IDENTITY, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE

Good morning everyone! I am very excited to meet you all soon. Today, we will get to know each other and then will focus on the importance of pronouns and identity as our class will explore the nexus between Identity, Culture, and Society.

Please read the article below before the class and think about the questions as they will guide our discussion.

See you soon! 🙂

Lesson Title: Introduction

Pre-reading: https://uwm.edu/lgbtrc/support/gender-pronouns/

Key Question/s:  ●     Why is it important to respect people’s pronouns? ●     What are some commonly used pronouns?

Key Learning:  ●     Overview of Pronouns ●     Definition and Examples Identity ●     The relationship between identity and harmony

 

Dear all,

It was so nice to get to know you all. I was quite impressed by your knowledge and participation in class. Thank you again! For today’s class, please watch the videos below while you keep the questions in mind.

Chimimanda’s Ted Talk is fascinating and I hope to make a great discussion about collective memory when we connect Chimimanda’s Ted Talk with the discussion of identity.

See you soon! 🙂

Lesson Title: Identity and Collective Memory

Please watch the videos below before the class. Chimimanda’s The Danger of a Single Story is quite fascinating and I hope you all enjoy it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si5AWDCPVp0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg&t=19s

Key Question/s: Why is collective memory important? How does collective memory affect us and people around us? What is the relationship between collective memory and Identity?

Key Learning: The power of knowledge, memory and collective movement.

Hello everyone, thank you for your amazing contribution yesterday. I look forward to seeing everyone today. Please be sure to read the first two chapters of this book (see the link below). It is a very easy and short reading. I hope you all enjoy it. Please do not forget to finish your presentation points tomorrow. I will give 5-7 minutes for each group to finalize their presentation and then we will hear what you have worked on.

Lesson Title: Society Do No Harm!: Conflict Transformation, Society & Identity

Pre-reading: Please, read the first two chapters of: https://professorbellreadings.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/the-little-books-of-justice-peacebuilding-john-lederach-the-little-book-of-conflict-transformation-good-books-2014-1.pdf

Key Question/s: When you hear/see the word conflict, what do you think of?  What causes conflict? Is conflict inevitable?

Key Learning: Causes of conflict, parties involved, conflict transformation

Hello everyone,

It was great to see you all today. I truly appreciate your participation and it is fascinating to see how you’re contributing to class.

Please make sure to watch the below video on structural violence and then list a few of basic human needs that you can’t live without.

Lesson Title: Society & Identity: Liberal Peacebuilding & Structural Violence

Video to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6alqkFII2E

Key Question/s: Is conflict always physical? Can you list some basic human needs that you can’t live without?

Key Learning: Direct and indirect violence

Hello everyone,

We will be discussing queer theory in our class today. Please watch the video (link provided below) and think about two main questions: How can queer theory help us to understand society differently? (What happens when we do/don’t wear our queer lens? You can read this question as gender/intersectionality/race lens etc.) What are the differences between queer theory and LGBTQ+?

I look forward to seeing you soon! 🙂

Lesson Title: Society: Queer Theory, Gender and Sexuality

Video to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74k8OvL-NiQ

Key Question/s: How can queer theory help us to understand society differently? What are the differences between queer and LGBTQ+?

Key Learning: Queer Theory and its relationship with Peacebuilding

Hello everyone,

I truly appreciate your feedback last week and it is so nice to hear how much you enjoy the class. That really made me happy and I will make sure to keep up the same atmosphere and learning space for all of us. 🙂

As you asked for more,  I will cover the queer and identity issues in society a little bit more and we will continue to explore more themes around the issues you mentioned.

For today’s class, please read this article on Queer Theory and bring one queer/queer theory related question that you are curious about. I will ask you to post your question at the beginning of our class today.

Please also watch the TED Talk (link provided below) and summarize the talk by letting us know what stood out for you the most in 6-8 sentences. I will also ask you to read it in class.

I think that is it for now.

See you soon! 🙂

Lesson Title: Basic Human Need (BHN) Theories

Video to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4UQYem6Dvc

Key Question/s: Are our basic human needs stable? What impacts our BHN?

Key Learning: Learning BHN theory, and its connection with conflict.

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your participation yesterday! It was wonderful to hear your local examples, which are very critical in our class.

Today, we will be discussing intersectionality and then I will present a case study. Please watch Kimberley Crenshaw’s TED Talk and then bring one example of intersectionality. For example, how do you think we can apply intersectionality in our daily lives (family, school, neighbourhood, community, etc.)? I expect everyone to write at least one paragraph and be ready to share/read it in class.

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your contribution yesterday. I truly appreciate everyone’s example of microaggression. As you realized, we all get microaggressions based on our identity/background/experience but it is so inspiring to see how you have acknowledged them.

For today’s class, we will discuss allyship and then create an ally space training together. “Allyship is a lifelong process of building meaningful relationships based on trust and accountability with marginalized individuals and/or groups of people.” We will explore some ways to stand up for the equal treatment of people who are different to us.

Please read this article and come up with your own ally space training. It doesn’t have to be completed though.

1- What does your ideal ally space should look like?

2- Who should be included?

3- Who will support your ally training?

See you soon! 🙂

Hello everyone,

Thank you for working on your ally space training today. It is truly appreciated. I really loved some of the ideas you had brought to the class. As you can see, training like that can make a difference and make the ‘oppressed’ groups feel more welcomed and visible. I hope that you consider using some of the points we discussed in class in your future work/study.

Today, we will specifically focus on how identity is shaped or perceived during social movements. I will ask you to consider the questions below while you watch this video.

See you in a bit! 🙂

Lesson Title: Social Movements & Identity

Key Question/s: What are some popular social movements? How were they started? What maintains them? Why do social movements happen?

Key Learning: Why people resist and the benefit of social movements to society.

Good morning, everyone! 

WOW! Today is our last class. I cannot believe how three weeks have passed. 

I encourage everyone to come to class and TURN ON YOUR CAMERA as we will celebrate our last class! 🙂

For tomorrow’s class, I expect each person to write a reflection paper which will consist of two paragraphs. Please be ready to share your paper with us tomorrow. 

(Based on our discussions and readings in this class, how do you now describe Identity? What did you learn about yourself? How did the class materials help you to explore allyship and ‘oppressed’ groups?)

See you soon! 🙂

Mehmet