Presenters: Dr. Jude Bergkamp, Dr. Melissa Kennedy, Cynthia Scheiderer, & Jack Krizizke
Summary: The goals of this skill-building session are focused on increasing individual awareness of coloniality and privilege and providing tools for discussing these relevant and timely topics with fellow faculty. Facilitators include the faculty members of the Decolonial and Social Privilege Awareness Initiative at Antioch University Seattle, and graduate students from the lab. The inclusion of student’s perspectives and engagement with these topics is both decolonial in its origination and future focused in its outlook. Participants in the workshop will gain an understanding of the benefits and importance of heightened awareness of the colonial mindset, impact of privilege, and increase their ability to engage with others on these topics furthering the potential for decoloniality in the field of psychology. Starting with a brief orientation to terms and theories, the program facilitators will define historical coloniality and the contemporary colonial mindset, as well as social privilege and location, before moving into interactive components and audience engagement strategies. Participants will engage in two reflection exercises; one exercise on the value of a decolonial mindset and a second reflection of the participant’s social privilege. These reflections will promote a deeper understanding of power and positionality, as well foster a shifting to a decolonial mindset allowing for future liberation, advocacy, and coalition. Discussion will then move to how to engage with other faculty on these topics. Participants will learn how to speak about decoloniality and social privilege with others, gaining the necessary skills to encourage faculty to engage in this work. A review of methods to facilitate buy-in will provide participants with tools for future facilitation. Tips on discussion and the use of earlier exercises will provide valuable take-aways from the session. Recognizing the challenges of this work, the facilitators will foster discussion of the potential dangers of engaging in the professional arena with these inherently volatile topics. Participants will learn to navigate probable barriers to decolonial and privilege awareness work. Based on the experiences of the lab members, as well as research into white fragility, white rage, and the burden on BIPOC faculty, the challenges of this work will be acknowledged and participants will be invited to share and discuss their experiences of likely obstacles. Finally, participants will be encouraged to share their thoughts on how a decolonial frame of mind may change, or has changed their perspective and the potential future of the field.