Ruby Hamad
- Jane Campion’s Comment About Venus and Serena Williams Is a Perfect Example of White Feminism (Teen Vogue)
- White Women Ain’t Fragile (Nor is White Supremacy) by Rachel Ricketts:
- Detailed Youtuber response to JK Rowling’s Essay
- Céline and Maria mention one of their favourite podcasts, Witch Please, a feminist Harry Potter podcast. Their latest episode on Rape Culture ties in well with this episode if you want to learn more, through the lens of Harry Potter!
Gender Troublemaking
In this episode, Maria, Céline, and Trixie talk Gender 101: what is gender, what does it mean to us, and how can we be gender troublemakers no matter what our relationship to gender is? In this informal and playful conversation, we cover a range of topics related to gender: basic terminology, gender as a social construct, the gender binary and how it relates to capitalism and colonialism, troubling gender, and the significance (and practice) of using pronouns. We touch on feminism and gender, heteronormativity in the church, and showing up for trans siblings and trans women. Also, Maria comes out as nonbinary! They use they/them pronouns now.
Content notes: The first part of the episode is mostly Gender 101 and our own experience and commentary. Around the 38 minute mark, we talk about violence against trans women. Around 45 minutes, we talk about colonialism and genocide when we discuss where the gender binary comes from.
Additional Resources & Readings:
The Gender Binary is a Tool of White Supremacy: https://aninjusticemag.com/the-gender-binary-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy-db89d0bc9044
#ItEndsHere: Rebelling against colonial gender violence (Leanne Simpson): https://rabble.ca/feminism/itendshere-rebelling-against-colonial-gender-violence/
Red Women Rising Report: https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubccommunityandpartnerspublicati/52387/items/1.0378104
Decolonizing Academia (With Josema Zamorano)
In this episode, Maria, Céline and Trixie speak with educator Josema Zamorano about the academic project being entrenched in colonialism and white supremacy, and decolonial alternatives to learning—including radical pedagogy and public education. We talk about embodied learning, blurring Western academic categories, and the role of art & creativity in being-as-knowing. We’re all learners, so even if you’re not in an academic context, we hope you take away something from our conversation.
Transcript coming soon!
Can We Talk About Consent?
In this exploratory conversation about consent, Céline, Maria and Trixie discuss how consent connects with bodily autonomy, especially in our interactions with one another, and how the lack of consent (societal as well as interpersonal) leads to distrust and disconnection from our bodies. We talk about teaching and modelling consent with kids, choice, communication, and unpack the problematic use of “consent” by anti-vaxxers and the right.
Parents and folks with littles in your life, we’d love to hear from you on how you teach and model consent with kids! Leave us a voice message on Anchor.fm/resettingthetable, we hope to feature some of these tidbits in a future episode.
Note: After having this conversation, Céline came across some reading about the white supremacist ideology of “Freemen-on-the-land,” which employs rhetoric around the lack of “consent” as a form of pseudolegal language. While this context wasn’t incorporated into our episode, it’s helpful supplementary information to keep in mind as we question the use of consent by anti-vaxxers and the right, more generally.
Transcript coming soon.
Food Ch. 2: Coffee & Cultural Reclamation (with Iona Fresnoza)
In this episode, chapter two in our non-chronological food series, Trixie, Maria and Céline chat with special guest Iona Fresnoza of Kapé Coffee. Iona shares how coffee relates to cultural reclamation, land stewardship, and decolonization, and about her journey founding Kapé, a social enterprise and small-batch coffee roaster working directly with Indigenous women farmers in the Philippines.
Episode Notes & Annotations:
Find @kape.coffee at kape.coffee online or locally in Vancouver at Kulinarya, La Glace Ice Cream, Legends Haul, Oh Sweet Day, and Cafe Kuya.
When talking about Phillipinx cultural reclamation and identity, Iona and hosts mention Cambio & Co, Living Hyphen, Tita Collective, and Kimmortal.
Iona also mentions the book Brown Skin, White Minds: Filipino -/ American Postcolonial Psychology, the title and concept derived from Franz Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks (mentioned by Céline).
On Music
Welcome to Season 2 of Resetting The Table! In our first episode, Trixie, Maria and Céline nerd out on music: who we’re listening to, how we can be intentional in our music choices, and paying attention to the songs and messages that musical artists are putting out in the world. We talk about conscious consumption, representation and subjectivity in music, and explore how music can de-centre whiteness and build political consciousness. In our journey to a liberatory faith practice, we also unpack (and rant about) Christian worship music and how it is entwined in bad theology and white evangelicalism.
Transcript coming soon. And stay tuned for a fun accompanying playlist in the works.
Food Ch. 1: Community & Resistance
Have you eaten? In this episode on food, first of a few, Trixie and Céline discuss appropriation and moralizing of food, food as a love language, force of cultural reclamation, and source of sustenance in collective memory-making and resisting white supremacy and gentrification. Trixie also talks about her work at Flavours of Hope with newcomer refugee women and food as creating community and belonging. In future food episodes, we’ll touch on food sovereignty, food systems, and more. Got a topic you want us to talk about, or a guest idea? Email resettingthetablepodcast@gmail.com.
We did it, people, we made a first season! This is the last episode of season 1. Our podcast team will be taking a pause to rest and rack up a few more episodes in advance this summer. Thanks for the support - we’re incredibly nourished by the community and conversations emerging from this podcast, and we are excited to continue this work together. Onwards!
Transcript coming soon.
Episode Notes & Annotations:
Some unmentioned inspirations and/or food justice co-conspirers for this episode: hua foundation, Youth Collaborative for Chinatown, Mia Birdsong’s food chapter in “How We Show Up.”
Celine mentions her piece, “Let Us Be Water: Grieving Gentrification in the Heart of the City” for GUTS Magazine: http://gutsmagazine.ca/grieving-gentrification/
Unpacking Purity Culture Ch. 1 (with Sunia Gibbs)
Trixie, Maria, and Céline talk, rant, and laugh with guest Sunia Gibbs about purity culture, its heyday in the evangelical church, how it connects to patriarchy and rape culture, and reclaiming a healthy sense of sexuality and selfhood. Sunia is a pastor, artist, and activist who leads The Groves Church in Portland. She also co-wrote the music for our podcast! Find Sunia at @suniagibbscreative on Instagram and on her website http://suniagibbsart.com. More about The Groves church at thegroveschurch.com.
Episode Notes & Annotations:
CONTENT WARNING: In this episode, we talk candidly about purity culture, including sexual shaming, modesty, toxic masculinity, and spiritual trauma. If you grew up in a similar Christian tradition, you might have baggage in common with us - but these topics aren’t always easy to engage with, depending on where you’re at. For us, this conversation was healing and cathartic; it might not be that way for others. Be informed, and be kind to yourself.
A NOTE ON LANGUAGE: We speak a lot about our own experience in this episode growing up socialized as women, especially in relation to purity culture, which enforces a rigid gender binary. Our language in this episode thus tends to be quite binary and gendered, i.e., centring cis women’s experiences. We want to acknowledge that our stories and language do not encompass the experiences of trans and non-binary folks who also were harmed by purity culture. We will be making room for these voices in future chapters as we continue the unlearning and learning journey. We’re also planning on unpacking the gender binary in a future episode, so stay tuned. We're grateful to do this work in community: send us feedback or questions at resettingthetablepodcast@gmail.com.
People, books, and other works mentioned during this episode:
- Kai Cheng Thom - I Hope We Choose Love
- adrienne maree brown - We Will Not Cancel Us
- Lisa Sharon Harper: https://lisasharonharper.com/
- “I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye” (documentary) - note: none of us have actually seen this, so we cannot endorse it.
On Birth, Bodies, & Doula Work
In this episode, Trixie and Céline interview a familiar guest: Maria! Maria talks about doula work, the importance of inclusive and expansive language in birth work, navigating the medical industrial complex, and breaking open taboos around birth and bodies. We loved having this energizing conversation that showcases Maria’s wisdom and brilliance, and are excited to share it with you.
Maria’s freshly-birthed Instagram: @selah.doulaservices. Maria’s doula website: https://mariabirthdoula.wordpress.com
Transcript coming soon!
Episode Notes & Annotations:
Maria mentions The Midwives Cauldron podcast, The Black Doula (@theblackdoula on Instagram), and Dr. Stephanie Mitchell’s work at The Birth Sanctuary (https://thebirthsanctuary.com or @the.birth.sanctuary on Instagram).
Talking Abolition Ch. 1
This episode is an introduction and exploration to abolition, Chapter 1 of what we hope will be an ongoing series. Maria, Trixie, and Céline discuss the necessity of abolition (of prisons, police, and other carceral systems) and the imaginative alternatives gifted to us by the transformative justice tradition. We ask how abolition and transformative justice can re-orient us from a paradigm of punishment and fear to one of connection and community safety.
Transcript available: https://resettingthetablepodcast.blogspot.com/2021/05/episode-9-talking-abolition-ch-1.html
Episode Notes & Annotations:
The hosts mention Angela Davis (Are Prisons Obsolete) and The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, as well as Ruth Wilson Gilmore (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazine/prison-abolition-ruth-wilson-gilmore.html). They also mention transformative justice leaders and practitioners, among them, adrienne maree brown (http://adriennemareebrown.net/2015/07/09/what-isisnt-transformative-justice/) and Mia Mingus (https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/about-2/).
18 Million Rising: Call on me, not the cops: https://18millionrising.org/2020/07/callonme-update.html
An Indigenous Abolitionist Study Guide: https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2020/08/10/an-indigenous-abolitionist-study-group-guide/
On Decriminalization & Body Sovereignty (with Silver Stevens)
In this episode, Céline and Maria speak with Silver Stevens, a Two-Spirit artist and activist from the wolf clan in the Gitxsan Nation, about sex work, decriminalization, and body sovereignty. They talk about destigmatizing sex work, rights not rescue, Jesus and harm reduction, and how decriminalization connects to decolonization. We’re honoured to share Silver’s powerful voice and incisive wisdom and experience with you.
Transcript available: https://resettingthetablepodcast.blogspot.com/2021/04/episode-8-on-decriminalization-and-body.html
Episode Notes & Annotations:
The organizations Silver mentioned are PACE Vancouver (https://www.pace-society.org/) and SWAN (https://www.swanvancouver.ca/).
For further reading, Celine recommends: “Sexual sovereignty,” by Adrienne Huard and Jacqueline Pelland for the Land Back issue of Briarpatch: https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/sexual-sovereignty and Mercenary English by Mercedes Eng (poetry).
On Church, Embodiment & The Gift of Queerness (with Kathy Kwon)
In this far-ranging and fluid conversation, Céline, Maria and Trixie speak with Kathy Kwon about church, hybrid identities, living in multiple tensions, the prophetic gift of queerness, and embodied social justice. They touch on many things including the fraught process of finding and making community, looking to the living world to learn change and transformation, and tuning into the work of liberation and justice on the margins of institutional power. We talk a lot about our Christian faith in this episode, so some of the language might get jargony for some listeners. Keeping this in mind, we’ve added some additional notes of explanation below.
Transcript available: https://resettingthetablepodcast.blogspot.com/2021/04/episode-7-on-church-embodiment-and-gift.html
Notes on vocabulary:
In the Christian tradition, the “prophetic” is that which speaks truth / the voice of God to God’s people, often into places and times of complacency and injustice. Probably the most well-known scholar on the prophetic is Walter Brueggemann (he was interviewed on the On Being podcast). Kathy, Maria, Céline and Trixie also all refer to “the kingdom,” short for the “the kingdom of God,” or in womanist theology, “the kin-dom.” In the Christian scriptures, this refers to what Jesus talks about bringing in as God’s renewed and transformative vision for creation: a radically upturned society where the marginalized are centred, systems of violence abolished, and resources and wealth are redistributed. We can think of this as similar to the concept of utopia in some radical political theory—a fully liberated future that is also actively manifesting in the present—or, the “community of creation” (Dr. Randy Woodley), reflecting the Indigenous worldview of deep reciprocity and relationship.
Episode References & Annotations:
Celine’s sermon for The Abbey Church, entitled “In Exaltation of Queer Bodies, Hybrid Bodies, Borderland Bodies,” on her blog, holyspit!: https://holyspitblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/14/in-exaltation-of-queer-bodies-hybrid-bodies-borderland-bodies-a-sermon-essay-for-transfiguration-sunday/
On embodiment, Kathy mentions Oppression and the Body: Roots, Resistance, and Resolutions by Christine Caldwell and Lucia Bennett Leighton. Celine mentions Resma Manekim’s My Grandmother’s Hands.
Kathy mentions trauma-informed therapist and educator Hilary McBride. Celine mentions Zen priest and activist Reverend angel Kyodo williams.
Transcript coming soon.
Episode References & Annotations:
Celine’s sermon for The Abbey Church, entitled “In Exaltation of Queer Bodies, Hybrid Bodies, Borderland Bodies,” on her blog, holyspit!: https://holyspitblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/14/in-exaltation-of-queer-bodies-hybrid-bodies-borderland-bodies-a-sermon-essay-for-transfiguration-sunday/
On embodiment, Kathy mentions Oppression and the Body: Roots, Resistance, and Resolutions by Christine Caldwell and Lucia Bennett Leighton. Celine mentions Resma Manekim’s My Grandmother’s Hands.
Kathy mentions trauma-informed therapist and educator Hilary McBride. Celine mentions Zen priest and activist Reverend angel Kyodo williams.
On Anger (After Atlanta)
Trixie, Céline, and Maria respond to the Atlanta shootings, especially in embracing anger as a just and generative force “in the teeth,” in Audre Lorde’s words, of racism, misogyny, and white supremacy. We didn’t plan this episode extensively, so the conversation is free-flowing and organic, with some raw emotion. We conclude with a guided grounding practice for our listeners.
Transcript available here: https://resettingthetablepodcast.blogspot.com/2021/04/episode-6-on-anger-after-atlanta.html
A note on language: After the episode aired, we were very lovingly reminded by someone that using the term ‘female body’ can present various levels of baggage and barriers to our non-binary and trans listeners. We’re sorry. We commit to do better. Language has power, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to learn more liberatory and loving ways of being, speaking, and relating, together.
Episode Notes & Annotations:
Sermon mentioned, a conversation between Sunia Gibbs and Ekaputra Tupamahu for The Groves Church: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV7fHFja1LI
Audre Lorde, “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism (1981): ”https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/speeches-african-american-history/1981-audre-lorde-uses-anger-women-responding-racism/
John Cho: “Coronavirus reminds Asian Americans like me that our belonging is conditional,” https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-04-22/asian-american-discrimination-john-cho-coronavirus
Stephen Yuen article (might be behind a paywall depending on how many New York Times articles you’ve read): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/magazine/steven-yeun.html
Iyko Day, Alien Capital: Asian Racialization and the Logic of Settler Colonial Capitalism: https://www.dukeupress.edu/alien-capital
Erna Kim Hackett, “Thoughts for WOC On Our Rage and Anger,” https://www.liberatedtogether.com/feisty-thoughts/thoughts-for-woc-on-our-rage-and-anger
Hollaback bystander intervention trainings: https://www.ihollaback.org/harassmenttraining/
On Expansive Friendship & Platonic Intimacy
In this episode, Céline, Trixie and Maria discuss the beauty and complexity of friendships, including their own, and explore ways of elevating and celebrating friendships and platonic intimacy. They discuss how we can move away from a relationship hierarchy built on romantic partnership and the nuclear family, and expand our practices of friendship and affection to be more generous, creative, subversive, and abundant. A lot of this conversation was inspired by Mia Birdsong’s book, How We Show Up, but you don’t need to have read the book to dial in (although we hope you eventually do!).
Transcript available here: https://resettingthetablepodcast.blogspot.com/2021/03/episode-5-on-expansive-friendship-and.html
Episode Notes & Annotations
We brainstormed this episode topic before we’d all read the book, but Mia Birdsong’s How We Show Up ended up being a major anchor for our discussion. We especially recommend the audiobook version, which Mia reads herself.
Trixie reads from Andie Nordgren’s “The short instructional manifesto for relationship anarchy:” “https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/andie-nordgren-the-short-instructional-manifesto-for-relationship-anarchy
The final poem Céline reads is by Lora Mathis, part of their “Platonic Intimacy” series: http://www.loramathis.com/platonic-intimacy
On Body Hair & Beauty Standards
In this episode, Maria, Trixie, and Céline discuss their relationships to their own bodies, and talk body hair, body shaming, beauty standards, white feminism, and problematic definitions of womanhood. They explore how the policing of bodies' presentation is connected to the upholding of the gender binary and colonial racial categories—and how marginal expressions of beauty, culture, and gender can be a form of resistance. Also, there's ranting about purity culture. This episode is a JOURNEY; buckle in!
A note on language: Céline uses the words “white womanhood” and “white femininity” to describe the intersection of whiteness, or white supremacy, with ideas of femininity and womanhood as enforced by the gender binary. She is not referring to white women specifically, but to the power structures that create and uphold the categories of white and woman.
Language matters, and we’re always learning how we can align our words and conversation closer with generosity and liberation. Got a tip? Email us at resettingthetablepodcast@gmail.com.
Transcript now available: https://resettingthetablepodcast.blogspot.com/2021/03/episode-4-on-body-hair-and-beauty.html
Episode Notes & Annotations
Maria references White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad.
Céline references Cornel West, specifically, the chapter “A Genealogy of Modern Racism” from Prophesy Deliverance: An Afro-American Revolutionary Christianity.
The hosts mention two episodes of Reclaiming My Theology podcast with Brandi Miller: Dualism with Randy Woodley, and White American Folk Religion with Jonathan Walton.
Céline’s use of queer theory to interrogate ideas of hair, beauty, race, and gender, is learned in large part from non-binary scholar & social media educator Alok Vain-Menon. Check out their book reports, like “Womanhood as a Racial Project” if you’re interested in reading more on these topics.
On Relating to the Land (with Lori Snyder)
In this episode, Celine and Maria talk with Métis plant educator and herbalist Lori Snyder on healing our relationship to the land, guerrilla gardening as decolonization, the wisdom of plants, and aligning our personal practices with the creativity and abundance of the living world. Lori shares a wealth of wisdom on living in wonder and reciprocity with the earth in an age of climate crisis, and our joyful responsibility for reverence and integrity with our non-human relations. We’re so excited to share this enlivening conversation with you!
Transcript available: http://bit.ly/3aqdb91
Where to find Lori online:
Facebook page: Earth Awareness Realized Through Health, Instagram: @earthandcompany
Lori’s website: https://www.lorisnyder.co/. Lori also has an online course on medicinal plants available here: https://foraging.teachable.com/p/medicinal-plants-of-the-pacific-northwest. Alongside with Laura Cisneros, she leads “In Harmony With Nature” as Artist in Residence at Hastings Community Centre (https://inharmonywithnatur.wixsite.com/inharmonywithnature).
Articles about Lori:
“Metis Herbalist and Educator Lori Snyder on Urban Foraging and Food Sovereignty” on Food Network: https://www.foodnetwork.ca/food-network-insider/blog/metis-herbalist-educator-lori-snyder-urban-foraging-food-sovereignty/
“Vancouver Métis herbalist helps seed reconciliation with medicine wheel garden” on Vancouver Sun: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-metis-herbalist-helps-seed-reconciliation-with-medicine-wheel-garden
Episode Notes & Annotations:
Lori and Celine reference Robin Wall Kimmerer, especially her book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants.
Lori mentions Bruce Lipton when talking about the quantum field of living things, who is a biologist, writer and speaker whose groundbreaking work bridges science and spirit. Here’s a captivating essay Celine found, called “Embracing the Immaterial Universe” on his website: https://www.brucelipton.com/embracing-the-immaterial-universe/
Lori mentions the detrimental effects of monocrops in the prairies, which this article in Briarpatch explores in depth as connected to settler-colonialism: “Decolonizing Ecology”: https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/decolonizing-ecology
Celine references Randy Woodley’s use of “Eurocene,” rather than “Anthropocene,” which is from a presentation Randy gave at Inhabit Conference 2020 called “Welcome to the Eurocene: How White Supremacy is Driving Humanity to Extinction.”
On Unlearning White Jesus
In this episode, Trixie, Celine, and Maria unpack their experiences growing up and breaking up with White Jesus, the damaging assumed default of whiteness when depicting the Divine, and how White Jesus functions to uphold the power of those at the top of the social and political hierarchy. They also discuss problematic white saviourism as apparent in colonialism (both historic and contemporary iterations), missions, and development work, and re-envision liberatory ways to represent God, Christ, and the sacred, as well as to reclaim cultural practices in decolonizing their spiritual journeys.
Transcript available: https://resettingthetablepodcast.blogspot.com/2021/02/episode-2-on-unlearning-white-jesus.html
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Support Resetting The Table on Patreon: patreon.com/resettingthetable
Episode Notes & Annotations:
Celine mentions Black liberation theologian James Cone, specifically his book “The Cross and the Lynching Tree.”
Trixie mentions mujerista theology as a form of liberation theology, such as the work and writing of Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz.
The hosts mention the podcast Reclaiming My Theology as an "adopted ancestor," or auntie podcast to Resetting The Table. The specific episodes that relate most to this one are on Paternalism, Objectivity, and White Centering.
Celine mentions white saviourism as not just a symptom of church and faith spaces, but also prevalent in the non-profit and development sphere. For more on this, see Teju Cole’s 2012 essay “The White Saviour Industrial Complex,” and “No White Saviours,” a women-led advocacy group in Uganda (https://www.instagram.com/nowhitesaviors).
On Anti-Racism, Asian Experience, & Solidarity with Black Liberation
In our first full-length episode, Céline, Trixie, and Maria contextualize anti-Black racism in Canada from an East Asian perspective and discuss the importance of foregrounding Black lives and Black liberation in anti-racism work. We talk about holding a posture of openness, unlearning dominant narratives, uncovering hidden histories, and how anger can be a generative force for change.
Transcript available: https://resettingthetablepodcast.blogspot.com/2021/01/episode-1-on-anti-racism-asian.html
Follow Resetting The Table on Instagram: https://instagram.com/re.settingthetable
Support Resetting The Table on Patreon: https://patreon.com/resettingthetable
Episode Notes & Annotations:
In this episode we speak from our own experience as East Asians, and don’t discuss how anti-Asian racism intersects with Islamophobia for some of our South Asian siblings (a form of racism and xenophobia which long predates the pandemic, notably rising after 9/11). We plan to unpack Islamophobia more in a future episode. If you want to point us to any relevant resources, you can email us at resettingthetablepodcast@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram.
The concept of “conditional belonging” that Celine references, especially in the context of the Coronavirus, was written about by actor John Cho for the LA Times.
Celine and Trixie reference Austin Channing Brown’s book, “I’m Still Here,” specifically the chapter on anger, which is based on Audre Lorde’s 1981 talk “The Uses of Anger” (available to read online at https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1981-audre-lorde-uses-anger-women-responding-racism/).
Maria references Hogan’s Alley (https://www.hogansalleysociety.org/) when talking about learning Black History in local contexts, specifically Vancouver.
Celine references The Secret Life of Canada podcast episode “The Secret Life of Birchtown” on Black History and slavery in Canada (https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-secret-life-of-canada/episode/the-secret-life-of-birchtown-52013370).
Trixie mentions Reclaiming My Theology, a podcast that inspired our own, which is about taking theology back from oppressive systems and ideas (https://www.reclaimingmytheology.com/).
Celine mentions two foundational books for understanding anti-Black racism in Canada: The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole and Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard. She also mentions The First Rainbow Coalition documentary: https://www.ket.org/program/independent-lens/the-first-rainbow-coalition/.
The piece we mention in the prelude is “Police response to storming of U.S. Capitol should not surprise anyone” by Sandy Hudson: https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion-police-response-us-capitol-building-racism-1.5864611
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Episode 0: Showing Up (An Introduction)
Welcome to Resetting The Table, where we expand imagination around race, place, and faith for our collective liberation. In this trailer, we give a taste of the many conversations and topics to come. Subscribe and join us on the journey! Find us on Patreon at patreon.com/resettingthetable.