(NAME-MCE) White Privilege Conference Institutes

[Warren Blumenfeld]

Please forward widely.  Please post to relevant list serves and ask 
your contacts to help spread the word. THANKS!!!!


The Ninth Annual White Privilege Conference in Springfield, MA is 
proud to offer a wide selection of one day institutes on Wed. April 2 
and Saturday April 5.

*Registration is limited, and there will be NO on-site registration, 
so please register now!

Register for Institutes at: www.uccs.edu/wpc

       Wednesday Institutes (full-day single-focus sessions) at WPC9:

       1. Critical Liberation Praxis in Schools: Teaching for Social 
Justice- Paul C. Gorski

       Intermediate

       Moving beyond the discourse about all that is wrong with our 
schools, this institute will focus on the creation and maintenance of 
liberatory praxis for teachers. How can we work within our spheres 
and influence and how can we expand our spheres of influence to 
create equitable and just learning environments in which students 
engage and prosper despite oppressive educational policy? How can we 
prepare ourselves and our students to be change agents regardless of 
right-wing attacks on progressive movements in education? We will 
connect the theoretical to the practical in order to paint a picture 
of liberatory teaching praxis as it relates to curriculum, pedagogy, 
school climate, classroom culture, and teacher comradeship.

       2. Complex Positionality: Jews, Whiteness, and Identity- 
Warren J. Blumenfeld

       All Levels

       Many U.S. Jews often find themselves questioning the racial 
space they occupy, given that most are afforded White-skinned 
privilege, but understand that Jews have been historically seen as 
racialized others. Moreover, Jews confound established notions of 
identity because of the complexity of Jewish identity. This day-long 
institute will explore, in depth, the history of Jewish 
racialization, the multifaceted nature of Jewish identity, and the 
connection between anti-Semitism and racism.

       3. What's in it for us?: An Institute for People of 
Color-   Jorge Zellabos, Robin Parker and Pamela Smith Chambers

       Intermediate

       Working on the elimination of racism often focuses on helping 
white people understand racial privilege. Although persons of color 
who have attended past WPCs acknowledge that cross-racial 
collaboration is crucial, they have also found that too little 
attention is paid to the intellectual, spiritual, physical and 
emotional toll the work takes on persons of color at the conference 
and beyond. In this institute, we will investigate the consequences 
of working with white people who are struggling to come to terms with 
white privilege. Join us as we explore (1) the collective experience 
of working with white people and other person of color on 
anti-racism; (2) the ways in which sexism and homophobia compound the 
challenges of anti-racism; and (3) the strategies people of color can 
use to be more supported and empowered as they work with white people 
and other people of color.

       4. The Role of Listening and Emotional Healing in Ending 
Racism- Rachel Noble and Veronica LaCrue

       All Levels

       No person grows up in this society without personally 
suffering and internalizing the hurts and distortions of racism. The 
effects of these hurts and distortions continue long after the racist 
events themselves, confusing us, making life more difficult, and 
interfering with our organizing efforts to end racism. These effects 
include both the ongoing damage from being targeted by racism and the 
self-doubt and self-denigration that result from living in a racist 
society. This workshop will focus on how these hurts can be removed 
and how paired listening and mental and emotional healing as 
practiced in Revaluation Counseling can be used to do that.

       5. A Critical Dialogue on Poverty, Racism and Education- Fran 
Davidson, Kimberly Francisco, Charlotte Jahn, Tilman Smith

       Intermediate

       By shining the spotlight on children living in poverty, of 
which children of color are disproportionately represented, we are 
more likely to include in our discussions and practice effective ways 
of educating ALL of our children. Participate in an analysis and 
critical dialogue on poverty, racism and education. The outcomes for 
this institute are as follows: uncover the root causes of poverty and 
the myths and misconceptions embedded in the societal bias around 
children and families who live in poverty; examine the intersection 
of institutional racism and poverty and its impact on the healthy 
growth and development of children; identify and critique current 
educational models and strategies in educating children in poverty; 
and share resources to support the quality of learning for all 
children, specifically children living in poverty.


       6. Privileges in the LGBT Community- Jonah Aline Daniel, 
Jessica Pettitt, Tre Wentling and Jordon Johnson

       Intermediate

       A lot of attention is given to the oppression of the Lesbian 
and Gay communities, less so for the Bisexual or Transgender 
communities. This Pre-Conference will take these ?usual? 
conversations one step further. What are the privileges within the L, 
G, B, and T communities? How are these privileges used to contribute 
to the oppression of others? What can be done to use these privileges 
to advocate for subordinated groups within and outside of the LGBT 
community? Join us: the conversation starts with you.

       7. Communicating about Race and White Privilege, Using 
Critical Humility: Experiential Workshop-

       European American Collaborative Challenging Whiteness

       Intermediate-Advance

       Are you looking for an inviting place as a white activist to 
be challenged ? and to be supported ? in honing your communications 
skills with other white folks? Especially about white privilege and 
racism? We'll spend the day using experiential processes to practice 
what we call critical humility: a way of communicating with 
confidence while remembering that what we know is always evolving, 
and there is a lot we don't know. It's a reflective process that 
encourages learning and involves openness as well. Focused on taking 
action, critical humility can be applied both personally and 
institutionally. In small groups we will use simultaneous role-play, 
a process that gives everyone the opportunity to engage emotionally, 
which boosts our learning. In whole group discussions, we'll try to 
discover gaps between our values and our actions, our talk and our walk.

       8. Understanding Whiteness/Unraveling Racism- Laurie B. 
Lippin, Stephanie Puentes and Heather Young

       Beginner-Intermediate

       Participate in a pre-designed, experiential curriculum for 
students/faculty/others to explore what it means to be white in a 
white-supremacist culture where whiteness is the background against 
which people of color stand out as "other." The model provides a 
framework that encourages openness and honesty for white people and 
people of color to explore together their questions and feelings 
about race and diversity issues. The goal is to bring participants to 
a new consciousness around white identity and to form meaningful 
alliances with each other, so that we can begin changing behaviors 
that keep separation and racism in place. This UW/UR model provides 
activities for reflecting on one's own internalized whiteness and 
assists in remapping old practices that keep white dominance in 
place. Participants not only personalize the work, but in so doing, 
they build trust with each other, which helps them explore difficult 
topics. Institute participants leave with concrete ideas they can 
begin to use immediately with students and peers to further efforts 
at understanding whiteness and unraveling racism. This Institute will 
benefit those who want to become more effective antiracist 
multicultural educators.  Purchase of the book: Understanding 
Whiteness/Unraveling Racism: Tools for the Journey is not required 
but is available as a resource for the training.

       9. Youth Institute

       This new, one-day, pre-conference institute is designed for 
high school students interested in exploring issues of social justice 
and liberation. The program will introduce participants to a range of 
social justice concepts and notions about liberation. Participants 
will increase their skills in identifying social justice issues, 
naming and analyzing manifestations of oppression, and discussing 
elements of liberation. Using theatre, spoken word, music, simulation 
and other forms, students will create and present strategies for 
interrupting oppression and enacting liberation. ( This one-day 
Institute is separate and different from the three day WPC Youth 
Leadership Conference)

       10. Understanding White Privilege-  Francie Kendall

       All Levels

       Frequently, the assumption is that all participants at WPC 
will have an extensive understanding of how systemic white privilege 
works in our personal lives and in the world. While that may be true 
for some, others feel that they need a stronger base of knowledge so 
that they can make better use of the sessions at the conference. This 
day-long pre-conference session is for participants who want to work 
with others to sharpen their knowledge and understanding of white 
privilege as it affects people personally and institutionally.

       This daylong institute is designed to:

       .  Enhance our clarity about the necessity of doing our 
personal work in order to be effective anti-racists and identify 
strategies to make that work most strategic;

       .  Explore why, as white people, it is in our best interest to 
do the hard work required to understand what it means to be white;

       .  Examine the barriers that keep us from being able to see 
what it means of be white and have privilege; and

       .  Increase our understanding of how systems of 
oppression-racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, Christian 
hegemony-interact to increase the impact of each system.





       Saturday Institutes (full-day single-focus sessions) at WPC8

       1. Navigating Difficult Situations and Triggering Events: 
Focusing on Ourselves- Kathy Obear

       All Levels

       Social justice educators often feel ?triggered? when we try to 
discuss issues of liberation and oppression in dialogues and 
educational sessions. Unexpectedly, we feel strong, intense emotions 
that may feel overwhelming or disorienting. Often, we respond in ways 
that are less effective and may shut down the conversation and the learning.

       Effectively navigating ourselves in triggering moments 
requires significant self-awareness and skill. In this intensive, 
interactive workshop participants will have the chance to:

         a.. Discuss the common triggers many social justice 
educators experience when facilitating liberation work
         b.. Identify their personal hot buttons and the ty pes of 
triggering situations they encounter in this work
         c.. Examine how they react when they are triggered
         d.. Identify some of their intrapersonal ?roots? that might 
explain why they feel triggered by certain types of situations
         e.. Identify and practice pract ical strategies to navigate 
themselves when they feel triggered
         f.. Practice ways to respond effectively when they feel 
triggered in dialogue with others
       2. Learning In the Home and at the School House: Explicit and 
Implicit Learning from the Living Room to the Classroom- Cyrus M. Ellis

       Intermediate to advanced

       This institute is designed to provide educators, 
administrators, support staff and community members with concrete and 
systemic approaches to address the culture of formal education. 
Attendees will examine the culture of K- 12 education by unveiling 
the complex nature of diversity (i.e. communal/familial), the impact 
of privilege/oppression on communities & education, and the impact of 
varying degrees of cultural competence on the preparation of 
students/teachers, curriculum development and educational policy. 
Particular focus will be afforded to the construction of a course of 
action to immediately address curricular issues, the parent/teacher 
interaction and the child/teacher interaction.

       3. Interrupting Whiteness and College Faculty Self-reflection: 
Unpacking a Toolkit for Liberation using Social Justice Education and 
Critical Race Theory- Cristy Casado Tondeur, Vanessa 
Martinez-Renuncio and Joy Rain


       Intermediate

       Critical liberation praxis in today's college classroom 
engages students and faculty in a collaborative journey of 
transforming the liberation imaginary into a lived reality. This 
interactive institute will highlight the ways in which social justice 
education and critical race theory inform critical liberation praxis 
and curriculum in understanding constructions of whiteness in the 
U.S.  More specifically offer space for college faculty to share 
their teaching experiences teaching about whiteness.  The 
opportunities and complexities of teaching constructions of whiteness 
from a critical liberation perspective will also be discussed.


       Register for Institutes at: www.uccs.edu/wpc


Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld
Assistant Professor
Multicultural and International Curriculum Studies
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011
wblumen at iastate.edu
515.294.5931 office
515.232.8230 home