Honoring Our History: Assuring Our Survival December 2, 2008
Posted by vchristm in : civic engagement, diversity, history , add a commentDiversity Conversation Oct. 24, 2008
A constant theme of the past two diversity conversations was the idea of multicultural history on Bryn Mawr campus, especially of the affinity groups: what current students can take from the past in terms of membership, conflicts, and collaboration.
This week’s conversation gave particularly deep insight into this history as it was attended by several alumnae, who all shared the experience of being minority students on campus at various points of time, ranging from the early 1970s to only a few years ago.
There isn’t much information on the exact origins of the affinity groups at Bryn Mawr- it’s possible that Sisterhood developed in the 1970s as a primarily black affinity group, but inclusive to students of Latina and Caribbean origins. Between the 80s and the 90s BACaSO and Mujeres came to be.
We learned from alums that the purpose that affinity groups originally served was to provide a resource and support space that effectively functioned like a “home away from home” for many students in the midst of Bryn Mawr’s predominantly caucasian environment. Affinity groups provided students with a space to vent concerns specific to diversity, a knowledge base of which people and channels were going to be most sensitive and receptive to their needs, and, in general, a place to feel comfortable. Finally, there it was a space to develop a cultural history at Bryn Mawr- with the goal that the issues women experienced in the past or present would no longer exist in the future.
Diversity issues at Bryn Mawr will always be, in some way, institutional issues, but only in recent times have the approaches to these issues become institutional as well. In the past, student-powered affinity groups were the engines that lobbied the administration for measures on their behalf, like an increased flow of minority students to the college. The OIA now serves as a channel for many of these concerns, and affinity groups seem to have evolved from engines for change to interest groups with lesser roles in social justice education and action on campus.
And perhaps that’s okay. Though there is certainly room for improvement and progress, current students feel that diversity at Bryn Mawr is at a level where interaction between people of different backgrounds is an everyday occurrence, even if they do not always lead to greater awareness and understanding.
One alumna noted with great insight that there exists in human nature a natural tendency to seek the company of people who look, talk, and act like you; to whom you don’t have to explain yourself; who share experiences similar to yours. It’s the challenge of wanting to feel comfortable. Intercultural interaction and understanding, facilitated by Bryn Mawr’s diverse context and its institutional offices like the OIA, will still always take a conscious effort.
More often than not, effort like this is rewarding- not only in learning about other cultures, but in helping to celebrate oneself. An alumna reflected that coming to Bryn Mawr and being in the presence of so many confident women from so many unique backgrounds suddenly made her feel proud to be what she was.
Leadership In and For a Diverse World December 2, 2008
Posted by vchristm in : civic engagement, diversity, leadership , add a commentDiversity Conversation 10-3-08
This week’s discussion began with some word association:
What does diversity mean to you?
Difference, inherently. Excellence, potentially. Uniqueness, collaboration, understanding, celebration, barriers, and transformation.
What do you associate with leadership?
Self-reflection. A role model. Vision, honesty, humility, respect. Action: accountability and responsibility. A listener, a mediator, a collaborator, a learner. Informed, insightful, passionate and necessary.
Within those associations, how do diversity and leadership contribute to each other?
As one faculty member said, the basic idea behind the usefulness of diversity to leadership is that “all of us are smarter than one of us. Looking at the situation from different angles is the only way to see all sides.”
Incorporating and mediating multiple perspectives can create challenges and fracture, but these challenges in turn can become opportunities for growth.
However, one of the greatest challenges to leadership on campus discussed was, again, the four-year lifespan. Students in leadership positions often come up against long-standing culture and have an extremely short time frame in which to make an impact. It is key that leaders share their vision with their successors, and analyze what their predecessors shared with them.
Lastly, as a student quoted, “a true word can transform the world.” In leadership, the act to mediating multiple perspectives does not equate trying to please everyone, but to be honest with and true to one’s self and one’s context.
Music, Authenticity and Appropriation February 29, 2008
Posted by vchristm in : arts, culture, diversity, history, language, music , 2commentsDo you have a right to sing the blues? Is appropriation with attribution OK, or is it still using someone else’s property/culture/history? About 15 of us discussed these issues today (2/29/08), and our exploration was guided by Prof. Michael Tratner, Shayna Israel ‘08 and Nikki Lopez ‘10. Some of the additional issues we grappled with included identity, everyday experience, money, access, blame, obscurity, recording, preserving, reproducing, stealing and influence. People spoke from both the heart and the head, sharing information from readings as well as from their own performing history/present. As usual, the discussion looped around a lot of territory in 50 minutes. Although there are many questions that remain, three stood out for me: Whose job is it to tell the cultural story [behind music/a work of art]? Can you ever have the whole story? And can we share that story, or do some people, as originators, own it?
What questions stood out for you? Please continue the conversation!
Lessons on Civic Engagement and Diversity–Starting with THIS side of the fence November 27, 2007
Posted by vchristm in : civic engagement, diversity , 1 comment so farJoin us online to share your thoughts!
Beyond Nuclear:Family Diversity at Bryn Mawr College November 16, 2007
Posted by vchristm in : diversity, families, language , add a commentOur gathering for this conversation was small, but how diverse were our experiences around a-typical families! Our discussion ranged from thinking about a new name for Parents’ Weekend (How about Friends and Family Weekend?) to very personal accounts of frustration, pride and laughter around non-normative family situations.