Online talk offering a black perspective on nutrition

This month CIIS (California Institute of Integral Studies) hosted Jessica Wilson for a discussion on Black Women's bodies and how the Health and Wellness complex centers on white supremacist ideals. This was a donation-based talk, so please consider supporting CIIS so resources like these can continue to be created and shared.

VIDEO LINK: On Rewriting the Story of Black Women’s Bodies with Jessica Wilson and Danielle Drake

Description: 

The contemporary definition of a “good” or “healthy” body has been centuries in the making, but as eating disorder specialist and storyteller Jessica Wilson writes, “the pure, moral, rule-abiding body has never, ever, been a Black woman’s.” Every day, Jessica sees how the pressure to conform to white supremacist ideals of health and beauty constrict and harm women of color. As a registered dietitian specializing in eating disorders, as a social justice activist, and as a woman with multiple marginalized identities, Jessica’s goal is to end this harm.  

In her latest book, It’s Always Been Ours she uses social and historical analysis, her own learning and unlearning about nutrition, and contemporary storytelling that centers Black women to make the case that “Health” with a capital H and “Wellness” with a capital W are exclusive social constructs that don’t serve anyone. Through her work and writing, Jessica examines the ways that ideas about respectability and restriction have harmed Black women, challenges what it means to have the “right” body, and helps all women understand that a radical reimagining of body narratives is a prerequisite for vibrant well-being. 

Join Dean of Faculty Development, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at CIIS Danielle Drake for a conversation with Jessica that challenges us to rethink the politics of body liberation by centering the bodies of Black women in our cultural discussions of self-image, food, health, and wellness.