Embodied experiences of race-based traumatic stress and the journey towards black joy

This paper presents an embodied framework of Race-Based Traumatic Stress (RBTS) grounded in the lived experience of a Black African immigrant woman navigating structural racism, microaggressions, and cultural displacement in Canadian academic and professional spaces. Drawing on African feminist epistemologies, polyvagal theory, and African-centered decolonial thought, it conceptualizes RBTS as a culturally situated, embodied response to chronic racial harm. Through narrative reflection and Shona proverbs, the paper explores the emotional and physiological toll of racism while illuminating the protective role of cultural identity, ancestral wisdom, and community. The framework traces recursive phases of RBTS, beginning with migration hope and internalization, followed by overperformance, leadership challenges, inclusive exclusion, emotional labour, and psychological overload, and culminating in a reawakening through Black joy. This concept is introduced not as a fleeting emotion but as a radical, intentional, and culturally grounded practice of healing and resistance. It affirms Africentric knowledge, relational care, and collective affirmation as vital tools for reclaiming wellness. This contribution deepens global understandings of oppression-based trauma by centering embodied knowledge and advocating for culturally affirming mental health supports, community-led healing spaces, and systemic transformation.