The Race Conversation
An essential guide to creating life-changing dialogue
Author: Eugene Ellis
“This book has been written to help us take an honest look at who we really are. It is here to help us dig deep. It is here to heal the nation. I’m no psychotherapist, but I get it.” – Benjamin Zephaniah.
Is it possible not to be confused about race? Is it possible to respond authentically to the hurt and discomfort of racism? The construct of race is an integral part of Western society’s DNA and if we are to address the social injustice of racism, we need to have the race conversation. Yet all too often, attempts at such a dialogue are met with silence, denial, anger or hate. This guide actively supports anyone striving to emerge from the tight grip of race discomfort to a trauma-informed, neurophysiological approach that emphasizes resourcing, body awareness, mindfulness and healing.
REVIEWS AND ENDORSEMENTS
‘In this comprehensive text, Eugene Ellis presents an insightful and empirical text. This book is an important contribution to keeping the race conversation alive.’ – Isha Mckenzie-Mavinga, author of The Challenge of Racism in the Therapeutic Process.
‘It would be impossible to exaggerate how important this book is for our times. Eugene Ellis brings both personal experience and psychotherapeutic insight into this, often fraught, area with compassion, thoughtfulness and rigor.’ – Judy Ryde, author of White Privilege Unmasked: How to Be Part of the Solution.
‘When the history of therapy’s engagement with race and diversity comes to be written, Eugene Ellis will be one of the most important figures in the narrative. In this book he confirms his standing as a leading theorist as well as an activist. The innovative strength of the book lies in its focus on the body on how the race construct and its traumas are held in the bodies of people of colour and also of the white majority.’ – Prof Andrew Samuels, former Chair UK Council for Psychotherapy.
‘This book has been written to help us take an honest look at who we really are. It is here to help us dig deep. It is here to heal the nation. I’m no psychotherapist, but I get it. After years of experience on the front-line helping people like me, Eugene has written a book that I believe can change the way we relate to each other, and the way we relate to ourselves. He writes in a logical, accessible way, and makes The Race Conversation, our conversation.’- Benjamin Zephaniah, author, poet, lyricist and musician.
WATCH THE TRAILER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eugene Ellis is the Director and founder of the Black, African and Asian Therapy Network, the UK’s largest independent organisation to specialise in working therapeutically with Black, Africa, Caribbean and South Asian people. He is also a psychotherapist with a special interest in body-orientated therapies and facilitating a dialogue around race and mental wellbeing through articles, podcasts and blog posts as well as within organisations and psychotherapy trainings.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Chapter 1. Being Colour Conscious
Chapter 2. Beyond Words
Chapter 3. Witnessing the Wound
Chapter 4. Inside the Race Construct
Chapter 5. Being with Race
Chapter 6. Finding your Voice
Chapter 7. Becoming Race Construct Aware
Chapter 8. Feeling it – Not Being It
APPENDICES
INDEX
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