The Importance of Dialogue in Dismantling Cycles of Oppression I joined this class to learn about social identities and how they shape our experiences. I believed being in a space where people from a variety of backgrounds could share their experiences would make me more understand other people. My fear entering this class was that sharing my experiences because I am a guarded person. The class exceeded my expectations. It was a space where I experienced validation in a way I could not have anticipated. I did not expect to address my own prejudices and the ways I perpetuate oppression. I was challenged to think about the intersectionality social identities and heard the perspectives of a variety of my peers. In doing so, this class empowered
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I felt guilty acknowledging my failings, but it is a necessary part of building alliance to dismantle problematic stereotypes. According to Harro’s “The Cycle of Socialization,” socialization begins with individuals: parents, teachers, friends, relatives. Therefore, the way we live our lives, treat people from different groups and what we teach our children gives us power to begin to work towards change. She says, “When groups begin to empower themselves—by learning more about each other, by unlearning old myths and stereotypes, by challenging the status quo—we make the difficult Decision to interrupt the cycle of socialization” (Harro, 2000, p. 20). Spaces such as this class allow us to start taking the necessary steps to interrupt our socialization and becoming …show more content…
That is to say, we created a safe space that felt like a micro community of people willing to learn and empathize with each other. It’s easy to be sympathetic, to feel for someone else. However, this class pushed me to attempt to become sympathetic to others. In “Listening with Empathy: Taking the Other Person’s perspective,” Donald McCormick explains that listening with empathy requires one to identify with the speaker, pay attention to the speaker and allow our feelings to resonate with theirs. For me, being empathetic is something I am trying to work on by learning to be less
I felt guilty acknowledging my failings, but it is a necessary part of building alliance to dismantle problematic stereotypes. According to Harro’s “The Cycle of Socialization,” socialization begins with individuals: parents, teachers, friends, relatives. Therefore, the way we live our lives, treat people from different groups and what we teach our children gives us power to begin to work towards change. She says, “When groups begin to empower themselves—by learning more about each other, by unlearning old myths and stereotypes, by challenging the status quo—we make the difficult Decision to interrupt the cycle of socialization” (Harro, 2000, p. 20). Spaces such as this class allow us to start taking the necessary steps to interrupt our socialization and becoming …show more content…
That is to say, we created a safe space that felt like a micro community of people willing to learn and empathize with each other. It’s easy to be sympathetic, to feel for someone else. However, this class pushed me to attempt to become sympathetic to others. In “Listening with Empathy: Taking the Other Person’s perspective,” Donald McCormick explains that listening with empathy requires one to identify with the speaker, pay attention to the speaker and allow our feelings to resonate with theirs. For me, being empathetic is something I am trying to work on by learning to be less