Identifying & Uprooting Internalized Racism - Staff & Faculty

Audience: A closed workshop for Waterloo staff & faculty who are Indigenous, Black, racialized
Facilitator: Janice Jo Lee
Level: Intermediate. The participant:

• Has a basic understanding of the history of global colonialism and systemic oppression
• Has begun their learning about equity and anti-oppression frameworks
• Would like to further their knowledge and investigate their personal relationship to anti-oppression 

Workshop Description:
Who is Canadian? Why are racialized individuals constantly othered and made to feel we don’t belong?This workshop is for racialized staff & faculty who are grieving the racism in the world while investigating our own internalized racism. We will detail our personal relationship to global colonialism, anti-Blackness and Indigenous colonization. We will question how mainstream Western culture assimilates us, socializes us into anti-immigrant sentiment, self-hate and losing connection to our heritages.

We will outline what kinds of power, privilege and barriers we have, and the Western ways of knowing we have subscribed to via the University. We will strategize on how we can engage in an ongoing process of decolonizing ourselves.

We will close by sharing ways we can work through our anger, pain and grief, and how we can be accountable to taking care of ourselves while fighting for our dignity and rights in the world.

Learning Outcomes:

• Deepen our personal understanding of lived experiences of systemic racism
• Increased self-knowledge, and skills to take care of ourselves
• Increased confidence in speaking about racism
• Ability to better identify anti-Black and anti-Indigenous actions and ideas
• Value and understand the emotional experience of racist harm and grief
• Understanding when and how I can set boundaries according to my needs

Participant Expectations:

• Participants can expect to engage with fellow participants through discussion, with portions of the workshop provided in a lecture-style format.
• Cameras and mics are are encouraged to be turned on for group discussions
• This workshop is interactive. The workshop asks participants to write anonymously on a group chalk board (optional), or their personal computer/notebook.