PCDI Retreat – Summer 2017 - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

PCDI Retreat – Summer 2017

Working Together Across Differences

Presenters:

Dr. Cori Wong

& Dr. Kaye HolmanSlide2

Activity outline

Working Together across Difference: Some Considerations on Emotions and Political Practice

b

y Uma Narayan

Working

Together

Context and Framing

Small Group Reflection and Share OutSlide3

Working together on the PCDI

Accountability

Vulnerability

Trust

ResponsibilitySlide4

Context and framing

It is often difficult to sustain

dialogue

for functional working relationships among diverse groups,

even if members share common goals

.

“[C]

oalitions

can breakdown for internal reasons

if 1) people do not learn to trust one another across divisive social differences, and if 2) people do not learn how to sustain working relationships in contexts of sometimes powerful distrust and disagreement” (33). Slide5

Context and framing

“A progressive organization…cannot be sustained

unless the prejudices and problems which arise between members are examined and programmatically addressed

” (33).

It may help to talk about how dialogue between people who do not share the experience of a certain form of oppression can be undermined,

especially when members of oppressed groups are harmed and “unintentionally violated by non-members of the oppressed group who participate in the dialogue

” (31). Slide6

Working together

“Working

together continuously across our differences

is not a

project we cannot avoid or get away from. We are condemned to either ignoring or annihilating our

differences

or to working tenuously across them to form always

risky bonds of

understanding”

(34

).

Trust

must be

built

, but we must also

recognize

“historically

constituted relations of power, privilege and

lack of understanding

on the part of members of advantaged groups, and

reasonable grounds for mistrust

on the part of members of disadvantaged

groups” (35).Slide7

Epistemic Privilege (of Insiders)

[M]embers of an oppressed group

[

insiders] have a more immediate, subtle, and critical knowledge about the nature of their oppression

than people who are non-members of the oppressed group [outsiders]” (35).

“[I]

mmediate

knowledge of everyday life under oppression”

– how oppression is experienced, inflicted, and “the ways in which oppression affects their social and psychic lives” (36).Slide8

Epistemic Privilege vs Privilege

Epistemic Privilege (Insiders)

Privilege (Outsiders)

Unearned advantages and benefits, as well as access to resources, that help members of non-oppressed groups navigate institutions, systems, life, and the world more easily.

Not just

an asset or benefit

but also,

typically,

a lack of

understanding

,

fluency, knowledge

, and/or

experience

with oppression, as well as a

lack of self-transparency

.Slide9

For Outsiders

Non-members of the oppressed group

will have to work very hard to “develop a more sophisticated understanding

of what a form of oppression involves.”

‘

Outsiders

’ who do not put in the effort to educate themselves, “

who simply have an abstract sort of goodwill towards members of the oppressed group, are unlikely to have much of a clear or detailed awareness of the forms in which that oppression is experienced”

(37). Slide10

How Outsiders Can Cause Harm

“For insiders to work together with outsiders is a project that is often fraught with difficulty, for, in any communication, the

two groups do not function as equally vulnerable

” (40).

“Here,

members of disadvantaged groups render themselves more vulnerable

because they accept the existence of good will on the part of members of the oppressed groups, and they have good reason to expect that they will, often enough, be hurt, good will not withstanding” (35). Slide11

Insiders Incur Harm

“It is the insider who pays the price of oppression and

even sympathetic outsiders

, since they are prone to blind-spots and clumsiness,

can offend and hurt the insider more often than they imagine.

The insider can neither simply walk away from the issues, as the outsider always can, nor can she ever hurt the outsider in quiet the same way” (40-41). Slide12

Good will is not enough to overcome assumptions & attitudes born out of centuries of Power & Privilege

“Thus

, since the brunt of possible hurt is most often on the insider,

the burden of taking care not to cause offense can fairly be laid on the

outsider

.

“

Outsiders often assume, wrongly, that good will on their part is a guarantee against causing offense to insiders

” and are surprised when insiders express their hurt since outsiders “cannot understand how someone sympathetic to a form of oppression could conceivably ben seen as having offensive views or attitudes” (41). Slide13

Harmful Misses & Failures of Outsiders

What

the outsider misses that the insider

grasps (39-40):

Minimizing the emotional costs of

oppression

Missing the subtler manifestations of

oppression

Not making connections or failing to see oppression in new contextsSlide14

Harmful Misses & Failures of Outsiders

Failures

of outsiders that reveal a lack of understanding and cause harm to

insiders:

Overt Denial of the Validity of the Insider’s Understanding and/or

Response

(41)

Accusations

of

Paranoia

(42)

Insensitive

Reactions to an Insider’s

Response

(43)Slide15

Harmful Misses & Failures of Outsiders

Failures

of outsiders that reveal a lack of understanding and cause harm to

insiders (continued):

Failure to Avoid Crude and ‘Stereotypic’ Generalizations about Insiders

(44)

Failure to See Why Something That is Not Explicitly Insulting to a Person or Group may be Implicitly

So

(44)

Inappropriate

Judgments

About What Insiders Ought to Do or

Feel

(45)Slide16

Small Groups

Minimizing

the emotional costs of

oppression (39)

Missing

the subtler manifestations of

oppression

(39)

Not

making connections or failing to see oppression in new

contexts (40)

Overt

denial of the validity of the insider understanding and/or

response (41)

Accusations

of

paranoia (42)

Insensitive

reactions to an

insider’s response (43)

Crude

and stereotypic generalizations about

insiders (44)

Inability

to differentiate explicit and implicit

insults (44)

Inappropriate

judgements about insider actions or

feelings (45)

Choose one Miss or Failure of Outsiders. Review the article’s section and discuss how it has, or might, show up as we work with the Commission and/or PCDI subcommittees? Slide17

Outsider commitment

Develop

sophisticated understanding of oppression

(37).

Commit to

educating oneself

(37).

Assume

“methodological humility”

(38, 46)

Assume one is missing something, and hesitate to offer criticism of insiders’ claims until one possesses a fuller understanding of the context.

Exercise

“methodological caution”

(38, 46)

Sincerely attempt to offer any potential criticism of insiders’ perceptions in a way that doesn’t denigrate or dismiss the validity of the insiders’ point of view. Slide18

How Insiders Can Help

Recognize outsiders do not have the subtle understanding of oppression to attempt to “

deal with insensitive perceptions/comments by outsiders with greater charity

”

(46).

Insensitivities are not to be overlooked rather than confronted or dealt with, but “the

manner in which the confrontation takes place may be different

” (46).

The insider could “point out why the outsider’s remarks or perceptions were experienced as hurtful or offensive” (46).Slide19

Questions – Today & Moving Forward Working on the PCDI

How

can we ensure that we are working

across our

differences with trust, vulnerability, accountability, and responsibility

?

How will we commit ourselves to

prevent from causing harm to others?

What would we ask of others if we

do cause

harm?