Navigating Racial Landscapes: Wholeness and Wounds

Reviews and Endorsements

‘Aileen Alleyne writes from the wound. She doesn't write about it or around it. Her insider–outsider stance is not a methodology but a way of being: the body that is simultaneously inside the therapeutic institution and beside it, reading the accommodation from within its own sedimentation. What she calls “listening in colour” is a refusal of the greyscale neutrality that modern care demands of its practitioners. And her unflinching examination of “you make me whole” – the phrase that sounds like love and operates like governance – is one of the sharpest interrogations of the thesis of completion I have encountered. This book asks what it costs to navigate landscapes that were never drawn for your body. It does so with the fierce tenderness of someone who has been paying that cost for decades and has decided, at last, to name the invoice.’
Báyò Akómoláfé, Hubert H. Humphrey Distinguished Professor of American Studies, Macalester College, USA; Founder, The Emergence Network

‘Passion, politics, and justice frame this thoughtful book. Clear clinical examples enable the therapist to understand dimensions that need addressing in the consulting room and inside of their own – perhaps unrecognised – biases.’
Susie Orbach, co-founder, Women’s Therapy Centre, London and WTCI, NYC

‘Dr Aileen Alleyne’s Navigating Racial Landscapes offers a compelling and embodied exploration of racial experience, drawing on polyvagal theory to illuminate how our nervous systems shape connection, safety, and engagement. Extending these principles through domains shaped by her personal, clinical, and cultural experiences, she brings insight and originality to complex questions, contributing to our understanding of how biobehavioral state influences social engagement in contexts shaped by race.’
Stephen W. Porges, PhD, Distinguished University Scientist, Indiana University; originator of polyvagal theory

‘This brilliant book tells a deeply personal story that speaks to universal truths, written in a voice of liberation, with the heart of a poet and the mind of a highly skilled clinician. It is a must-read for all psychotherapists of Colour who want to understand the torment of racialised labour and its consequences if left unprocessed. It is also a necessary study for White psychotherapists, empowering them towards self-healing through deeper recognition of their “implicated subject” position.’
Kirkland C. Vaughans, PhD, Senior Adjunct Professor, Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University; co-editor, The Psychology of Black Boys and Adolescence

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
About the author
Preface and introduction

1. Post-publication blues
2. Why I’m tired of teaching white people about race
3. Woke: From political awakening to cultural battleground
4. Listening in colour
5. “YOU make me WHOLE”—oppressive submission or liberating gratitude? (Read that again please)

Epilogue—walking the landscape once more
References
Index

Customer Reviews

Our customers have given this title an average rating of 4 out of 5 from 3 review(s), add your own review for this title.

Jubriel Hanid on 01/07/2026 13:46:25

(5 out of 5)

You've finished your training; you're up to date with the latest CPD; you think you've done everything to ensure you're at the top of your game, then this book comes along.

So many new concepts, some of which I identified with as victim, some as unwitting perpetrator, and some as both, but all delivered with the kindness of a benevolent teacher. I highly recommend it.

Dr Isha Mckenzie-Mavinga on 01/07/2026 13:11:31

(4 out of 5)

Dr Aileen presents an honest and raw account of the complex landscape of racial dynamics. She opens with transparency about the emotional, physical and mental cost of her transition from book one to book two. The book is well researched and poignant in many aspects of political and personal dilemma when learning and teaching about supporting, holding and engaging the vulnerability of those impacted by Antiblack racism. Most certainly a model for listening to and engaging with the underbelly of inter racial dialogue,when acknowledging and addressing these contexts. Kudos to Dr Aileen for sharing examples of tenderly holding racialised case material. She generously demonstrates knowledge and wisdom regarding the historical underlay to journeying through the impact on her expertise as a therapist modelling emotional robustness in the field. The book provides guidance for all therapies, and an asset to training as she elucidates concepts such as ‘Polyvagel Theory,’ ‘Wokeness’ ‘Tone policing’ and aspects of attentive listening in colour. The Author takes a deep dive into the naunces of listening in colour to black and white embodiment and interracial relationships, showing each lap of the articulated journey of Kintsugi (symbolised on the front cover)and the reality and legacy of holding ourselves together whilst practicing as black women in the psychotherapy profession. Very well researched and written . A must for training, supervision and relationships within the helping professions.

Tania Caliendo on 30/06/2026 15:17:27

(5 out of 5)

There is a candid generosity which ripples through this legacy work. With global relevance, exposing and tending to micro level dynamics of power,such as the sonic colour line, every one of the 5 chapters of this book is packed with originality and crafted to be applied today in our work, personal and inner life.
Showing HOW and why listening can liberate, in Chapter 4, "To listen in colour is to resist silence and distortion, to hold language with care, and to open dialogue as a space of liberation", this work is a treasure for our generation.
In Dr Alleyne's 2nd Chapter, reflection on the fatigue, the burden and the fullness of a lifetime of DEI work and on the refusal of the obligation/role of super co-regulator, we are led with polyvagal awareness to the re-enlivening 5 point legacy - A manifesto for race work.
The illustration of a neurobiopsychosocial approach to the "White-body" phenomenon, is a mike drop moment. Systems thinking is grand and necessary, and thankfully Dr Alleyne has the means, both in research scope, and concise authority, to map the racial landscapes of today with timely clarity. Here, a chord is struck with all our lived experience. Presented with case studies and examples from the language of Guyanese Creole, in Chapter 5, Dr Alleyne expounds on the universal,intimate bond of love. There is literally a feast of wisdom and in these pages for which I deeply express my gratitude.
The author shows us how reflecting on the atomic/micro level is loaded with the force for individual liberation, which affects the whole, exponentially, starting with those closest to us. It was a pleasure and a challenge to begin absorbing this brilliant book.