Optional Pre-conference Wednesday Institutes – Wednesday, April April 7, 2010
9am-5pm
Attend both an institute (Wednesday or Saturday) and the WPC and receive a $20 discount off the institute registration price. Please note that registration is required to attend institutes. Institutes that do not have 10 or more participants by March 19, 2010 will be cancelled. The workshop committee will work with the facilitators to convert the institute in to a conference workshop. Participants registered for cancelled institutes will be notified and will be asked to attend a different institute. Refunds may not be possible.
1. Beyond The Binaries (Jamie Washington, Jessica Pettitt and Vernon Wall) Intermediate
Join us for an intensive workshop that incorporates your campus climate, knowledge levels, and action steps. Let's have a discussion that pushes the envelope of a typical LGBT training and move through reclaiming language, sexual diversity, gender advocacy, and building ally coalitions on our campuses. Standing at the intersection of race, class, age, size, faith, sexual identity, gender expression, and other visible and invisible identities, this dialogue focuses on the realities of your regional politics, reframes your resource constraints, and provides a space for planning. Pick up where you may feel stopped, stagnant, frustrated, and maybe even supported and we can build coalitions for inclusive development of organizational work.
2. Christian Hegemony and the Complex Racial Positionality of Jews: A Two-Part Institute (Paul Kivel and Warren Blumenfeld) Beginner-Intermediate
Beginner-Intermediate
Part I: Facilitates an examination and discussion of Christian Hegemony, the institutionalized system of Christian dominance in U.S. society which interconnects with sexism, racism, heterosexism, ableism, anti-Arab and anti-Jewish oppression, and Islamophobia. The interactive discussion will look at how Christian hegemony looks today in the U.S., what it’s everyday impact is, how it has developed historically, what are its foundational values, and how these influence us today. The premise of this workshop is that one cannot accurately understand racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, or other systems of oppression without coming to grips with the ways seventeen hundred years of Christian hegemony undergirds, shapes, supports, and obfuscates how power and violence really work in our society.
Part 2: Looking over the historical emergence of the concept of "race," critical race theorists and geneticists remind us that there are no essential genetic markers linked specially to "race," and that it is, therefore, discursively or socially constructed. Although Jews are members of every so-called "race," dominant groups have constructed Jews across a wide spectrum/continuum upon the racial divide. Many U.S. Jews of European heritage often find themselves questioning the racial space they occupy, given that most are afforded White-skinned privilege, but understand that Jews have been historically seen as racialized others. Moreover, Jews confound established notions of identity because of the complexity of Jewish identity. This session will explore the history of Jewish racialization, the multifaceted nature of Jewish identity, and the connection between anti-Semitism and racism.
3. Examining Privilege Through the Lens of Cultural Competency/Humility (Laurie Lippin and Stephanie Puentes) Beginner-Intermediate
Using a five stage model of Cultural Competency participants in this experiential workshop will examine the impact of the multiple social identities we carry and the role privilege plays within those identities. This workshop delivers a roadmap of action steps for the attitudinal and behavioral changes necessary for living and working together synergistically, effectively and productively in an increasingly more diverse world. Cultural Competency is not a specific endpoint but a lifelong engagement and commitment for individuals to appreciate the complexity of diverse cultural norms and work actively against the often invisible pervasiveness of majority cultural imperialism. Those who participate in the institute will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the day.
4. I’m Not Waiting! Transformative Practices for Social Justice in Education (Ilsa Govan and Johanna Eager) Beginner
Because students today cannot afford to wait for top decision makers to implement a plan to address institutional oppression in schools, this workshop offers school employees frameworks and practical strategies for “being the change”. Many educators go into the profession with a vision of social justice, but quickly get caught up in everyday logistics and immediate needs of students and families. Participants in this institute will learn meaningful strategies to support their reflective practice as well as a successful model for facilitating school and district-wide institutional changes. Time will be spent analyzing real scenarios and participants will be encouraged to network, sharing struggles and successes.
5. It Takes More than a Caucus: Advancing the "White Privilege" Dialogue and Authenticating Anti-Racism Action in Schools (Paul C. Gorski and Heather Hackman) Intermediate
One criticism of the "white privilege" dialogue within education is that, too often, it becomes mired in "woe is me" white caucusing and self-righteous philosophical arguments, rarely moving from anti-racism philosophizing to anti-racism action. Another criticism is that the dialogue remains stuck in a state of arrested development-that in our desperation to center whiteness we ignore important connections between white privilege and other social conditions that limit equity and social justice in schooling: corporate capitalism, patriarchy, hetero-normativity, Christian hegemony, and so on. The purpose of this interactive institute is to examine the stuck-ness of the white privilege dialogue in education circles and how this has affected the movement for social justice education. We then will discuss how to become un-stuck. We will illustrate the process of "complicating" white privilege by considering it through the lenses of queer theory and corporate capitalism. Finally, we will explore what the resulting insights mean for the practice of social justice education.
6. Navigating Triggering Events: Critical Competencies for Facilitating Difficult Dialogues (Kathy Obear) Intermediate
Ever feel so triggered you couldn’t respond effectively? Social justice educators and practitioners often feel triggered during discussions involving issues of multiculturalism and social justice. Unfortunately, most triggered reactions create barriers to facilitating dialogue and building community. Effectively navigating triggering moments is a critical multicultural competency for creating organizational change. In this interactive session participants will identify their common triggers and reactions, and explore strategies to use triggering events as teachable moments.
7. Preparing Your Organization to Talk about White Privilege (Francie Kendall) Beginner-Intermediate
We often want to jump right in to the conversation about white privilege but haven’t stopped to think how people will respond. During this day-long institute we will examine three major questions in order to be better prepared:
- How do we assess whether our organization is ready for an in-depth conversation on white privilege?
- What do we, as change agents, need to know about our organization to help prepare its members to talk about white privilege?
- How do we build an on-going plan so that the initial conversation is not a one-time event?
8. Teacher Institute on Privilege, Power and Difference (Robert Amico, Gaston Dembele and Jerri Drummond) Beginner-Intermediate
The Teacher Institute is designed to raise awareness about privilege, power and difference on two different levels: 1. The personal and interpersonal level (introspective), and 2. The teacher/professional level (practical). The morning activities are designed to develop the participants’ personal awareness of their positionality with respect to privilege, power and difference and their own biases and stereotypes. Exercises focus on a variety of multicultural competencies. The afternoon activities have participants consider their roles as teachers in light of the morning’s insights. The institute is open to teachers at any level (elementary, secondary & college) and student teachers.
9. The Role of Listening and Emotional Healing in Ending Racism (LG Shanklin-Flowers and Martha Barry) Beginner
No person grows up in this society without personally suffering and internalizing the hurts and distortions of racism. The effects of these hurts and distortions continue long after the racist events themselves, confusing us, making life more difficult, and interfering with our organizing efforts to end racism. These effects include both the ongoing damage from being targeted by racism and the self-doubt and self-denigration that result from living in a racist society. This workshop will focus on how these hurts can be removed and how paired listening and mental and emotional healing as practiced in Re-evaluation Counseling can be used to do that.
10. “What’s In It For Us?”: An Updated Institute for People of Color (Pamela Smith Chambers, Robin Parker and Jorge Zeballos) All Levels
Working on the elimination of racism often focuses on helping white people understand racial privilege. Although persons of color who have attended past WPCs acknowledge that cross-racial collaboration is crucial, they have also found that too little attention is paid to the intellectual, spiritual, physical and emotional toll the work takes on persons of color at the conference and beyond. In this fourth year of the institute, we will use new ways to investigate (1) the consequences of working with white people who are struggling to come to terms with white privilege, and (2) the strategies people of color can use to be more supported and empowered as they work at WPC and beyond.
11. Whiteness101 (Robin DiAngelo and Darlene Flynn) Beginner-Intermediate
WPC can be overwhelming for white people with little or no previous exposure to the concept. This institute will provide an in-depth orientation on white privilege and racism for participants who are new to the concept of white privilege, and deepen the analysis of those already involved. Through lecture, discussion and experiential exercises, we will explore: basic anti-racism theory; how white racial identity is formed; what makes racism hard for whites to see; how our other identities (class, gender, etc.) intersect; every-day white racist patterns; being allies.
12. World Work: The Voices of Deep Democracy (Beth Applegate and Alfredo Vergara-Lobo) *Limited to 25 participants. Intermediate
This institute introduces participants to “world work and deep democracy” which are tools used in systems coaching to assist teams and organizations to increase awareness about cultural differences and deepen understanding and problem-solving in multicultural settings. As co-leaders of Latino and White/Caucasian backgrounds, the presenters will model interactions and idea exchange across cultures. This a fully interactive institute that provides ready-to-use tools for anyone working across cultures.
13. White on White: Communicating about Race and White Privilege Using Critical Humility – an Experiential Workshop (European American Collaborative Challenging Whiteness) Intermediate-Advance
Are you looking for an inviting place as a white activist to be challenged — and to be supported — in honing your communications skills with other white folks? Especially about white privilege and racism? We'll spend the day using experiential processes to practice what we call critical humility: a way of communicating with confidence while remembering that what we know is always evolving, and there is a lot we don't know. It's a reflective process that encourages learning and involves openness as well. Focused on taking action, critical humility can be applied both personally and institutionally. In small groups we will use simultaneous role-play, a process that gives everyone the opportunity to engage emotionally, which boosts our learning. In whole group discussions, we’ll try to discover gaps between our values and our actions, our talk and our walk.
14. Pre Conference WPC Youth Institute (Lauren Parker Kucera and Jesse Villalobos) All Levels
Over the past decade, The WPC Youth Institute has facilitated a critical space to strengthen relationships across race and identity for over 500 high school-aged youth from throughout the U. S. At the WPC Youth Institute, youth leaders who want to work for social justice can strengthen communication skills and gain more knowledge about white privilege and begin to build strategies with peers on how to end it. This institute is centered around the perspectives, experiences and voice of youth.
During this interactive program, participants will:
- gain deeper understanding and more knowledge about white privilege, racial identity, racism, social power and intersections of identity (class, gender and culture, etc)
- strengthen communication skills in order to better organize and engage people more effectively across race, culture, age and difference
- develop basic leadership strategies to organize for social change --to reach more peers and potential adult allies
- find individual and collective voice through creative work, exploring experiences of identity and culture
Youth participants in WPC11 YI will be offered the opportunity to facilitate and lead discussions with the film Shades Of Youth during WPC11. (NOTE: The pre-conference Youth Institute is separate from the Youth Leadership Conference, which takes place during the general WPC.)
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