Dialogues on the Intersections of Identity
Throughout academic year 2007-08, the Office for Equity and Diversity invited all University faculty, students, and staff members to join in candid conversations about the tensions, complexities, and opportunities created by the intersections of various forms of identity.
The Dialogues on the Intersections of Identity were small group conversations that provided a safe, respectful space for honest, challenging, energetic, and informative dialogues designed to increase understanding about difference. Each two-hour Dialogue was facilitated by members of the University community, who led the group in exercises and discussion.
October 18, 2007
Cherrie Moraga:
"A Chicana Codex of Changing Consciousness"
The 2007-08 Dialogues kicked off on October 18 with a reading of selected works that traced Cherrie Moraga's own development as a writer, thinker and activist over a full generation of political engagement. The works followed Moraga's emerging consciousness as a Chicana lesbian from the late 1970s and the early days of women of color feminism to more current considerations of aging, motherhood and an contemporary Xicana Indigenous movement. Learn more about Cherrie Moraga's visit.
November 26, 2007
"Who Gets to Name the Boxes? The Politics of Defining and Redefining Identity"
The second conversation in the series focused on the power of assigning identity and who in society wields that power. Exercises and discussion explored the complexities and nuances of multiple identities, how they intersect, and how they often do not fit neatly into boxes. Marianne Bueno, assistant professor of Chicana/o Studies, and Mica Anders, graduate student in photography, facilitated the discussion.
January 29, 2008
"The Intersections of Faith and Sexuality "
The third conversation in the series
focused on faith and sexuality, addressing the prominent and pressing questions, complexities, contradictions, and collisions that occur when religious beliefs and sexual expression intersect. The conversation was facilitated by Dr. Charles Amjad-Ali, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor for Justice and Christian Community at Luther Seminary; Dr. Paul Capetz, associate professor, United Theological Seminary; Dr. Anne Phibbs, director of the GLBTA Programs Office at the University of Minnesota; and Rabbi Sharon Stiefel, associate director, University of Minnesota Hillel.
Tuesday, March 4 , 2008
"Breaking Through Silence About Disability "
The fourth conversation in the series challenged perceptions and thinking about disability. If discussed at all, disability most often evokes sympathy, pity or discomfort. To push the limits of these thoughts and responses, we examined disability as one aspect of complex identity and explore how it intersects with gender, class, race, and sexual identity. The conversation was facilitated by Linda Wolford, M.S., Student Services Manager, Disability Services, University of Minnesota; Dann Trainer, M.A., Assistant Educational Specialist, Disability Services, University of Minnesota; Pia Sass, J. D. Former Hennepin County Public Defender; and Betty Benson, Ph.D., Associate Director, Disability Services, University of Minnesota.