Day #2 - "Creative Professionalism" Conference Day

The highlight for me from today's conference was the "Dealing Honestly With Race and Class" session with Martin Morrison and Michael Corbett. I found the activities that we did very useful. The one I found most thought provoking was called "The Stranger". I was in a group of people who didn't know me and they had to vocalize in front of me what they thought my background is just by looking at me. I had to stay silent while they guessed my country of origin, spoken languages, interests and hobbies, favorite foods, movies, tv shows, music and animals were. For the most part they were way off base but I understand why they guessed the things they did based on my appearances. The point of the activity was to highlight how we project stereotypes and assumptions onto people based on what they look like. I found myself talking about this a number of times over the weekend. We were This is definitely an activity I would use with my students.

A really good question that came up in conversation during this session was what does it mean to be "racially visible"? We were also asked to identify ourselves using one word. This was to highlight that people who are in positions of privileged don't usually identify themselves with those descriptors. Michael Kimmel tells an anecdote that beautifully demonstrates this phenomenon. Check it out below.

This session really made me think about how I identify myself and my assumptions about race and what it means to be a radicalized individual. I will be sure to check out "The Black Atlantic" by Paul Gilroy as recommended by the presenters.