Making a Difference: The SOCS Blog

Restorative Justice in Movement

By:Heather Hlavka, Associate Professor

Department of Social and Cultural Sciences

Photo credit: Heather Hlavka

Restorative Justice in Movement (RJM) is a partnership between Marquette University, Cardinal Stritch University, and the Milwaukee Turners to develop a movement program to promote gender equity, embodied empowerment, and collective healing from trauma.

Our women-led team came together in the initial aftermath of COVID-19. The realities of systemic oppression, marginalization, and social isolation compounded existing racial disparities in health, gender inequities in the burdens of caretaking, and economic precarity. Additionally, Wisconsin’s "Safer-at-Home" order and nationwide “Shelter-in-Place” policies created the extraordinary contraction of safe public space that increased the risk of abuse and violence for many women and genderqueer persons. State violence, through systems of mass incarceration, immigrant detention and deportation, has caused tremendous social harm in our Milwaukee communities, feeding cycles of intergenerational trauma. In turn, we see how this collective social stress and harm is worn on the body of individuals.

RJM is an interdisciplinary collaboration to study the multidimensional nature of gendered trauma. Through political science, we gain an understanding of trauma as oppression, and we reconceptualize trauma-intervention as political resistance. Through sociology we develop an understanding of trauma as situated in structural and symbolic violence and racialized inequality, and we theorize the possibilities for social change. Through sociolegal studies, we appreciate the role of stigmatization and disadvantage constructed by legal systems, and we develop insights into how these systems shape the body and generate trauma across generations. Through nursing, we explore the intersections of physical and mental health, and we reinvent care-giving interventions that act upon the biology of body/mind. These diverse disciplinary approaches to trauma draw on recent breakthroughs in neuroscience and are united by a shared methodological commitment to feminist participatory action research.

Each member of our RJM team studies and practices in fields of trauma/healing, health, identity, gender and race studies, feminist research and theory, intersectionality, and critical qualitative research. Combined, we have training and experience in crisis intervention and embodiment for survivors of violence and abuse, group facilitation, and feminist leadership in health and identity development. We also have experience training, coaching, and participating in various athletic modalities such as powerlifting, yoga, running, kickboxing, martial arts, and jiu-jitsu. Based on our own experiences as women and knowing how these physical practices have healed each of us in various ways, we sought to develop an inclusive program that centralizes the body in our understanding of trauma processes. Our goals are to cultivate empowering space through a community of movement and athletic practice in partnership with the Milwaukee Turners.

Our program approaches restorative justice as a transformative process, pushing the boundaries of how we can reimagine community and social healing. So far, we have had:

• Two pilot cycles of our workshops during summer and fall 2021:
  • 2 cohorts of BIPOC women and nonbinary participants with a total of 25 participants, plus team members
  • Participatory action research workshops in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, powerlifting, and rock climbing - all require teamwork, trust, communication, and consent
  • Yoga and other personal forms of movement at home
  • Guided reflection activities: Journaling, body-mapping, and storytelling
  • Facilitation of a supportive community of women at the Turner’s gym space
• Establishment of the Feminist Power Hour–a safer athletic space for women and genderqueer individuals
  • 4 weekly sessions per week open only to women and genderqueer folks only
  • Creation of a Marquette University student internship program with ongoing training in inclusive gym practices and trauma-informed athletic processes to provide support to the Feminist Power Hour
  • Sustaining the supportive community of women established by the pilot program
• Plans and commitments of participants to mentor each other and the research team in designing the next steps in programming

Photo credit: Heather Hlavka

The pilot programming and continued access to Turner's facilities was made possible thanks to Executive Director Emilio De Torre's commitment to this work, and grant funding from Marquette University Institute for Women's Leadership (IWL) and the President's Challenge for Racial Justice and Equity Response. We hope to continue our work with future cohorts, incorporating new ways of engaging our minds, bodies, and beings - honoring all the ways we survive and thrive to reimagine justice. Together, we seek to empower each other to envision a different world.

Noelle Brigden, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science, Marquette University. See also Pesas y Poder

Heather Hlavka, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Criminology and Law Studies, Marquette University. Also see website

Jennifer Ohlendorf, Ph.D., R.N., Assistant Professor of Nursing, Marquette University

Amber Tucker, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology, Cardinal Stritch University. Also see Puncher article

Madeline Wright, MSW, Lead Internal Case Manager, The Guest House and RJM Program Coordinator