283 Stitching and weaving resilience - Tatreez as a collective healing practice for Palestinian women in Belgium

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

Aims to examine how Tatreez, traditional Palestinian embroidery, functions as a collective healing space for Palestinian women in Belgium amid sustained colonial racial trauma since 1948. Methods draw on monthly anti-racist and pro-Palestinian gatherings, using decolonial perspectives and creative participatory tools including Tatreez, community mapping, and Photovoice. Results identify culturally grounded counter-spaces that enable grieving, trauma processing, resilience, identity reaffirmation, and resistance. Conclusion argues for decolonial, trauma-informed research and culturally embedded healing methods in racism-responsive healthcare frameworks.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Aims

Methods

Results

Conclusion

2nd World Congress on Migration, Ethnicity, Race & Health Abstract Book vi51 Abstract citation ID: ckaf180.139 283 Stitching and weaving resilience: Tatreez as a collective healing practice for Palestinian women in Belgium Saloua Berdai Chaouni1 and Dominique Mertens 1Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium OP 19: Mental Health 2, B302 (FCSH), September 4, 2025, 13:30 - 14:30 Aims: Since the Nakba (the catastrophe) in 1948, Palestinians have been continuously racialized and dehumanized under settler colonial rule, enduring systemic oppression through forced displacement, war, and genocide. This sustained violence has resulted in profound mental health consequences, including transgenerational, collective, and ongoing colonial racial trauma, both in Palestine and across the diaspora. Tatreez, the traditional Palestinian embroidery, has long symbolized cultural identity, resistance, and resilience. This paper explores how Tatreez circles serve as collective healing spaces for Palestinian women in Belgium. Methods: Monthly Tatreez gatherings were initiated by an anti-racist NGO and a pro-Palestinian organization in response to the violence in Gaza in 2024 for Palestinian women as a space for communal care. Using a decolonial lens and creative participatory methods (including Tatreez, community mapping, and Photovoice), this study engages with the participants to examine the significance of these gatherings for their individual and collective well-being. Results: Findings point to the essential role of culturally grounded spaces in fostering collective healing and care within racialized and traumatized communities. These gatherings serve as healing counter-spaces where participants can grieve, process historical and contemporary trauma, and cultivate resilience through shared cultural practices (e.g., Tatreez, Palestinian food, and music) . These gatherings foster collective resilience and resistance through Tatreez as a vessel for expressing colonial and racial trauma while reaffirming identities, resisting historical erasure, and reclaiming agency. Additionally, this paper highlights the critical need for decolonial, trauma-informed research approaches that ethically engage with communities affected by colonial and racial violence. Conclusion: This explorative study highlights decolonial creative health practices as a promising approach to addressing racial trauma and advocates for integrating culturally embedded healing methods into care frameworks. It underscores the necessity of Indigenous and decolonial research methodologies to ethically engage with racialized communities and inform racism-responsive healthcare.

FAQs

What problem does the paper address?

It addresses the mental health impact of continuous racialization and dehumanization of Palestinians under settler colonial rule, including transgenerational and ongoing colonial racial trauma.

How were the Tatreez gatherings organized?

Monthly Tatreez gatherings were initiated by an anti-racist NGO and a pro-Palestinian organization as a communal care space for Palestinian women in response to the violence in Gaza in 2024.

What do the findings suggest about healing?

The findings indicate that culturally grounded spaces foster collective healing and care, supporting grief, processing historical and contemporary trauma, and building resilience through shared cultural practices such as Tatreez, Palestinian food, and music.

What does the paper recommend for research and healthcare?

It calls for decolonial, trauma-informed research approaches that ethically engage affected communities and for integrating culturally embedded healing methods into care frameworks to inform racism-responsive healthcare.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen