Posts in Recurring
Breaking White Walls: How to Facilitate a White Caucus
 
 
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"Breaking White Walls facilitated a huge breakthrough in my learning journey. This workshop helped me realize the possible principals, language, and paths forward for interrogating and dismantling white supremacy within the spaces I hold and am held in everyday.” - Julia Gaynor, Anti-Racist Ecosystem

Join Elif Cadoux for a 2.5 hour primer on facilitating white caucuses and accountability spaces! White caucuses are spaces where white people learn about white supremacy, prepare one another and themselves to join movements led by Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and take action in their daily lives to challenge racism. The workshop will move through reasons to run a white caucus, three essential elements to any accountability group, and facilitation techniques. Come prepared to be both a participant and practitioner in this training of trainers!

This workshop is for White people & BIPOC of any racial identity who are interested in facilitating white accountability spaces. A foundational understanding of whiteness, white supremacy, and anti-blackness is a prerequisite for this offering. Facilitated by Elif Cadoux (They/Them).

 
 
In Community: Digging Deeper & Exploring Pods
 
 
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If you ask a room of people to define "community", the definition will differ person to person. So what exactly do we mean when we claim to be "in community" and what does it mean to be a part of a community? And why does this matter Organizing and structural change demand deep interpersonal relationship, something that is commonly hindered by the fractured concept of community. We will be reframing ourselves through a transformative justice lens to explore the hyperlocal concept of pods and pod-mapping. Facilitated by Khunsa Amin (She/Her).

 
 
Everyday Anti-Oppression Facilitation
 
 
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Facilitating anti-oppression conversations that move people from resistance, or paralysis, is an essential tool for movement building. Because dismantling systems of oppression is urgent work, it is common to rush through the learning process and experience frustration when people freeze up or shut down. We contribute to movement building when we facilitate dialogue that encourages reflection, connects lived experiences to systems, and creates space for action. In this introductory workshop, we will offer a facilitation framework that we use at Both/And. Using David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle framework, we will ground and practice how to approach everyday conversations about oppression with our families, in our workplaces, in our communities, and even within ourselves. Facilitated by Kareen Coyoca (They/Them) and Zara Cadoux (She/Her).

This workshop is Part I of our Facilitator Training Series. Part II is the Power & Risk workshop. We encourage you to attend Part I first, but it is not required.

 
 
The Necessity of Third World Feminism: An Introductory Interrogation (Part 1 of 3)
 
 
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The 2017 Women’s March was a worldwide protest asserting to the world and the incoming U.S. president that women’s rights are human rights. Hundreds of thousands of women gathered of which many hired other women to look after their children so they could attend the march. Such is just one example of the contradictions of the Women’s March that begs the question of “Which women was the march actually for?”. Feminism has gone through numerous shifts in its history as it addresses contradictions such as race and wealth, but are these considerations taking into account a global analysis, and are First World Women keeping up? Session 1 of a 3-part series will introduce you to Third World Feminism and invite participants to further unpack and interrogate their concept of feminism and solidarity in feminism. Sessions 2 and 3 will delve into connecting current issues to our everyday narratives and methods to build our anti-oppression practice. Facilitated by Kareen Coyoca (They/Them).

 
 
Introduction to Classism and Decolonizing Wealth
 
 
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This workshop is an introduction to concepts of class and will deepen participants' understanding of U.S. and global systems through a class analysis. In this session we will review concepts of classism and capitalism, leading us to understand why a class analysis is imperative in justice and liberation work, why/how we have been largely ignoring it, and how we are contributing to disparities and roadblocks with our classist patterns. This is an interactive workshop that requires active participation in activities, dialogue, and reflection. Facilitated by Kareen Coyoca (They/Them).

 
 
Asian American* Diaspora
 
 
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In this moment of COVID-19 and rising anti-Asian racism, we’re reminded of a long history of racism and exclusion towards Asian American communities. Why do Chinatowns exist? Why are there so few Asian American celebrities? Is “Chinese take-out” more American than apple pie? Where did Asian Americans go to school during segregation? Are Asian Americans people of color? What does it mean to be a US citizen, but not seen as American? This is an introductory course to Asian American history that seeks to fill in the gaps from typical K-12 US history courses.

Over the course of four weeks we will investigate themes of Asian American history, immigration, war, empire, activism, and culture. This course also unpacks the origins of the term “Asian American,” the intersections of race and gender in Asian American history, and moments of inter- and intra-racial solidarity. Moreover, we will look at how the history of Asian American experiences relates to how we think about ourselves and each other, including feelings of otherness and non-belonging.This course is designed to be an affinity space for Asian American* folks to share and discuss our history, our stories, and our experiences, with the main goal to build community and solidarity with each other. While we have designed it with the ultimate community in mind, this course is not restricted only to ultimate players. Facilitated by Rena Kawabata (She/Her) and Chip Chang (She/Her).

*The Asian American diaspora encompasses a wide variety of experiences, cultures, ethnicities, and histories. By placing a label as wide as “Asian American,” there’s an undesired effect of white-washing, homogenizing, and erasing of our differences. However, we use the term “Asian American,” as it was originally intended, to acknowledge our differences and find parallels in our stories where we can find community, solidarity, and affinity across our experiences and within a US constructed racial category. And we are choosing to use this term to differentiate the unique immigrant & Asian experience from that of Asian people who live in the social and structural contexts of Asian countries.

 
 
Increasing Capacity for Both/And Thinking
 
 
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White supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy are grounded in either/or, binary thinking. Both/and thinking is a liberatory practice of holding multiple, sometimes contradictory, truths at the same time. Anti-oppression work requires sitting in and navigating complexity, moving away from perfectionism & punitive systems. Cultivating our skills for sitting in both/and thinking opens possibilities for creating new worlds that are restorative, grounded in community care, and move against oppressive systems. Recognizing that this work begins with each of us, this webinar will offer frameworks and tools for building a practice of both/and thinking. Facilitated by Zara Cadoux (she/her).

 
 
Disrupt Your Practice for White Artists & Creatives
 
 
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What, if any, is the role of the white artist in the Black Lives Matter movement and uprising? How can white people de-center themselves, uplift Black artists, and use their creativity to nurture anti-racist futures? How can white artists resist a "return to normalcy"? In this workshop we will point out some cardinal do's and don'ts of making in this current moment, provide ways to amplify Black creatives, and imagine how one's work could transform in this time of Uprising. This workshop is for white artists and creatives (writers, painters, dancers, poets, curators, cultural organizers, etc) who are actively working on their anti-racist learning and are looking to integrate their awareness into their creative endeavors. Facilitated by Elif Cadoux (they/them).

 
 
Shame Resilience for White People
 
 
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Confronting shame as a white person is crucial for anti-racist work. This two and a half hour workshop is an opportunity for white people to explore white identity development, how shame manifests, and cultivate tools for shame resilience. We will rely on frameworks from Tema Okun & Brene Brown to delve into how white people can increase our resilience to shame in order to take action for racial justice. Facilitated by Zara Cadoux (she/her).