Limbo state of mind: Reflections from a Sesame trainee dramatherapist ‘in the wake of being Black’

Exploring the word limbo and its many derivatives, I look at the Black diasporic experience in the present-day aftermath of slavery and colonialism, contending that the continued loss, grief, rage and trauma concomitant with our racial complex leaves Black people stuck in a transitional ‘limbo state of mind’. This limbo state of being relates to the psychological, physical and emotional impact which racialized systems of oppression, suppression and repression exert on Black communities in the western collective that leads to an unresolved, restless existence stuck somewhere between the past and the present. As a Black, trainee dramatherapist, I query the psychological impact of this centuries-old trauma on the Black being, and how – through personal exploration including the use of poetry and art – Sesame dramatherapy can attempt to acknowledge and address themes of rage, grievance, grief and internalized/externalized racism for the Black client, within a therapeutic encounter.