This was a panel discussion on 9/26/2020.

A panel discussion platica on the reasons and implications of the labels we use to self-identify racially and ethnically. The names and labels our community has used have always been connected to the social and political climate we experience in this country. Mexican-American, Chicana/x/o, Native American, Hispanic, Latina/o/x are all terms currently used to identify us. Join us as the panelists offer their perspectives on the reasons why we must look more closely at the names and terms we choose for ourselves and the implications for these choices.

Panelists:
Jessica Tlazoltiani Zamarripa (moderator) is a long time Austin mami activist and community organizer working toward social justice within the Latinx community. She is the daughter of a long ago 1930’s San Anto
Chicano father and a mother from a South Texas vaquero family. Tlazoltiani is a mami to 3 children and is currently a co-founder and presenter with the community-based Institute of Chicana/o/x Psychology. She was an organizer for the collective, Latina Mami, for more than 15 years. Her community home is Kalpulli Teokalli Teoyolotl. The preservation of her culture and community is a driving force in her life. Jessica is a founding member of Academia Cuauhtli, a local language and cultural revitalization school program for Spanish speaking Mexican American elementary students. She is also a past council member of Alma de Mujer Center for Social Change and a Danzante de La Luna and danzante with Danza Mexica Xochipilli. Her writing, dancing and community work is medicine toward the liberation, healing, and flourishing of her children and her people.

Alejandro Martinez is originally from El Paso Texas, now living in Austin Texas. He is Native American from the Coahuiltecan people of the South Texas border and Anahuaca from one of the various Mesoamerican nations of central Mexico. He’s a teacher & project coordinator at Academia Cuauhtli, a school for bilingual children that reconnects them with their roots and various aspects of their cultures. He’s also involved in the area’s ceremonial community. Alejandro is part of a large group of Native Americans from Mexico to Canada helping to reconnect our southern relatives with their ancestral identity on social media and through public speaking and teaching events.

Manuel X. Zamarripa is the director and co-founder of the Institute of Chicana/o Psychology based in Austin, TX where he conducts community workshop platicas as well as professional development training for educators and mental health professionals on issues related to Chicana/o/x wellness, cultural identity, and mental health from a Chicana/o/x framework. Manuel’s publications and presentations in psychology and education focus on Chicana/o/x well-being, racial responsiveness, cultural revitalization, social justice and leadership.

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Session 25: Therapy is Ours with Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa

In this session, Eboni and Eliza are joined by Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa. Dr. Manuel shared how therapy has been a part of Black and LatinX communities before it ever became mainstream. He also shared work that he is doing to promote culturally sensitive therapists.

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https://beherenownetwork.com/francesca-maxime-rerooted-ep-34-decolonizing-mental-health-with-dr-manuel-x-zamarripa/

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Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa joins Francesca Maximé on her ReRooted podcast to discuss destigmatizing mental health, healing intergenerational trauma, and decolonizing language.

Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa, LPC-S is the director and co-founder of the Institute of Chicana/o Psychology based in Austin, TX where he works with educators and mental health professionals on issues related to Chicanx/Latinx wellness, cultural identity, and mental health from a cultural strengths framework. He is also the Associate Dean of Counseling at Austin Community College District where he coordinates the delivery of mental health services to the student population, assists with the Behavioral Intervention Team, and leads the district’s suicide prevention and crisis response efforts.

Destigmatizing and Decolonizing Therapy

While typical Western modern-day therapy is taught through the lens of Europeans and Freud, when we look historically throughout many cultural backgrounds, there is deep intuitive wisdom that Black, Brown, and Indigenous People have always known there is healing through talk. Dr. Zamarripa looks to destigmatize and decolonize therapy from being primarily a white person service and field, allowing people from multicultural backgrounds to reclaim this legacy.

“While we need to destigmatize, we also need to decolonize the field. The destigmatization part is for people who are aware and talking to their community. The decolonization part is changing the field, holding the field accountable. You can’t have one without the other.”– Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa

For a discussion on identity and oppression, ranging from Freud to liberation psychology, tune into  Ep. 28 of ReRooted

Intergenerational Trauma (18:28)

Francesca and Dr. Zamarripa explore the reality of healing intergenerational trauma through the long view of the seven generations lens. While we can do a lot of healing in our lifetime, we also have to be patient and gentle with ourselves and our communities. For full healing to occur, it may take multiple generations due to centuries of accumulated trauma. We are invited to remember that wounds take time to heal, and each heals in its own unique way.

“Intergenerational trauma means multigenerational healing.” – Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa

For a conversation around healing multigenerational racial trauma and finding your inner truth, open yourself to Ep. 11 of ReRooted

Decolonizing Language (35:10)

How is our language complicit in perpetuating hierarchal, dominator paradigms? Dr. Zamarripa shares examples of how this happens implicitly and consistently in our everyday speech, explaining this as a product of colonization because it involves imposing ways of being and experiencing that may not fit for everyone. Decolonizing is looking at who is sharing that language, who is sharing the framework, and understanding why it’s invisible much of the time, and the importance of making it visible.

“Language creates reality. What we say isn’t representational of reality. We don’t make words necessarily, or solely, to represent an experience accurately. When we create words and language and we put it out there, we are creating a reality. And so, our language matters.” – Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa

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