1. Teaching About Privilege to the Privileged*
Dr. Tracy L. Robinson-Wood
Third Race Relations Conference on New England Campuses
Northeastern University
November 16, 2006
* Amended for web posting. Do not quote from without permission from the author

2. Overview Discuss white skin and other sources of privilege
Discuss socially constructed meanings and discourses about privilege
Increase awareness of privilege toward the development of insight, transformation, and justice-oriented action

3. Overview
Enhance understanding of privilege and its maintenance of hierarchy
Explore strategies for teaching about privilege

4. What we are not going to do
Focus on the five F’s often associated with Diversity
Food
Festivals
Fabric
Focus on people of color (not Whites)
Focus on feeling good (not honoring the difficult, uneven, and hard places)

5. A Lens to See Through
In this presentation, a constructionist perspective is used
It suggests that society creates race, gender, sexuality as meaningful categories of privilege among people

6. A Lens to See Through
A Constructionist perspective is different from an essentialist perspective which suggests identities exist independent of our perceptions

7. Discourses Defined Uses of language
Hidden meanings used in place of overtly stated verbal exchanges that operate as forms of social practice to communicate and perpetuate particular meanings

8. Discourses
Discourses regarding privilege, oppression, and diversity often reflect confusion about
Meanings
Populations
Distinction between stigmatized identities and internalized oppression
Dialectic—people often possess privileged and stigmatized identities

9. Stigma
Bodily sign designed to expose something unusual and bad about the moral status of an individual

10. Stigma Stigma involves objectification and devaluation
Objectification refers to people being treated as if they were objects, members of categories rather than people with a multiplicity of characteristics

11. Question
What are unconscious and/or unspoken discourses about privilege?

12. Unearned Privilege (white skin)
An invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks which can be counted on daily but about which the person was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious
From Peggy McIntosh, White Privilege

13. Race
Race often functions as a grandmaster status, eclipsing, dominating, and overwhelming other markers, such as:
Professional dress
Other attire (briefcases)
Standard English

14. Guiding Tenet, 1
Some dimensions of diversity function as master statuses
Race
Class
Gender
Sexuality
Ethnicity
Disability
Religion

15. Question
How do discourses about privilege show up and what does their presence mean in the classroom, meetings, and in service delivery?

16. Guiding Tenet, 2
Dominant discourses may be unconscious and pervasive throughout society

17. Guiding Tenet, 3
Having unearned privilege is not a negation of oppression in one’s life
Not having unearned privilege is not an indication of powerlessness and inferiority

18. Reactions to learning about privilege
Hostility at the messenger
Anger
Confusion
Guilt, embarrassment, shame
Denial
Minimization of the information
Rationalization
Avoidance of difference, focus on similarities

19. Consequences of privilege (oblivion)
Fear of and discomfort with others perceived to be different
Feeling that people perceived to be different lack what we have
Lack of awareness about one’s privileged identities
Guilt feelings or feeling like one is supposed to feel guilty

20. Consequences of privilege (oblivion)
Limited emotional and intellectual development
Inability to experience empathy for others’ perceived to be different
Attributing powerlessness and disadvantage to people who do not have unearned privilege

21. Teaching About Privilege
Have a good support system
Have clear boundaries and expectations
Allow people to feel what they feel

22. Teaching about Privilege
Narrative
Encourage students to read other people’s narratives and stories about privilege, oppression, and diversity
Encourage students to write their own personal narratives and explore privilege, oppression, and diversity

23. Teaching About Privilege
Develop your spiritual life which fosters a connection with all living beings

24. Teaching About Privilege
Be aware of greater similarities between people than differences
The Human Genome Sequencing Project has confirmed that humans do not fit into the biological criteria that defines race
The DNA of humans is 99.9 percent alike

25. Teaching About Privilege
Know the cultural competencies for your profession

26. Teaching About Privilege
Be aware of and honest about your location in privilege and oppression discourses
On a regular basis, name your personal biases, fears, and attitudes about sources of difference to yourself and others

27. Teaching About Privilege
Be aware of U.S. cultural values and practices and their reinforcement of privileging discourses:
Individualism/Autonomy/Self-Reliance
Competition
Standard English (Written Tradition)
Meritocracy and Democracy
Empiricism
Materialism/Affluence
Control, Power
Convenience
Heterosexism

28. Teaching About Privilege
Cultivate genuine relationships with people who are racially, sexually, and religiously different from yourself
Close friendships across sources of difference often encourage comfort with and openness to meaningful and transformative dialogue