A framework and epistemology for Black liberation at the level of the soul.

Do the work your soul must have.

The Framework

Soulwork is a radical, womanist framework that insists Black people have interiority, agency, and lineage that exceed what labor asks of us. It was built from an original analysis of the Racial Capitalist Labor Regime, the system that has organized Black labor and Black life since chattel slavery. Soulwork answers that regime with five pillars: Vocation, Wisdom, Community, Advocacy, and Self-Care.

Soulwork stands in a lineage that includes Pauli Murray, Patricia Hill Collins, the Combahee River Collective, Nah Dove, and Katie Geneva Cannon. Each insisted, in their own register, that the place the world has treated as a site of maximum extraction is also a site of maximum knowledge.

A person wearing a cap and white shirt standing near a security system booth with a sign that reads "NO JOBS." The booth has a security camera and signs indicating security system installation.

The Racial Capitalist Labor Regime (RCLR)

An extension of Cedric Robinson's racial capitalism theorizing its gendered foundation: the enslaved person precedes and produces the proletariat as a category. Soulwork was built to answer this social iniquity.

Read The Analysis
A black and white photo of a woman with curly hair standing under an archway made of stone and wood. She is wearing high-heeled boots, shorts, and a jacket, with her hands in her pockets, looking slightly to the right. The archway is part of a brick and stone structure, with two lamps on top of the pillars. The background shows trees and a street sign reading 'ROGER'.

The Exit Project

Quantitative studies count how many Black women are leaving the labor force. The Exit Project is asking those women to narrate it themselves. This project seeks to locate the boundary between systemic pressure and personal choice, and allows for the stories behind the data.

Learn More
A bookshelf labeled 'PHOTOGRAPHY' at the top, filled with various books, some stacked horizontally, in black and white.

Scholarship

Read the public facing papers

Dive Deep

Contact Bethany Nicole

I'm the founder of the Soulwork epistemology and framework. Every idea on this site is my own. Reach out with opportunities or questions.

email@email.com

A woman sitting on a colorful painted brick wall, wearing a large white hat, black leather jacket, beige pants, and beige high-heeled boots. She is smiling and looking at her phone.