Here are the themes that the folks who came to our last dialogue said that they want to explore in future dialogues. Through the help of Beja, they miraculously transformed from notes on poster paper into typed clusters in this blog for people to comment on to collectively figure out what to talk about next (April 12). Let’s see if this works. They are numbered and named for ease of commenting: Here’s a suggested process:

1. Read them over

2. Pick a cluster or a topic within a cluster that you think would be a good place to start. You can also propose restructuring the clusters.

3. Post it in a comment, along with any other thoughts about any of them, or the structural ideas at the bottom.

1.
how do we claim ancestry? (white privilege, healing the burden, understanding the choices our ancestors made)
current deep north and addressing the ways we currently/tacitly benefit from global slavery
tendency for forgiveness of others but not ourselves
we are generations into colonization
radical/proud identity/need to know your roots

2.
white female socialization
our relationships to our mothers…
“overhosting” (nice, polite, kind, smiling)
apologizing constantly
confrontation (powerful non-defensive communication)
shame and guilt
taking responsibility for everything (except our own needs)
chronic caretaker (including the professions we’re in: teacher, therapist)

3.
white female “norms” and how far we’re from it or how we distance ourselves from it…
relationships to power…
gender performativity
barriers to working together
whiteness and coming “out”
“lack”(freud/the idea that we’re inherently lacking something)
cultural appropriation, other forms of appropriation
white women victim narratives (esp in the media)
challenging white victim narratives
judgments about women who choose to be/not be mothers
reproductive rights/GOP attacks
resources to address internalized oppression

4.
class and whiteness
cross cultural feminism
white feminist imperialism/(in)appropriateness of intervening
cross cultural solidarity and accountability
conscious/unconscious motivations for activism/anti-racist work
“the most down white person”

5.
personal/inter relationships
exploring ego
giving and receiving (score-keeping, self-sacrifice, reciprocity)
step-up/step-back
evolution of “ally framework”
shared power/moving together
shared demands/collaborative leadership

structural ideas:
–start every session with something awesomely affirmative and focused on building/identifying our strengths ( what’s awesome about being a white women, skill share/discussing strengths, practicing (positive) internal dialogues)
–finding locations for each dialogue
–movie night (extra/on the side)
–guest speaker
–always thinking about the potential momentum/actions/projects that may come out of these dialogues/white noise

7 thoughts on “Themes to Comment On!

  1. i think it would be great to start with the ancestry discussion. i could send out an excerpt from ward churchill’s indians’r’us that inspired some pretty awesome insights and conversations on the caravan to black mesa.. //bej

  2. I also think it would be cool to start with the ancestry discussion. I’d really like to follow that up with topics of class, and how those intersections come up, but are so well hidden.

    So excited for this!!!!

  3. I concur about the ancestry cluster- I swear I was going to write that before I saw that other people already had! I think it would be a good starting point/ foundational discussion.
    I think, as Hilary suggested about class, delving into personal and/or ancestral histories could lead into the other topics, like class, but also even like our white identities v. our unique identities, etc.
    I think the Indians’R’Us piece is a good idea and would be nice to have on hand for the discussion.

    Thanks for setting this up!

  4. Wow. These themes are powerful and I’m feeling really excited to be in dialogue. I feel drawn to cluster 3, followed by 4. Looking forward to next month!

  5. i agree that the ancestry cluster would be a great place to start- but am also really interested in #4, particularly in discussion around white feminism(s) and relationships between feminism & imperialism, particularly in relation to the ‘white women helping brown people’ narrative around development/volunteer-tourism. i’d love to use the cross cultural solidarity and accountability piece to talk more about intersectional approaches to movement-building, and ways that racial justice & decolonization frameworks are both strengthened and sidelined by building in multiple analyses. sorry i missed the last session, looking forward to this one!

  6. I’ve been interested lately in inter-generational challenges within white women culture. Not sure how this fits in, but wanted to mention it. 🙂

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