Intersectionality

I am rohan, I am trans masculine,

East Indian individual. I am a student, a partner, a sibling, a musician, spiritualist etc.

Turn to the person/people next to you,

and state some of your identities if you feel comfortable doing so. Alternatively,

feel free to write them down.

Deconstructing Process

House Keeping

Anti Oppressive Space

Content Warning : Discussions of race, racism, queer identities, systems of oppression.

This is a safe space.

All voices are significant.

Please give people space to share, and recognize that we are all on this journey together. Only share as much as you feel comfortable sharing.

If you need to step outside, that is entirely valid. Give a thumbs up for being okay and a thumbs down for wanting a check in.

Unique for all people

I was able to start this journey through meeting people with different life experiences

You are probably here because now on some level that these systems exist and impact people. Otherwise you probably wouldn’t be at the training or feel the need to help create safe spaces.

Turn to someone beside you and remember those identities you stated earlier? which identities do you feel are valued? what about the identities that are less valued? For a few minutes, discuss if you feel comfortable, why you think spaces for marginalized folks need to exist and what systems do they fight against by existing?

Example, heterosexism (the belief that everyone has to be straight and straightness is integrated in our society, homonationalism - the concept that white gays belong in mainstream society - a society that excludes qtibpocs)

We want to make this space as anti oppressive as we can. Oppressive spaces use power to marginalize particular groups, to privilege the people already in power.

Can anyone think of any examples of this? (they dont need to be related to your life, but they can be. )

Land Acknowledgment

We wish to acknowledge that the land on which we gather is

Treaty 6 territory and a traditional meeting ground and

home for many Indigenous Peoples, including Cree, Saulteaux,

Blackfoot, Métis, and Nakota Sioux.

We would like to acknowledge that the University of Alberta is situated on

unlawfully stolen and unceded Papaschase Cree territory and we recognize

both the historical and ongoing violence that settler colonialism has and

continues to perpetuate in this place.

How many of you have heard the words intersectionality and anti-oppression? (no right answer)

Anti-oppression is an interdisciplinary approach that focuses on ending systemic oppression. (so the systems i listed above.)

Intersectionality Developed by Black feminist and scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw.

the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

is a concept to describe the ways in which oppressive institutions (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, etc.) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another. These systems that I just listed are oppressive.

How can we make this space less oppressive?

Take some time to brainstorm what we can do to make this space safe for people of all identities and experiences. Together,we are creating this community, so every voice counts.

Presumptive world threatened

---> negative response

Individual people perpetuate these systemic barriers because of this. This is oppressive.

ANTI OPPRESSIVE is the opposite of this & recognizing the impact these systems have on peoples lives. (and the more intersections, oftentimes, the more barriers)

((story time?))

Kindness

Kindness is essential while working with each other and

visitors/clients who are going through this process. We are all in a different part of this journey and so if perhaps you have deconstructed a concept that a visitor is still working on, and just say the visitor ends up saying something that we would see as problematic, how can we let the individual know those things that they said aren;t okay and still maintain a safe space for everyone? Turn to the people beside you and think of a few things you can say to visitors while maintaining a safe space.

Activity! (if you feel comfortable)

In pairs, active listening, ask participants to talk for 3 minutes each about where they feel power in their lives, where they feel powerless.

Now come back to the group. Write down whether you feel powerful or powerless in these spaces. Is it more complicated than 'power vs no power'? How so? Discuss with each other!

School, powerful or powerless?

Work?

Outside on whyte avenue?

The queer bar, evolution?

Other bars in the city?

Alone at home?

When you’re writing/journaling

playing/watching sports games?

walking home at night?

around police officers?

Debrief : How was that for people?

Support?

When you think of people with power, what are some identifying characteristics? & describe some ways in which you have power?

Debrief : do you see things similarly or differently than your partner? Than how you used to see things?

How do people who face marginalization gain power? Discuss!

I was awakened to these systems, and yet support didn’t exist.

How can we support ourselves and each other? Today was heavy and intense. How can we stay safe?

Check out of this session, by saying one thing

we can do together to keep ourselves

and each other supported?

In this society, some of these identities affect us more than others.

Musician, vs trans

What are some barriers that I may face, being trans, rather than being a musician? These are both identities I hold and yet they both affect me entirely differently within the society we live in. (Not the case for all societies)

Being a person of color is also a barrier. What are some barriers that people of color may face? Are there differences between races? (of course, everyone has unique experiences)

What affects why people see me as being a musician as positive and a trans masc person as negative?

This is the system that we live in and the systemic oppression we talked about before. This system exists to perpetuate itself and so trans people do not fall within heterosexism (the idea that an ideal couple is a male & female), or the binary for example.

In this way, by trans people existing in the system, it would not perpetuate itself. Therefore, the system sees this identity as a negative thing.

People may act in ways that support this. This is just one example of an identity that is impacted by these systems. Can you think of other examples?

(sexual vs asexual, white vs Indigenous, black, & people of color in this western context, straight vs LGBTQ, able bodied, vs disabilities, neurotypical vs mental illness, middle class vs lower class, etc.)

Intersectionality & Anti Oppression Introduction

By Rohan Dave