Join us for this two-day workshop with Ayana Wallace titled “She’s Too Strong:” Understanding the Intersections of Misogynoir, Domestic Violence, and Victimization. This two-day event will be held on September 21st & 23rd from 9-10:30 AM via Zoom. Special thanks to the UI Public Policy Center and Humanities Iowa for sponsoring! Attendance cap to 100 participants!

Workshop Part I Description (90 Minutes)

This workshop will underscore the ways in which historical trauma and institutionalized racism have impacted Black women and girls. Workshop participants will delve into IPV and examine how these multiple layers of violence impact and shape Black women’s and girls’ realities. Workshop participants will also explore both long-held and current narratives around Black love, relationships, violence, and trauma, and the impact that these narratives have on survivors’ help-seeking abilities, strategies, and socialization.

Workshop Part II Description (90 Minutes)

Participants use the context and understanding gained from Part I, to identify challenges when intervening with victim-survivors in the Black community. We will identify the ways in which advocates can change the narrative surrounding Black womanhood and girlhood to support and uplift victims in a meaningful way. Community members will leave this session with an understanding of how to engage victim-survivors in culturally specific and relevant safety planning and help-seeking strategies.

About Ayana Wallace

Ayana Wallace is a Black American, intersectional womanist. Ayana graduated from Dickinson College with her Bachelor’s degree in Women’s and Gender Studies and minors in English, History, and Creative Writing. She went on to obtain her Master’s from Towson University, with a degree in Women’s and Gender Studies. Throughout her time at Towson University, Ayana focused her area of research on violence in communities of color, specifically intimate partner violence, sexual violence, reproductive coercion, and medicalized racism. Ayana has studied extensively the theory and every day implications of privilege, oppression, and intersectionality; including the work of Patricia Hill Collins, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and more. She always strives to be intersectional in her approach and to highlight the experiences of victim-survivors who have been marginalized and how systemic barriers and violence further impact victim-survivors. Ayana recently joined the Ujima, Inc., team and serves as their Training Specialist. Prior to her work with Ujima, Ayana acted as Project Manager and Lead Trainer, with the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence where she also worked with MNADV’s Lethality Assessment Program and was responsible for managing several national sites on the implementation of the Lethality Assessment Program-Maryland Model (LAP).