208.-pod-mapping-zine.pdf
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Pods and Pod Mapping Worksheet


During the spring of 2014 the Bay Area Transformative Justice

Collective (BATUC) began using the term “pod” torefer to a specific

type of relationship wihin transformative justice (TJ) work. We needed

‘a torm fo describe the kind of relationship between people who would

tum to each other for suprort around viclent, harmful and abusive |
‘experiences, whether as survivors, bystanders or people who have
harmed, These would be the paople in cur lives that we would call on

‘o support us wits things such as our immediate and on-gong safety,
aceountabilty and transtomation of behaviors, orindividual anc

collective healing and resiiancy.

Prior to this, we had been using the term “community” whe we talked
about transformative justice, but we found that, not eurprisingly, mary
people do not feel connected to a “community” ard, even more so,
‘most people did not know what “community” meant or had wildly |
diferert definitions and understandings of “community.” For some, |
“community was an overarching term that encompassed tuge
numbers of people based on identiy (e.g. “the feminist community’); |
‘tile for others ‘communiy,” farted to a specific sat of arbitrary
values, practices andior relationships (e.g. “Idontt know them well, but
‘we're in community with each other); or some defined “community”
simply by geographic location. regerdless of relationship or identity
(eg. “the Bay Area community’). We found that people romanticized
‘commenity, or though they fell connected to @ community at large,
they orly had significant and trustworthy relationships with veryfew =|
actual people who may or may not be part of that community. For |
exampie, somecne might feel connected to the queer commurity," but
when asked who from that “queer community’ they fet they could trist
to show up for them in times of crisis, vulnerability or violence, they
‘could only name 2 or 3 people.









‘Athough “community” is a word that we use all the time, many people
dnt know what it ia or feo! they have never experienced it. This

became increasingly confusing as we used terms such as “commurity
‘accountabifty” cr “community responses to violence” and encouraged _ |
people to “tum to their communities" and this became even mero
complicated in cealirg with inmate and sexual violence because the
Violence, harm and abuse was often coming from their

“community” bocause G0 many peaplo sro adused by comeone they

krow.

We neaded a different term to describe whal we meant, and so, “pods”
was suggested and i: stuck. This is not to say that we don’t use the
term ‘community’ stit—we do; but we needed to create new language
{o: our work.


‘We knew that across the board, people who experience violence,
hhaim and abuse turn to their inimata networks before they turn to
‘exernal stale or social services. Most people don't cal the police or
‘seek ccunseling or even call anonymous hotines. I they tell anyone at
all, they tum to a trusted friend, farrity member. neighbor o° coworker.
We wanted a way to name those currently in your life that you would
rely on (or are relying on) lo respond to violence, narm and abuse.




'BATJC POD MAPPING WORKSHEET















bat rn
undated.pdf), We use this 2s a template to help people start to identify
‘whe could be in their pods). We invite people to fil out muttiple
\workcheets for their different pods. This is only a basic template.
people are welcome to create their awn fod maps.



1) Write your nane in the middle arey circle.

2) The surrounding bold-outined vicles are your pod. Write the
‘names of the people who ere in your pod. We encourage people to
‘write the names of actual individuals, instead of things such as “my
cchurch group” or ‘my neighbors."

3) The dotted lines surrounding your pod are people who are
“movabe.” They are people that could be moved in to your pod, but
need a ittle more wore. Fr example, you might need tp buld more
relationship or trust with them. Or maybe youve never had a
cconversation with them about prisons or sexual violence.

44) The larger ckcles at the edge'of the page are for netwerks,
‘communities or groups that could ba resouroas for you. it ould be
‘your local domestic Violence drect service organization, or your cohort
in aursing school, or your youth group, or a transformative justice
‘group.

‘Yur pod(s) may shift over time, as your needs or relationships shift or
‘as people's geographic location shift. We encourage peopie to nave
conversations with their pod people abcut pods and transformative
justice, as vell 2s to actively grow the number of people in their pod
‘and suport each other in doing 0, Growing one's pad is not easy and
‘may taxe time. In pod work, we measure our successes by the quality
of our relationships with one another and we invest in the fime't takae
to build things lke trust, respect, vulnerability, accountabilty, care and
love. We see building our pods as a concrete way to prepare and build
resources for transformatve justice in our communities.




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POD =

‘Your pod Is made up of the people that you would call on if
violence, harm of abuse happened to you; or the people that you
would call on if you wanted support in taking accountability for
violence, harm or abuse that you've done; or if you witnessed
violence or if someone you ere about was being violent or being
abused.

People can-have multiple rods. The people you call to support you
‘when you are-being harmed may not be the same people you call on
to support you when you have cone harm, and vice versa. In general,
‘pod people are often those you have relationship znd tust with,
though everyone has different criteria for their pods.



‘Once we started using the term “pods,” we realized a bunch of things:

— ost people have few solid, dependable relationships in their
lives. Much of thi is trom the treaking cf relationships, isolation, fear
and criminalizaticn that capitalism requires. We found that for many
people, mapping their pod was a sobering process, as many thought
their pod would be larger than it actually was. It is not uncommon for
‘mest people to have 1 or 2 people in their pod. We reassure people
this Is not a popularity contest, but rather a chance to reflect on why
‘we have so few relationships with the kind of deep trust, refabllty and
groundedness we need tobe able to respond wet! to volence.



~ Many people have less people they could call on to take
‘accountability for harm they've done than harm that happened fo
them, Though competent support for surviving violence is few and far
between, we have found that accountable support for someone taking
accountabilty for harm they have done is even harder to find. More
often than not, paople end up colluding with abusers or reinforcng the
‘shaming and blaming of survivors in their attampt to support someone
intaking accountabilty for harm, ifhey stay in relationship with people
who heve harmed or been violant a al



Asking people to organize their pod was much more concrate
‘than asking people to organize thelr “community.” Once we had
the shared language and concept of *pod,"it allowed transformative
Justice to te more accessible. Gone were the fantasies of a giant,
magical “community response,” fled with people we only had surface
relaticnshios wth; and instead we challenged ourselves and cthers to
build solid pods of people through relationship and tust. In doing s0,
wa ara pushed to get specific about what those relatonshis look tke
‘and how they are built. places relationship-buiding atthe very center
cf transformative justice and community accountablty work.






"od people” don’t fall neatly along traditional lines, especially

in stuations of intimate and saxiial valance. People don't necescarily
tumto their closest relationships (e.9. partner, family, best friends),
especially because thie is ofton where the violence is coming from, but
also because the criteria we would use fer our pod peoole is not
Necessarily the seme as what we use (OF get taught to use) for our
‘general intimate relationships. We have cifferent and specific kinds of
relationships with our pod people, often in addition to relationship and |
trust, they involve a combination of characteristics such as, but not
limited to: a track record of generative conflict; boundaries; being able
to give and receive feedback; reliabiity. These are characteristics and
skill that we are not readily taught to value in U.S. society and don't
Usually have the skiliset to support in even our closest relationships.



~~ Building analysis was much easier than building the

relationship and trust required for one’s pod. Once people staried to
Identify their pod, it became cleer thet most of the people they would

call on were not necessarily political organizers or activsts and usually
didn't have political analysis. This wes true. even for paitical

orgenizers and activists who were mapping their pods. Using the
language of "sods" was a way to meat panple where they were and
reveal what was areacy werking in their intimate networks.

People already had indlvideale in their lives they would tum to when \

Violence happened (even ifit wes just one person). So this is where

we needed to focus our work, instead of ying to build new

relationships with strangers who might share a poltcal analysis, but

‘nad no relationship to each other, let alone trust. We set oul to

bulld through our relationships and trust. We then worked ta support
‘our folks in cultivating a shared analysis and framework for t
understanding infimato and sexual violence through many things, most
notably our transformative justice studies.

= The BATJC focuses on transformative justice roeponses to
child sexual abuse. Growing and deepening our pods helps us
build where children already are. Utilizing tie concest of pods is &
way to reach children where they are because a 5 yea" old's nct going
to reach out o us for suppor, nor shoul they be expected to
‘spearhead a community accountabiity process. The more we can
Tow our own pods and have conversations about protecting and |
“supporting the children and youth in aur vas, the better prepared we
willbe to responc to cvild sexual abuse in our intimate networks. |

+z Relationship and trust, not always political analysis, continueto |
be two of the mest important factors in successful TJ |
interventions, whether in supporting suvivor self determination and |
hezling, or in accountability processes. Though shared languag.
values, and political understancings can be very useful in responding
to violence, we find that these are easier to build where relationship
ane trust already exist. By bulldng where there is already authentic
Telationships and trust, rather than tying to piece together shallow |
versions, we help to set the conditions fer, not only, successful TJ
resoonses. tut the lkelinood that people will respond to vielonce at al.