Taking the State out of the Body is a guidebook in
deconstructing nationalism through trauma-informed praxis.
These politicized
practices invite an embodied sense of collective safety while making
militarized borders, policing, and nation-states obsolete. We need
the resources offered in this book—from understanding geopolitical
impacts of intergenerational trauma to self-regulation in conflict to
cultivating long-haul relationships.
The book uses the
case study of Jewish embodied experience by interrogating how Zionism
weaponizes Jewish trauma while antisemitism drives a wedge between
Jews and other oppressed people. These tactics of white nationalism,
imperialism, and fascism are addressed through an anti-Zionist
orientation to historical events alongside practical somatic tools to
move through internalized trauma and oppression and to interrupt
cycles of intimate and systemic violence.
This framework is
situated in a lineage of politicized healing and somatics that is
rooted in resistance to authoritarianism—including many antifascist
Ashkenazi Jewish practitioners in 1930s Europe. As the terms
“somatics” and “trauma” have become mainstream, this book is
a timely offer to move from individual awareness to collective
action. Weaving political theory and embodied practice, each chapter
opens with a connection to a plant or body part and closes with list
of embodied practices to fuel resistance and resilience. At a time
when colonial imperialism in the US and Palestine are rearing their
heads and right-wing authoritarianism is on the rise globally, this
book will equip you with the theory and action to move from rugged
individualist models of self-help and self-preservation to liberatory
frameworks of collective care and solidarity.
