Unpacking Race 2013 • Part 1: An Introduction to Race and Racism

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5

On February 4th, 2013 we kicked off our 5-week series on Unpacking Race.  Goals of the first workshop session were to build trust, establish a positive learning environment, and explore definitions of race and ethnicity.  Using written words and spoken stories—along with images and movement created by the body—our group got began its shared understanding of systemic racism and how it affects each of us.

Definitions and Activity:

To begin talking about race and ethnicity, we started with some definitions borrowed from the Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice curriculum.  While people in our group took issue with the exact wording of these definitions, we used them as a base for talking about race:  

• Race: A social construct that artificially divides people into distinct groups based on characteristics such as physical appearance (particularly color), ancestral heritage, cultural affiliation, cultural history, ethnic classification, which serve social, economic,and political needs of a society at a given time.
• Ethnicity: A social construct which divides people into smaller social groups based on characteristics such as shared sense group membership, values, behavioral patterns, language, political and economic interests, history and ancestral geographical base and can be self-selected and imposed or both at the same time.

After sharing the above definitions of race and ethnicity, each person in the group stated what their race and ethnicity was.  We then divided into smaller groups to discuss our experiences.  As a baseline for these discussions, we worked with the following four agreements from Courageous Conversations about Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools:

1. Stay Engaged
2. Experience Discomfort
3. Speak Your Own Truth
4. Expect and Accept Non-closure

For more on these agreements and other definitions for discussing race and racism, see the readings below.

Readings and Videos:

Throughout this series we are assigning things to be read and watched before coming to each workshop.  These materials deepen our understanding of the racial construct by giving us a chance to see its historical development, an essential part of understanding how it persists today.  Whether you're enrolled in the workshop or not, you can click on the titles to link to the following essays:

• All workshop attendees, please read “Drawing the Color Line,” from A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.  
• For tools in talking about race and racism, we recommend reading “Four Agreements of Courageous Conversation,” from Courageous Conversations about Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools by Glenn Singleton, Cyndie Hays and Curtin Linton.
• For a shared set of terms to use in talking about race and racism, look at “Definitions on General Concepts: Racism,” from Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, Adams, Bell and Griffin.
• Below is a 6-minute excerpt from Race the Power of an Illusion: The Difference Between Us.  You can see the full hour-long episode at by clicking here.

RE: COMMUNICATIONS

In November of 2012 Philadelphia Theatre of the Oppressed hosted German activist-organizer Magdalena Scharf for two evenings of workshops at Studio 34's new art space.  Each 2-hour session was aimed at re-imagining and re-shaping how we communicate, both verbally and non-verbally, and how that affects power relations in our daily lives.  Magda will be sending us her rules for all of these games to be posted here, starting with these:

• Bang! Participants stand in a circle, facilitator calls a name. That person has to duck as quickly as possible as people on their left and right “shoot”—loudly! The slower one “is shot,” leaves the circle and calls out the next name. 
• Picasso: Each person gets 5 index cards and then walks around the space. Stopping to face one other person, they have 1-2 minutes to sketch each other (and write the name) without looking at the card. All resume walking and find new partners. After 5 rounds, all hand the pictures to their respective partners. People choose the picture they like best and explain to the others (in a small or large group) why they chose that picture.
• Noah’s Ark Break-out Groups: Distribute images of animals that participants “act” out in order to find each other. Nice way to have random groups without cliquing. Same can be done by cutting up similar looking postcards that participants piece together the cards like a puzzle.
• Concentric Interview Circles: An even number of participants face each other in an inner and outer circle. Facilitator asks a question that each partner answers for the other for one minute before switching. Questions move from broader to more specific, or from less personal to more intimate. Some questions might be:
• What is the story/meaning of your name?
• What experience do you have facilitating groups?
• What audience do you work with?
• What was the last dream you can remember?

Here's a description of the workshops:

Workshop #1: UNPACKING LANGUAGE
Tuesday November 27 from 7pm to 9pm
at Studio 34 • 4522 Baltimore Ave.
Do you, or others you spend time with, speak a language other than English?  This interactive workshop will break down barriers built by language differences while playing with language in non-traditional ways.  We’ll explore the nature of language and power relations and have fun with games that don't use spoken language at all. 

Workshop #2: ICE-BREAKERS AND ENERGIZERS FOR ORGANIZERS
Thursday November 29 from 7pm to 9pm
at Studio 34 • 4522 Baltimore Ave.

Whether you’re an educator, an activist, an organizer or anyone who works in group settings, this workshop will be packed with tools for getting folks up out of their chairs and communicating in different ways.

About the Facilitator:

Magdalena Scharf was born to German and Spanish parents, grew up in Iran and Brazil, and currently divides her time between Philadelphia and Berlin.  She has been involved in bringing LGBT youth from Germany and Brazil together for cross-cultural exchange, and runs the NGO Action Service Reconciliation for Peace, which fights racism, discrimination and social exclusion internationally.  She has been involved with Philadelphia Theatre of the Oppressed since 2011.

Questions? Leave us a comment below!