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Race Workshop
LGS juniors Ashanti- Robin Ramdeen, Dianne Bosquet, and Nicole Rodriguez designed and facilitated a workshop on race in order to understand and embrace differences among people. The workshop began with several icebreakers, which facilitated students’ thinking about the definitions of race, their encounters with people of different races in their community, and the race they identify with. Students then collaborated with facilitators to come up with a definition of race and learned the way race was constructed.
The students learned that race is a recent idea, which was created by western Europeans who used it in order to account for differences among people that they encountered through exploration across the world. Race was used to justify colonization, conquest, enslavement, and social hierarchy among humans. The term is used to refer to groupings of people according to common origin or background and is associated with perceived biological markers. Among humans, there are no races except the human race. In biology, the term has limited use and is usually associated with organisms or populations that are able to interbreed. Ideas about race are culturally and socially transmitted and form the basis of racism, racial classification and often complex racial identities.
After explaining that race is socially constructed, LGS scholars elaborated on the reasons people sometimes identify ethnicity as a race. Ethnicity is an idea similar to race and groups people according to common origin or background. The term usually refers to social, cultural, religious, linguistic and other affiliations, although, like race, it is sometimes linked to perceived biological markers. Ethnicity is often characterized by cultural features, such as dress, language, religion, and social organization. Therefore individuals can be of the same race and different ethnicities or vice versus.
Following this discussion, LGS scholars showed a short clip about discrimination and stereotypes and then asked students to share the stereotypes that they have heard before with the class. Students were also encouraged to share any lived experiences of stereotypes and how they believe stereotypes have affected them in school, community, everyday life, and in the experiences they mentioned prior outside their community.
The workshop was concluded with the idea that power and race are interrelated. LGS scholars conveyed to students that the dominant group in our society divides and conquers. Students were advised to not let race keep them from making friends, from liking people, or living within communities with people who are different from them. Students learned that it is important to try and get to know and understand people who are not of the same race as their own. Finally, students were encouraged not to allow the idea of race and classifying one's self in a group control their lives because human beings are not defined by race but by character.
Questions that students were asked throughout the workshop:
- What is race to you?
- What race do you identify with?
- What are stereotypes?
- What are some stereotypes that you have heard?
- Do you believe that stereotypes about people are true?
- Why is stereotyping people wrong?
Gender Education Workshop
LGS juniors Brittany Consigli and Becca Harrington designed and facilitated a workshop on gender education in order to introduce students to the basic concepts of gender construction and to encourage them to be more open and accepting of sexual and gender diversity. Brittany and Becca created an environment open for critical thought and provided students with the knowledge and resources to question or contemplate their identities and roles within our society.
First, students participated in the gender boxes exercise where the facilitators used a board to write down students’ responses to the questions: "What kind of roles, behaviors, and emotions do you associate with boys?" and "What kind of roles, behaviors, and emotions do you associate with girls?" The responses were then placed either in the "boys" or "girls" box.
After this activity, students discussed body type and other physical appearance stereotypes of girls and boys and whether they thought the roles, behaviors, and emotions of both boys and girls are natural or learned. Then, the facilitators explained how the concept of gender is constructed. They went over terms such as "sex" and "gender" and compared how gender roles are viewed in different cultures. This led to the discussion of how gender stereotyping may lead to bullying and hurt people’s feelings.
Following this discussion, students participated in a writing exercise "Challenging the Pseudo generic Man." Students individually responded to the use of "man" in the English language and how it might be changed to be more inclusive and less focused on the masculine. Then, students shared their responses with the rest of the group. Lastly, students shared their reflections on the workshop, asked follow-up questions, and used this opportunity to express how the workshop impacted them.
Media Literacy: Advertising Workshop
LGS sophomore Jennifer Young and LGS senior Jennifer Ganley designed and facilitated a workshop on media literacy as part of their LGS social science seminar. The workshop focused on advertising, the different strategies used by advertising companies to sell products to different target audiences, and the advertisements’ effect on the values and image of the audience.
First, students introduced themselves and told the class what their favorite commercial was. Then, the facilitators provided background information on the goals of advertisements, advertisement strategies, and the reason advertisement agencies use markets. Thus, students learned that advertising is normally directed toward specific groups of people (known as markets) in order to sell products. Advertisers find out about markets through market research, which is carried out with the help of surveys and focus groups. This way, advertisements focus on people who will be most interested in a product.
Then, students and facilitators discussed the different ways advertisements can get people’s attention and how to tell whether something is an ad. Students were asked whether they believe everything they see. Then, the facilitators showed the Dove evolution video, which illustrated how much "retouching" is used in ads. Students learned that there are laws against deceptive ads, and that advertisers must have proof for any claims that they make. Then, the discussion focused on whether celebrity endorsements matter and whether advertisements affect how people act or think.
After students were introduced to the basic premise of advertisement and discussed the effects of marketing, they talked about whether ads portray diverse people. They watched Jean Kilborne's clip and examined Beyonce's L'oreal ad and discussed how people or color are portrayed in the media.
Then, students discussed how men are portrayed in ads.
The last activity was to look through magazines and find an ad. Students then had to explain what the ad was for and what it was saying. Students answered questions such as: How are men and women depicted? Are different ethnicities shown? How are they portrayed? |
