#83 Professor Prita Lal: Exploring the intersection Between Wellness & Justice

Professor Prita Lal Bio:

Bio: Raised as a child of South Asian immigrants in theAmerican South, Professor Prita Lal became interested in social justice issues at a young age and now teaches at Evergreen State College at the intersectionsof food and environmental justice, social movements, Black studies, solidarity economics, cooperative education, healing justice and community-based learning.Dr Lal completed her BA in French & anthropology at Tulane, her Master’s & Doctorates in Sociology at Stony Brook University. Her teaching style focuses on education for transformation and liberation. She also has completedextensive training in yoga and Ayurveda (an ancient system of healing from South Asia), which she integrates through somatic and trauma-informed teaching practices. Her work analyzes the root causes of social problems, not intending to paralyze, but rather inform just alternatives to transform (rather than recreate) systemic injustices.

Path Affiliation

EnvironmentalStudies , Psychology,Health, and Community , PoliticalEconomy, Global Studies, and Environmental Justice , Foodand Agriculture

Fields of Study

AfricanAmerican Studies , Sociologyand Anthropology , PoliticalEconomy and Political Science , FoodSystems , FoodStudies , FoodJustice , EthnicStudies , CommunityStudies , Climateand Environmental Justice , Agriculture

Objective today: explore the intersection betweenwellness & justice.

1.     Tell us your story- what are you doing & howdid you get here?

 2.     What’s the problem here? Our perception is thatwellness requires resources that are often the realm of the rich. The problems created by a widening gap between rich & poor. What is the role of power?

 3.     The circles that we’ve been in for wellness& the circles we’ve been for justice. What are the ways that these overlap or don’t overlap or could or should overlap.

 4.     Let’s shift to talking about how our health hasbeen colonized- what does that mean? How do we define ‘decolonizing our health.’ Connecting to inner power.

5.     Now let’s talk about Ayurveda- what is it &what is its power & potential to offer us wellness AND justice? What is spiritual by-passing & how is this used go maintain status quo.

 6.     What are the steps to address this?

a.     Finding our inner power

b.     Connection to self & planet

c.     Connection to each other & then socialjustice movements – calling in vs calling out to challenge internalizedcolonialism

d.     Embracing mistakes vs being defined by mistakes,perfectionism is an element of white supremacy culture