Diversity teach-in May 20 to look at intersectionality, oppression and transformation

Western Today staff

May 7, 2015

This past spring, a group of Western Washington University faculty, staff and students came together to create an intentional space to begin a critical conversation on issues of race and diversity after a hate group infiltrated campus with a banner that read “diversity = white genocide.”

Quarterly teach-ins have continued that created space for discussions around microaggressions, neo-liberalism and differences in the ways people self-identify.

The fourth such teach-in. titled "Crossing the Margins: Intersectionality, Oppression and Transformation," is scheduled to take place from 5"30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, beginning in Fraser Hall Room 102.

This teach-in will use a conference-style model with a keynote speaker and 13 sessions. All sessions will be in one of three mediums: roundtables, panels and workshops. The keynote speaker is Tamara Lea Spira, assistant professor of queer studies in Fairhaven College and the American Cultural Studies Department.

Childcare available for those who seek it. For more information, email esj@wwu.edu.

The sessions:

  • Gail Goulet, Sarah Enders, Nardeep Kaur, Clarissa Lewis, Galager Martinez, My Nguyen, Emily Owens: Un-Represented and Under-Represented groups in Higher Education. 45 min Frazer 102 This panel will highlight various un-represented and under-represented groups, their historic lack of participation in Higher Education, and how this impoverishes Higher Education.
  • Chuan Kuzin, Cecilia Guzman: The Role of Cultural and Social Capital in the Conceptualization of Parent Involvement. 45 min VU 552 Which groups get to define parent involvement and are able to participate in school sanctioned activities based on their access to financial, social, and cultural capitals and how these participations or lack thereof contribute to the reproduction of inequalities. 
  • Ro Sigle: Respectability and the Politics of Anger, Love, & Normalcy First 45 min-VU 565 A Discuss how ideas of normalcy are constructed, what "normal" emotions look like in a classroom setting, and how not exhibiting normalcy is often met with subtle and overt forms of discrimination.
  • Simone Staley, Xandra Peters, Taylor Frese, Ariel Moreau: Community Culture Wealth Second 45 min - VU 565 A Interactive workshop that will explore the theory of Community Cultural Wealth in comparison to concepts of cultural capital.
  • Dr. Rosalie M Romano: White Privilege First 45 min – VU 565 C An interactive session to explore the concept of privilege in society, who gets privilege, how it is acquired, and why those who have it do not see it.
  • Alex Ng, Taylor Russell: Micro-aggressions in the classroom. Second 45 min – VU 565 C Examining the impact of micro-aggressions that we as a community of teachers unconsciously commit in our classrooms everyday against our students.
  • Joanne DeMark, Bryce Fields (L.E.A.D.S): The “Psychology” of Oppression and Freedom working with your internalized self 1 hour 30 minutes – VU 565 B Examining oppressions that operate INTERdependently at the Institutional personally mediated and internalized level.
  • Round Table Discussion: Ashton Bitton and Kamran Hughes: Patriarchy and Capitalism in Intersectional Oppression. 30 min - Miller Hall Collaborative space “Fishbowl” Discuss the roles and influences of consumerism, patriarchy and capitalism in the context of intersectional oppression.
  • Sydney deVictoria – Michel, Lucy L. Purgason: Restorative Justice 30 min - Miller Hall Collaborative space “Fishbowl” Discuss strategies to advocate for systemic change in school discipline practices including restorative justice and how it could be implemented.
  • Laura Langley, Mary Janell Metzger, Keira O’Hearn: Developing Non-binary Gender Literacies 30 min - Miller Hall Collaborative space “Fishbowl” Discuss ideas about things we can do – in our learning, our teaching, our daily engagement with one another – to show resect for others’ gender identities.
  • Hayley Smith, Anna Petrie:  NAFTA – Putting A Human Face on Economic Policies 30 min - Miller Hall Collaborative space “Fishbowl” Discuss free trade policies. Analyze and unpack the economic approach, the environmental approach and the humanistic approach to concepts of trade.
  • Shannon Kelly, Jeremy Cushman, Zachery Meyer, Chelsea Polk, Nolan Moore: Students’ Rights to Their Own Language. 30 min - Miller Hall Collaborative space “Fishbowl” Discuss what kind of cultural capital may be at stake in educational spaces. In what ways does it surface when we straight up value students’ right to their own language?
  • Stephanie Sisson, Dr. Ee Lin Lee: Social Privilege and International Volunteerism 30 min - Miller Hall Collaborative space “Fishbowl” Discuss the effectiveness of volunteerism in challenging social privilege and further explore this topic.