“It’s a Vibe”: Belonging, Healing, and Liberation in Community Spaces By Us and For Us

Abstract

ABSTRACTThrough conceptual framing of “a vibe” and abolitionist teaching, our study explored the self-determining work of Black and other People of the Global Majority (PGM) who have curated “by us, for us” (BUFU) community spaces of belonging, healing, and liberation. We asked where PGM community members were finding refuge and what healing and abolition-centered work looked like in BUFU spaces during a spring and summer of viral and violent attacks and disproportionate deaths of Black folks and other PGM. Through engagement with two Black-led organizations, a community survey, and interviews, we identified three interrelated themes that characterized these community spaces. First, the spaces had soulful vibes cultivated through food, music, artwork, and the PGM folks who frequented them. Second, they offered healing vibes that allowed participants to exhale and find refuge from white supremacy and surveillance. Lastly, they were spaces that embodied abolitionist vibes evident in knowledge sharing, freedom dreaming, and calls for collective action. Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. We use People of the Global Majority or PGM throughout this article as a more precise term to represent the people and community spaces that we studied and to decenter whiteness as normal and the default to terms like People of Color (POC) and Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC).2. Settler colonialism is a structure, not just an event, in which settler (mainly white) colonizers invade, settle, and claim ownership over Indigenous homelands, lands that are not their own (Tuck & Yang, Citation2014; Wolfe, Citation2006). Acquiring land to build empire is the ultimate pursuit, acquired through Indigenous erasure or elimination and maintained through stolen, imported, forced labor deemed as chattel (Patel, Citation2021; Tuck & Yang, Citation2014; Wolfe, Citation2006).3. The disproportionate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Black communities and the ongoing legacies of anti-Black racism contributed to our decision to center Black organizations and community members in this research while also paying homage to other PGM community members and their chosen community spaces that have provided (and continue to provide) refuge, racial healing, and sustenance for us Folks of the Global Majority.4. Despite community outcry/pushback, Nurturing Roots has been displaced from their 1/4-acre urban farm located in South Seattle due to predatory landlords. They have since cultivated a temporary plot in Woodinville, Washington, and continue to host their community farming program throughout the community.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Washington Education Association [Grant Office ID: A149257].Notes on contributorsShaneé A. WashingtonShaneé A. Washington (she/her), PhD, is an assistant professor of Justice and Equity in Teacher Education at the University of Washington. Her research and teaching explore Indigenous and Black communities’ self-determining efforts towards more equitable, humanizing, and culturally sustaining educational experiences for their children. Her commitments to centering Black and Indigenous self-determination in education derive from her own experiences as a Black woman, mother, and former middle school teacher of multiply-marginalized students.Kayla Mendoza ChuiKayla Mendoza Chui (she/her), PhD, is a community liaison for the Education, Communities, and Organizations undergraduate major at the University of Washington. She is a second-generation Asian American immigrant who grew up on Ramaytush Ohlone lands. Her work is centered on Asian Critical Race Theory and cultivating culturally sustaining learning spaces by learning with and from anti-imperialist and abolitionist Asian organizers.Jessica I. RamirezJessica I. Ramirez (she/her), PhD, is an assistant professor in Social Work and Chicanx and Latinx studies at Portland State University. She is a first-generation Xicana college graduate and mother from Oxnard, California. Jessica’s research aims to highlight culturally sustaining mental health practices and approaches for Black, Brown, and Indigenous Youth.Kaleb GerminaroKaleb Germinaro (he/him), PhD, is an assistant professor of Critical Pedagogies & Urban Education at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He received his PhD in Learning Sciences & Human Development from the University of Washington. His experiences have solidified his approach to disability, spatial, and environmental justice through designing and implementing learning environments. He focuses on space, how disability and Blackness are supported and/or suppressed in spaces, and pathways towards liberation through spatial orientations.