Synopses & Reviews
In this groundbreaking work, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.
The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. Menakem argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans--our police.
My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.
• Paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy--how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system.
• Offers a step-by-step healing process, in addition to incisive social commentary.
Review
"Sensitive and probing, this book from therapist Menakem delves into the complex effects of racism and white privilege....he speaks from the wisdom of his grandmother and his own expertise in somatic therapy." Publishers Weekly
Review
"An exceptionally thought-provoking and important account that looks at race in a radical new way. For all readers." Library Journal
Review
"Kudos to Resmaa Menakem for such a sorely-needed seminal work which couldn't be more practical or more timely, given this bitterly-divided country's current state of race relations." The Harlem Dispatch
About the Author
Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, is a therapist with decades of experience currently in private practice in Minneapolis, MN, specializing in trauma, body-centered psychotherapy, and violence prevention. He has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil as an expert on conflict and violence. Menakem has studied with bestselling authors Dr. David Schnarch (Passionate Marriage) and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score). He also trained at Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute.