September 2022 Abundant Learning: Inner Work & Action in Urgent Times with Zaje Harrell, PhD

Started Sep 12, 2022 at 12:00 PM EDT

Being involved in activism and social change is both an internal and external undertaking. Join us for this Tide Risers Abundant Learning session led by Zaje Harrell, PhD, to explore women’s inner work on understanding dynamics of leadership, power, and social action. We will give you a framework to determine your own next steps in the context of a deeper understanding of how women have affected social change.

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The current sociopolitical climate has resulted in many women feeling motivated to take action and help affect change. While, feeling called to make a difference, many people aren’t sure of what to do next.

Should I… donate to a reproductive rights organization? Write a letter to the editor? Argue with my opponents on social media? Run for office?

Being involved in activism and social change is both an internal and external project. Using the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health as a point of departure, this session will explore women’s inner work on understanding dynamics of leadership, power, and social action. Participants in this session will have an opportunity to determine their next steps in the context of a deeper understanding of how women have affected social change. We will also discuss the impact of barriers facing women in social activism and public leadership. An intersectional lens will be used to center the discussion. There will also be an update about strategic directions in the reproductive justice/bodily autonomy/pro choice movement.

Expected Outcomes

Participants will:

Share thoughts and process the impact of current events;
Develop a fuller understanding of invisibility as a tool of oppression;
Begin internal work in distinguishing women’s leadership and power;
Utilize historical examples and archetypes in service of sustainable action;
Understand our individual permission structure for taking sustainable action; and
Build community connections and learn strategic directions in reproductive justice/bodily autonomy movements/pro choice movement.

Opening Prompt – Prepare in Advance

Participants should come prepared with a response to the following prompt. Please identify and be able to introduce a woman whom is a source of inspiration for you. This can be a public figure in any field or someone to whom you have a more personal attachment. Please share this person with us during your introduction.

Content Advisory

This session will include a discussion of abortion rights, civil rights, civil disobedience, and reproductive justice issues.

About Zaje

Zaje Harrell, Ph.D. is a research-focused health psychologist who has worked in program evaluation for 20 years. Dr. Harrell has experience in academic, non-profit and community settings. Her content expertise includes health behaviors, maternal and child well-being, race and gender equity, and community change. Dr. Harrell spent 12 years in academia as an applied researcher and scholar in mental health and health behaviors at Oberlin College and Michigan State University. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and edited academic volumes. While at Michigan State University, Dr. Harrell’s collaborative laboratory was awarded an Excellence in Diversity Award for Team-Sustained Effort Toward Excellence in Diversity.

In her role as a full-time evaluation consultant, Dr. Harrell served as a program manager and affiliated consultant at Public Policy Associates, in Lansing Michigan. She was the local lead evaluator for the portfolio of the W. K. Kellogg’s investments in Battle Creek Michigan. She was also a thought-partner in the development of a city-wide economic and social development initiative in Battle Creek Michigan.

As principal of her own consulting practice, Conscious Endeavor, LLC, Dr. Harrell has supported research and content for projects focused on community change, substance use, racial equity, and maternal and child health disparities. She is a program evaluator and thought partner with clients in praxis and complex systems change. Dr. Harrell is a past co-chair of the Women’s Health Special Interest Group for the Society of Behavioral Medicine. She also served for three years in an advisory capacity and board member for the Michigan Breastfeeding Network and was a volunteer on the East Lansing Public School Mental Health Advisory Board.

In her writing life, Dr. Harrell has published on the intersections of race, feminism, politics, and motherhood. Her chapter, “And then we went outside” was included in the collection, Mothers, Mothering and COVID-19 (2021). She has a forthcoming chapter, “I’m Never Sleeping with You Again: Reflections on Mothering, Community Building, and Unstable Allyship” in the collection, Coming into Being: Mothers on Finding and Realizing Feminism (2023).

A native of the DC metropolitan area, Dr. Harrell earned her B.A. in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Spelman College and her Ph.D. in Psychology and Women’s Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She lives in Baltimore County Maryland with her spouse, three children and active rescue dog.