Rest is Resistance

Laetitia@Work #59

Hi everyone,

I realise I have been writing a lot about rest lately. Perhaps I’m obsessed with it. I’m convinced we ought to give rest more room in the future of work agenda. Although it’s often framed as individual self-care, it’s actually a political subject. Rest is unproductive and therefore not easily granted, including by ourselves. We often see it as a reward rather than a necessity. We see it as a means to an end (production) rather than a goal in itself. 

Rest creates extra space for imagination. Rested people see new alternatives and are more capable of community care and political action. In short, rest is liberating. As such, it is potentially disruptive, a challenge to the current world order.

In my exploration of the subject of rest I’ve come across the work of Tricia Hersey and her Nap Ministry. Trained as a theologian, this Black American poet advocates for the importance of rest as a racial and social justice issue. She calls herself the Nap Bishop. In a book titled Rest is Resistance, designed “to be a prayer”, she pays homage to her slave ancestors and calls for more emancipation through rest. In that call there is something for all of us. 👇💡

Slavery and capitalism

Rest is a form of resistance because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy (...) The systems have manipulated and socialized us so that we stay exhausted (...) Capitalism was created on plantations. The roots of it are violence and theft.

Sleep deprivation is a public health issue and a racial justice issue. There is a large body of research that points to the sleep gap that exists between Black Americans and white Americans. (Tricia Hersey)

Indeed the history of capitalism and the history of slavery are deeply intertwined. It’s surprising how little it is mentioned in history classes. Slavery played a significant role in the development and expansion of capitalism during the era of European colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade. The labour of slaves generated immense profits that did not only enrich plantation owners in the South but also allowed for the formation of huge capitalist enterprises in the North and in Europe whose profits derived from slave trade and slave labour. 

The transatlantic slave trade was intricately linked to the emergence of modern financial systems (with European banks financing the trade and insuring slave ships). In many ways, it laid the foundations of modern capitalism with its credit and insurance industries. The cheap cotton harvested by slaves in America also played a huge part in the industrial revolution.

Many activists have stressed how this immense (underestimated) debt can never be fully repaid and continues to grow. The idea of reparations is rooted in the recognition of the effects of historical injustices over generations, with present-day socioeconomic and political disparities linked to past systemic oppression, sleep and rest deprivation. The exhaustion of Black bodies isn’t over. There are still many traces of it in the American (and even European) societies: Black people, notably women, continue to be paid less and exploited more. They constitute a big chunk of all essential care workers and are among the least paid. They are still exhausted.

Hence the Nap Ministry

Tricia Hersey founded the Nap Ministry in 2016. The organisation was designed to advocate for rest as a form of reparation and a pathway to ancestral connection. Starting in 2017, she organised collective naps which participants found to be liberating.

The spiritual dimension of rest is evident at our Collective Napping Experiences. (...) People wake up crying from the realization of how exhausted they are. They didn’t realize how intense their burnout was until experiencing a nap in the middle of the day (...) This has been a beautifully expansive experience that has allowed for the community to rest in yoga studios, church basements, city parks, conference rooms, libraries, theaters, bookstores, gymnasiums, public schools, universities, art galleries, homes, apartments, and shared workspaces. (...) The Nap Ministry has always been the personal experiment of an exhausted and curious Black woman artist. I was aware of what rest had done for me, but to watch it transform into a collective healing moment for others has been a complete blessing. (Tricia Hersey)

As the “Nap Bishop” Hersey draws on Christian theology and rituals (which she intends to be spiritual rather than religious). She tells participants that they don't need to earn and deserve their rest. As divine creatures, they just need to be. During Covid, Hersey organised online napping sessions. But otherwise the collective nap experiences are organised in collective spaces, in pop-up sessions of 30-40 minutes. (Check The Nap Ministry’s Instagram account which now has 536K followers).

But naps aren’t just naps. The Ministry is a social justice organisation as well as an artistic project. It seeks to challenge the societal norms that prioritize productivity, overwork, and burnout. It creates awareness about the historical implications of rest deprivation. It encourages people to see rest as a form of resistance. It encourages a shift towards a more compassionate understanding of rest and self-care, particularly within marginalised communities.

(Day)Dreaming Past and Future

With Rest comes Dream. And by Hersey’s definition, it should also include daydreaming, an activity that allows her to stay connected to her ancestors as well as to possible, imaginary worlds of the future…

I can daydream for hours a day and vividly remember this as a daily practice since I was a child. In those daydreaming moments, I was processing my own history and imagining worlds that felt real. (...) As I got older, these moments happened less and less. I was rushed off by my parents, teachers, classmates, colleagues, managers, and friends. All of culture is in collaboration for us not to rest. (Tricia Hersey)

Neuroscientists have stressed the importance of daydreaming. Alas our hyperconnected world of constant social media presence has made daydreaming nearly impossible. As we fill every minute or our days with emails, messages and social media posts, we’ve lost our ability to connect Past and Future through Dream.

When the mind is allowed to wander and engage in spontaneous thoughts, it can make novel connections and generate innovative ideas. Daydreaming provides a cognitive space to explore alternative perspectives, simulate possible scenarios and events, imagine future outcomes. It has also been linked to memory consolidation: when daydreaming, the brain consolidates and strengthens recently acquired memories. It allows the brain to process and make connections between different pieces of information. 

Daydreaming often involves autobiographical thinking, reflecting on personal experiences, and constructing narratives about oneself. (Personally I often enjoy this type of autobiographical reverie during my walks or jogs). This introspective aspect of daydreaming plays a hugely important  role in shaping one's sense of self, identity, and understanding of past and future trajectories. In short, daydreaming connects Past and Future.

The Dream aspect of rest is metaphysical, spiritual and political. Slaveowners made it particularly hard for slaves to dream (let alone daydream). “There has been a DreamSpace theft”, writes Hersey. That’s why her daydreaming catches up with the lost daydreaming of her ancestors. She imagines the actions of the heroes of the Underground Railroad. And stories of maroons, these communities of escaped enslaved people who formed independent settlements or fugitive societies and who emerged as a result of resistance against slavery. Their defiance inspired hope among enslaved populations. 

The idea of rest as resistance has always resided in me but I deepen into it the more I spend time listening to my soul and while deeply daydreaming about the Underground Railroad and being inspired by the maroons of North America. Harriet Tubman is one of the many muses for this work. An enslaved woman focused on the choice of freedom or death. Her inner knowing that life was on the other side of trauma of being enslaved. Harriet Tubman crafted space to listen, to strategize, and to pray while guiding people on the Underground Railroad. She stopped to listen to nature, to track the sound of owls, and she was deeply in tune with the stars and her spiritual world. (Tricia Hersey)

Imagination, science fiction and rebellion

The Nap Ministry draws inspiration from interestingly diverse sources, among which Afrofuturism. If you’ve seen Marvel’s Black Panther, you may have an idea of what Afrofuturism is. It’s a cultural and artistic movement that explores the intersection of African diaspora culture, science fiction and technology. At its core, Afrofuturism challenges traditional narratives and representations of Black people by reimagining their past, present, and future through a futuristic lens. It seeks to expand the boundaries of what is considered possible, offering alternative narratives of Black experience.

Afrofuturism examines identity and cultural heritage in a rapidly changing world in which a more and more diverse and complex set of Black identities need to be validated. It explores the role of tech and science and how they can be harnessed for empowerment. And it offers critical narratives to challenge existing power structures and offer visions of more equitable futures.

(I discovered a famous Afrofuturist writer is Octavia E. Butler, who I have never read. If you have read any of her books, your recommendations are more than welcome!)

Rest is Resistance. Yes, rest is a particularly loaded subject when it comes to Black Americans. It is essential to consider the legacy of slavery and ongoing racial discrimination. I have no intention of depoliticizing the movement carried by Hersey. But I also see in it a universal call to protect all bodies crushed by our productivist grind culture. At a time when a majority of animal species are disappearing, when our human bodies are beset by illnesses and diseases to the point of making us die younger (I’ve also just read Le Suicide de l’espèce - The Suicide of the Species by Dr Jean-David Zeitoun). When I rest I resist grind culture. I resist the toxicity of our productive systems. I carve out a space to just be. Surely that’s a programme worth embracing!

👉 See also my previous newsletter: Debunking the Laziness Lie. Laetitia@Work #53

👉 And this one: How much rest do we really need? Laetitia@Work #52

👉 One more for the road: Why I’m tired of goals. Laetitia@Work #55

💡Check out some of the latest articles I wrote for Welcome to the Jungle:

• Un collaborateur a-t-il (vraiment) à « faire ses preuves »?

• Storytelling : jusqu'où l'entreprise peut-elle « se raconter des histoires » ?

• Salomé Saqué : en finir avec les clichés sur la jeunesse, notamment au travail

• Pourquoi la semaine de 4 jours n'est pas un remède miracle !

• « Comment j'ai découvert l'ambition après 40 ans »

• Savoir arrêter, plutôt que de persévérer dans l’erreur : la vraie clé du succès

🎙️ The latest episodes of my Nouveau Départ podcast are: Les fonctionnaires et l’argent (with Charlotte Cador) ; L’IA et l’avenir du travail (with Nicolas) 🎧 (in 🇫🇷)

📺 My next “Café Freelance” event (with Freelance.com) will aim to help freelancers learn to deal with criticism & use the feedback they receive to grow. 🇫🇷 Freelance : Comment gérer la critique 😎 ? My panel will feature Isabelle Sthemer and Emmy Druesne. Stéphanie Joncart will be there too. Join us May 26 at 9:30 CET!

Miscellaneous

📺 Generation Connie, Connie Wang, The New York Times, May 2023: “Connie Chung was trusted and respected — qualities that my mother herself had enjoyed in China. So when I picked my name, my mom readily acceded. What more could she hope for from her own Connie? What my family didn’t know was that a version of the same scenario was playing out in living rooms and hospitals across the country. Asian American families from the late 1970s through the mid-’90s — mostly Chinese, all new immigrants — had considered the futures of their newborn daughters and, inspired by one of the few familiar faces on their TVs, signed their own wishes, hopes and ambitions onto countless birth certificates in the form of a single name: Connie.”

🧠 AI IS ABOUT TO MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA (MUCH) MORE TOXIC, Jonathan Haidt and Eric Schmidt, The Atlantic, May 2023: “AI-enhanced social media will wash ever-larger torrents of garbage into our public conversation. In 2018, Steve Bannon, the former adviser to Donald Trump, told the journalist Michael Lewis that the way to deal with the media is “to flood the zone with shit.” In the age of social media, Bannon realized, propaganda doesn’t have to convince people in order to be effective; the point is to overwhelm the citizenry with interesting content that will keep them disoriented, distrustful, and angry.”

🚸 Return of the child-friendly city? How social movements are changing European urban areas, The Conversation, Jonne Silonsaari, Gemma Simón i Mas, Jordi Honey-Rosés, Marco te Brömmelstroet, April 2023: “closing the streets to children is bad policy. Children’s physical activity levels are alarmingly low and limiting their sense of safety and autonomy also hampers their mental and social wellbeing. These trends are endangering the health of an entire generation and compromising their ability to uphold societies and economies with grim dependency ratios. (…) children should not be reduced to mere ‘future investments’ or ‘adults of tomorrow’. They are also people with present-day rights to citizenship, participation and autonomy in their living environments.”

Rest. Resist! 🤗