'Writing to Save My Life' │Antoinette Cooper
The UNRULY author on turning towards the trauma held in the collective Black body.
“You can't hold this journey with me if you don't know about it…So when I share, I'm actually activating collective healing.” — Antoinette Cooper
Resonant World #148
Hello everyone,
I’m en route home from Realisation Festival at St Giles House in Dorset, an incredible gathering of people engaging soulfully with the challenges of our times.
and I presented a packed session on Resonant Dialogue and Collective Healing. A huge thank-you to of and the , of and the many others on the organising team for convening such an inspiring, nourishing and unique experience. Very much hope to see everyone next year!Meanwhile, I wanted to share the latest episode of What is Collective Healing? where I dialogue with the great Antoinette Cooper, a fellow student in the Collective Trauma Facilitator Training led by Thomas Hübl, and whose new book of documentary poetry UNRULY was published in January.
‘Mothers of Gynaecology’
In UNRULY, Antoinette braids her experiences of medical trauma and sexual violence with the stories of the “Mothers of Gynaecology.” These enslaved Black women were subjected to medical experiments by 19th century gynaecologist J. Marion Sims, who appears in the book under the pseudonym Father Butcher.
In our podcast, Antoinette speaks about the generations of shame that made it so difficult to share her experiences, and the fear that others wouldn’t be able to hold the depth of the pain she was carrying. Her commitment to telling her story was not only an artistic endeavour — but an existential struggle. “I was writing to save my life,” Antoinette tells me.
Antoinette characterises her work as “turning towards the trauma held in the sacral chakra of the collective Black body.” While she has sometimes encountered resistance to her writing, Antoinette sees this as a symptom of people being ‘unskilled’ rather than unwilling to engage.
I experienced our dialogue as a transformative conversation that will speak to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the relationship between trauma integration and truth-telling; the erasure of the collective and ancestral trauma carried by Black women; medical racism; the necessity of developing a capacity to witness rather than bypass; and the many paths individuals can walk to transmute their most harrowing experiences in service of collective healing.
Further Resources:
Purchase UNRULY at Bookshop.org
About Antoinette Cooper:
Antoinette Cooper is a multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and organizer with over 20 years of experience. Her work focuses on healing collective trauma through the arts, ancestral wisdom, and embodied practices. Antoinette is also the founder of Black Exhale, a nonprofit dedicated to creating sanctuary spaces for the liberated Black body. Her documentary poetry collection, UNRULY, was published January 2025.
Show notes:
00:00 Introduction to Collective Healing
01:46 Matthew Green's Encounter with Antoinette
03:28 Defining Collective Healing
05:57 Antoinette's Personal Journey and Writing 'Unruly'
10:31 The Power of Sharing and Collective Healing
24:17 The Mothers of Gynaecology and Historical Trauma
38:05 The Power of Sharing Stories
39:10 Publishing the Book
40:08 Embracing Public Journey
42:00 Discovering Health Humanities
43:52 Challenges in Collective Healing
45:38 Timeless Wisdom Training Experience
52:40 The Importance of Language in Healing
58:00 Collective Healing and Support
01:02:00 Final Reflections and Gratitude
Recording Date: April 9, 2025
Easy Ways to Support Resonant World
If any of this speaks to you, then an easy way to contribute is to follow What is Collective Healing? on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and — if you feel inspired — leave a comment on the podcast pages on these platforms:
👉🏼Link to follow the podcast on Spotify
👉🏼Link to Apple Podcasts
And if you want to go further, join the Resonance Council by becoming a paid subscriber to Resonant World. This group of core supporters forms the energetic foundation of this platform. I appreciate the opportunity to share subscriber-only content from time to time, where I go deeper into my own process than in public posts. Please consider joining us!
If you’re a man and you enjoy What is Collective Healing? then do check out
, the international men’s initiative I co-founded with Jacob Kishere. We host weekly online men’s circles, events and in-person retreats. More details at The Resonant Man, or message me direct to set up a call.