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Critical Race Feminist Principles for Service-Learning Engagement. Begum Verjee. Presentation at IARSLCE International Perspectives: Crossing Boundaries through Research October 29, 2010. Background to the Study. My experience - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Begum Verjee
Critical Race Feminist Principles for Service-Learning
Engagement
Presentation at IARSLCE
International Perspectives: Crossing Boundaries through Research
October 29, 2010
Background to the Study
• My experience
• Initiation of S-L conversations at the University of British Columbia (UBC) 2000
• Critical Race Conference (OISE, U of Toronto)
• Critical Race Theory
• Doctoral research at the University of British Columbia (UBC) 2002-2005
Map of Presentation
• Conceptual framework for the research
• Research questions and approach
• Participant experiences
• Principles for service-learning engagement
• Recommendations for Institutional Transformation
Critical Race Theory as Conceptual Framework
• Proposes that racism is ordinary
• Challenges Eurocentric ideologies of meritocracy, neutrality, equal opportunity and colour-blindness
• Utilizes counter-storytelling as methodology
• Critical race feminist theory
Research Questions...
• What perspectives and experiences do women of colour have at, and with, UBC?
• How can these inform the development of a critical race feminist approach of service-learning at UBC?
Research Questions...
• What are key elements of a critical race feminist model of service-learning and partnership for supporting the well-being of individuals and communities of colour?
• How can this model be implemented at UBC?
Research Approach
• Fourteen women of colour (students, staff, faculty and non-university members)
• Semi-structured, in-depth interviews• Counter-storytelling• Two interviews each - member checking• Pseudonyms to ensure confidentiality (no
identification of faculties, departments and community organizations)
……UBC was very very white, very UBC was very very white, very very sexist, very very right-wing… very sexist, very very right-wing… not [a place that encourages] a not [a place that encourages] a liberal thinker … not open to what liberal thinker … not open to what I considered critical thought.I considered critical thought.
ClaraClara
Counter-stories of...
• Othering
• Surveillance
• Oppression
• Backlash
• Punishment
• Disconnection
• Disembodiment
Counter-story
“Being a woman of colour is certainly evident….it’s not like I can come home or go out and take off my skin and blend in….I definitely feel that I am marginalized, that I’m not present, [that] what I have to say is not valid…. “
MinouMinou
Counter-story
“ In fact, I was noticing that I was doing poorly as I started to realize that it [education] wasn’t working… There was a disconnect between who I am and what [UBC] was teaching. “
MinouMinou
Counter-stories of...
• Dominance
• Racialization
• Exclusion
• Shaming
• Disrespect
• Invalidation
• Invisibility
Counter-story
“I was told that this approach [social justice to workshop development] was a dangerous approach, and that I better be careful, that it was “immoral.” Which horrified me. I was shocked.….I felt like I was being disciplined. I felt like I was being put in my place. I felt like I was being shut down….and that I was out of line.”
BobbieBobbie
Counter-story
“Management hire people that they know versus posting positions with the rationale that it’s easier than posting a position, advertising to the broader community…White candidates get hired for contracts, gain valuable on-site job experience, ‘fit,’ then get hired….this is a typical UBC hiring practice, and is discriminatory.”
Soma
• Mainstreaming
• Tokenism
• Being a “native” informant
• Lacking leadership
• Trauma
• Micro-aggression
• Damage to the soul
Counter-stories of...
Counter-story
“In the workplace, I’m not seen to ‘fit in.’ My presence seems to cause discomfort and mistrust. People have said, “she makes me feel uncomfortable.” I’m not perceived to be suitable for leadership positions where I would be giving orders, or [where] I would be seen in authority over a white person.”
QuibboQuibbo
Counter-story
“I think the institution needs to have much more representation of people of colour in positions of power…we certainly have lots of people of colour, but they’re not in positions where they’re influencing students. They’re actually men and women who are picking up students’ garbage.”
Aisabee
Counter-story
“ They’ve got the one Pakistani, so there’s no more room for the Bengalis because they’re all the same. [In the same vein] we’ve got the one lesbian so we don’t need the gay man, or we don’t need the bisexual woman. You know, we’ve got the person whose got the disability, a visible disability, so we don’t want the person with the invisible disability.”
RanjitRanjit
Transformative agenda for S-L
• Service-learning requires a social justice or transformative agenda
• Challenge colonial histories
• Critique and dismantling hegemony
• More humane and equitable world
• Nine Principles …
Critical Race Feminist Principles for Service-Learning Engagement
CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST
PRINCIPLES
Recognizing that education serves as a vehicle of
social oppression
CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST
PRINCIPLES
Social oppression
Fostering a transformative and inclusive vision for education
and society
CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST
PRINCIPLES
Transforming vision
Social oppression
Demonstrating citizenship by representation
CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST
PRINCIPLES
Social oppression
Transforming vision
Representative citizenship
Developing respectful relationships across social hierarchies
CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST
PRINCIPLES
Social oppression
Transforming vision
Representative citizenship
Respectful relationships
An Ethic of Caring for social transformation
CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST
PRINCIPLES
Social oppression
Transforming vision
Representative citizenship
Respectful relationships
Socialtransformation
Understanding the relationality of domination and oppression
CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST
PRINCIPLES
Social oppression
Transforming vision
Representative citizenship
Respectful relationships
Socialtransformation
Domination-Repression
Locating oneself and sharing privilege for social
transformation
CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST
PRINCIPLES
Social oppression
Transforming vision
Representative citizenship
Respectful relationships
Socialtransformation
Domination-Repression Sharing
privilege
Creating a community-centered agenda
CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST
PRINCIPLES
Social oppression
Transforming vision
Representative citizenship
Respectful relationships
Socialtransformation
Domination-Repression Sharing
privilege
Community-centred agenda
Co-creating just and sustainable
communities
Social oppression
Transforming vision
Representative citizenship
Respectful relationships
Ethic of caring
Domination-Oppression Sharing
privilege
Community-centered agenda
Just, sustainable
communities
CRITICAL RACE CRITICAL RACE FEMINIST FEMINIST
PRINCIPLESPRINCIPLES
Counter-story
“Looking at one-self and seeing marginalization within academia, right? I mean, how can it understand outside, when you know, there’s no movement at all for racialized people within academia.”
AisabeeAisabee
Transformative
“…model and promote race, class and gender equity; encourage and sustain diversity, create and sustain political, social and cultural awareness and sensitivity…”
MayaMaya
Recommendations for Institutional Transformation
• Leadership
• Ensuring employment equity for faculty and staff of colour
• Curriculum and pedagogical transformation
• Access and equity for students
• Anti-oppression education and training
• Aligning systems and practices for authentic inclusion
Rigour in Research?
• Educational research for social justice
• CRT offers an epistemological shift – what counts as knowledge, what is the purpose of research, and who can be a ‘knower’
• Liberatory gaze necessary for a liberatory praxis
• Question - collective action for the common good. How should institutions respond?