On the Myth of Being a Strong Black Woman, Decolonizing Our Taste Buds, and Self-Care

Claudia Serrato (Left) and Dr. A. Breeze Harper (Right) at CAER, May 18 2013 discussing Women of Color, Food Justice, and Self-Care

This photo (and video of the lecture below) is from the women of color food justice and self-care panel. This took place at the Conference Against Environmental Racism at the University of Oregon-Eugene, on May 18 2013. The featured critical thinkers are Dr. A. Breeze Harper of the Sistah Vegan Project (on the right) and on the left is Decolonial Food For Thought blogger and PhD Student Claudia Serrato. Claudia’s work is amazing. She is developing indigenous decolonial veganism as well as focusing on something called ‘womb ecology’, which you’ll hear more about during this talk. Also, at the beginning of the panel, Claudia explained that she brings her daughter with her everywhere and asks that everyone be open to sharing this space with her toddler. I find this really profound, as it is rare that women can do this and/or are allowed to do this in the USA. I also shared with the audience that I nurse on demand when my kids were really really young, so I would bring them to many of my conferences; I would even nurse on stage because that is a form of food justice that simply isn’t taken seriously. So, mad props to Claudia.

Below is the video of our recorded panel talk. Get ready to hear about the psychic and nutritional consequences of subscribing to the “Strong Black Woman” syndrome, decolonizing our taste buds, and indigenous decolonial veganism that is not rooted in Eurocentric animal rights canon. I debut my new singing mantra about 7 minutes into the video. It is called “Strong Black Woman”.

If you enjoy these types of dialogues and want to keep on supporting the Sistah Vegan Project, feel free to donate what you can by clicking below on gofundme. You can find out all about our goal to turn the Sistah Vegan Project into an official 501 c 3 non-profit organization!