The document provides instructions for an assignment where students will write a personal history of otherness. They are asked to examine their identity through 8 categories of otherness - race/ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, physical/mental ability, and language. For each category, students will define if they are a dominant or subordinate member, discuss the advantages of dominance and challenges of subordination, and reflect on how these impact their identity development and experience in the classroom. A rough draft is due next class, bringing the completed first page, with bullet points summarizing the 8 categories.

1. Racism & Discrimination “ Personal History of Otherness”

2. Share your reading journal with a peer (not the same person with whom you shared last week)

3. We will examine this chapter in small groups [no more than 4] In your group, decide on 1-2 “big ideas” of your section and create a poster. List the ideas, select approximately 5 quotes, 2 original quotes relating to the overall theme, and add at least 4 graphical representations. (Each group member uses her/his own color and signs the poster in the color!) We will then take a gallery walk.

4. Group 1: Racism and Discrimination: Definitions and Dimensions Individual & Institutional Dimensions The Systemic Nature of Discrimination The History & Persistence of Racism in U.S. Schools (p. 66-70) Group 2 : Racism and Discrimination: Definitions and Dimensions Manifestations of Racism and Discrimination in Schools Racism discrimination and Silence (p. 70-76) Group 3: Expectations of Students’ Achievement (p. 76-83) Group 4: The Complex Connections Between Diversity and Discrimination (p. 83-86)

5. In small groups, you will respond to the selected quotes, first individually, then in the group. If time permits, we will share out with the entire group!

6. “ The answer depends in large part on who the world around me says I am. Who do my parents say I am” Who do my peers say I am? What message is reflected back to me in the faces and voices of my teachers, my neighbors, store clerks? What do I learn from the media about myself? How am I represented in the culturally images around me? Or am I missing from the picture altogether? . . .other people are the mirror in which we see ourselves.”

7. “ Common across these examples is that in the areas where a person is a member of the dominant or advantaged social group, the category is usually not mentioned. . .In Eriksonian terms, their inner experience and outer circumstance are in harmony with one another, and the image reflected by others is similar to the image within. In the absence of dissonance, this dimension of identity escapes conscious attention. . .The parts of our identity that do capture our attention are those that other people notice, and that reflect back to us.”

8. “ The relationship of the dominants to the subordinates is often one in which the targeted group is labeled as defective or substandard in significant ways. . .The dominant group assigns roles to the subordinates that reflect the latter’s devalued status, reserving the most highly valued roles in the society for themselves. Subordinates are usually said to be innately incapable of being able to perform the preferred roles. To the extend that the targeted group internalized the images that the dominant group reflects back to them, the may find it difficult to believe in their own ability.”

9. “ . . .dominant groups generally do not like to be reminded of the existence of inequality. . .The truth is that the dominants do not really know what the experience of the subordinates is. In contrast, the subordinates are very well informed about the dominants. . .dominant access to information about the subordinates is often limited to stereotypical depictions of the “other.”

10. “ In a situation of unequal power, a subordinate group has to focus on survival. It becomes very important for the subordinates to become highly attuned to the dominants as a way of protecting themselves from them. “

11. “ When the perspective of the subordinate is shared directly, an image is reflected to members of the dominant group which is disconcerting. To the extent that one can draw on one’s own experience of subordination­‑ as a young person, as a person with a disability, as someone who grew up poor, as a woman‑it may be easier to make meaning of another targeted group’s experience . . . The task of resisting our own oppression does not relieve us of the responsibility of acknowledging our complicity in the oppression of others.”

12. Using Beverly Tatum as a reference, we will discuss the Personal History of Otherness assignment. For next week, you will be writing a working draft of your “personal history of otherness,” which you will bring to class next week.

13. The point of this assignment is to examine the question, “Who Am I?” As Tatum says, there are many ways in which we are all exceptional, but when a part of who we are becomes a “target”, we really get to know who we are in terms of our society, its social institutions, and our place in them. It also allows us to inventory our dominant traits and the privileges associated with membership in the categories that define their norms.

14. Begin your paper with a discussion of the questions: “ What historical events have shaped my thinking?” Where you a child of the depression, a survivor of World War II, the Holocaust, the US internment of Japanese Americans. . .did I ride the wave of the Woman’s Movement, was I born before or after Stonewall and the emergence of gay activism? “ What has my social context been?” Look at this in terms of: Was I surrounded by people like myself, or was I part of a minority in my community? Did I live in a rural area, an urban neighborhood, a sprawling suburb? What was my family structure, did I have two parents in the same house, single-parent, or other caregiver? (See pages 18 & 19)

15. Examine yourself in relationship to the eight categories of “otherness”: race or ethnicity , gender , religion , sexual orientation , socioeconomic status , age , physical or mental ability , and language . For each category, you will write no more than one-page. The category and number (see #4 below) should start each of the pages for 2-9 (e.g. 1. Religion, etc.).

16. Discuss the following questions: Define dominant for each category? Are you a dominant or subordinate member of the group? What are the advantages of being dominant? Do you personally benefit from this structure? Why or why not? What are the challenges of being subordinate? Have you struggled as a result of these challenges? Why or why not? Rank the categories from 1 – 8 ( one being the most important in shaping your identity down to the least important category). Any ranking is only a snapshot of a particular time/context. The ranking will shift as you gain age/experience. Explain your ranking in the narrative.

17. Discuss what you learned about yourself (one page). How will this new self-knowledge help you in the classroom?

18. Bring your rough draft to class. For this class, bring page one completed. I will take bullet points each of the 8 categories (ensure you answer all 4 of the questions from the instructions). Page 10 can wait until the final draft. Upload a copy to webCT under Draft of Personal History We will discuss the Spring Assignment next week as well.