TEDxEMU - Justin Ford - Pedagogy of Privilege
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- Опубліковано 12 сер 2024
- This talk will introduce the "Multi-Dimension" model of privilege, which is a holistic, comprehensive approach to teaching the concept of privilege. Additionally, exercises and suggestions will be offered to practitioners around effective application and pedagogy of the Multi-Dimension model; ultimately helping to create greater awareness and understand of privilege as students, practitioners, and community members.
Justin W.S. Ford is currently a second year masters student in the Educational Leadership program, and the Graduate Assistant for the LGBT Resource Center at EMU. He earned his B.A. in Communication from Michigan State University in 2010 with a specialization in interpersonal and intimate communication. Justin has enjoyed nearly two years at EMU serving as a graduate assistant in both the Women's Resource Center and the LGBT Resource center, and as a graduate instructor for UNIV courses. He is primarily interested in leadership development, student development, and success factors for underrepresented student populations
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.
Any Walden classmates here? :)
I enjoyed this perspective on privilege. Question for you- When we speak on economic and social structural privilege, how do we effectively 'make the change we wish to see in the world'? At this time your taking on a whole structure of government that was built on hundreds of years of the oppression, herding, and controlling people groups for its own benefit. The common answer would be to 'vote, march, and fight the powers that be' yet are these archaic forms of protest and rights the best way to solve this problem? I have personally come to the conclusion that advocating on a very personal level for one person at at time may work best but then that is more on a micro (personal) level of change and not a macro (large population) as it should be.
Your thoughts on reaching large groups of people?
This is a thoughtful understanding of privilege. It’s likely a good strategy for teaching children to understand it. Despite our current divisive society, we must call a spade a spade so that the effects of various named privileges can be identified out loud.
My favorite part:
We woke up one day and had the privilege. Now it is OUR responsibility to equalize the playing field and choose not to exert or exercise our privilege. It takes someone among the privileged to stand up and do things differently or things won't change.
I think she was being sincere...
Life is a never ending competition and life is not fair, and equality is an impossibility. Slavery though, many wanted it gone, especially southerners, because a guy that owned slaves could undercut other farmers around him that didn't own slaves, they despised plantations for that reason. But as far as privilege, it's more economic than racial. Think Magic Johnson gets turned down on a loan? The one negative of multiculturlism, is that people are going to be judged negatively. They can change it, but they must put forth the effort, everyone else has, even the Irish
One thing people in general do not respect is excuses, even if they're true, no one wants to hear it. Like slavery, none of us have any connection to it, so it's pointless to bring it up, unless you like making excuses. People that doubt privilege exists, can argue that it's minimal compared to self destructive tendencies that others don't want to deal with. And they're every bit as right in that regard. It goes both ways and isn't that one sided, though it's the only talking point allowed, which at best is incomplete, at worst, dishonest.
I don't agree with that 💯%.... After women marched and tiredly protested screaming from the mountain tops that we deserved the same rights as the man, to vote for our leaders and representative
Absolutely bang on! Loved it and incredibly useful and doable! Leveling the playing filed is the goal. It is up to each of us, with the privilege, as Justin says, to do the work fir others who don’t have that privilege.
great talk! i wish it was longer. i would have loved to see the stand up exercise....
Excellent definition of privilege, I never viewed it from your perspective wonderful job.
good topic and it really brings out perspectives when we help people.
Great talk! We are all individuals and have some priviledge over others!
I am not afraid to talk about privilege if those whom I engage with have the intellectual honesty to discuss their own privilege on a global scale. Not many of those types about though.
Still so relevant. Thank you.
This was so good. Thank you for your incredible work and for advancing humanity. ~Namaste
What a great speaker!
Great topic and presentation!
Excellent job. Well done. Great definition.
Anywhere we can find the 50 statements he speaks of for the excercise?
I think you must have had to take his class.
Dude, well done!
Beauty and brains
according to this guy , intelligence is a privilege
Hi can someone please help: Love Love this video and would like to use it with students. But at 2:10 Justin provides an example of privilege - I can't understand what he says - to me it sounds like "some sneachers had stars upon mars". Could someone please help.
It is from Dr Seuss' The Sneetches
Thanks heaps for that!
he has black privilege. he can tell all other races they are morally flawed while only taking and doing absolutely nothing for anyone else.
I understand his good intentions to get away from this threatening approach of the single target model in exchange for achieving a more comfortable teaching experience, but the problem with his own model is that you cannot divorce privilege from its consequences. The whole point of acknowledging privilege is to overcome the discomfort of realizing you carry some privilege and working to own it and use it for good. His model teaches students to compare their privileges to what they perceive are other ppl's privilege. and that quite literally defeats the purpose of teaching privilege without discomfort. It gives the illusion that we all enjoy some form of privilege and are therefore equal in that sense. But this is simply not the case. Privilege dictates power, and any conversation about it will always cause confusion, misunderstanding and denial. Why? Because it will always be uncomfortable. It's in our nature to resist the idea that we might have advantages that others don't. So to even attempt to dampen the blow of teaching privilege is a flawed concept to follow.
Is he also saying that privilege only exists if the individual acknowledges it first under his multi-dimension model? Point 3 internal reflection of privilege? Otherwise, it doesn't exist.
A saner version, I'll grant that Privilege is like a new dance craze. Here's another way to disseminate it and take the sting out. Why not call it being more conscious and in the moment? No finger snap necessary. Be real.
The irony is that being able to stand to participate in the activity requires privilege associated with physical ability... and he doesn't seem to recognize that.
That's your observance privilege talking
That’s also your Karen privilege
The problem with this conceptualization of privilege is that it has nothing to do with rights. In Western countries, men, women, regardless of ethnicity, have the same rights. To say that it is a privilege to NOT be profiled by the police confuses the meaning of the word 'privilege'. It is not a privilege to not be disenfranchised, to not have your rights observed, because of your perceived ethnicity. In the case of profiling, the problem is racism (a form of disenfranchisement) which completely violates the rights granted to us by law, not privilege. It's kind of like saying that it's a privilege to not be robbed and beaten.
It is not a privilege to live in a society where others are disenfranchised. There is no benefit to living in a society where genealogy is a divisive issue. If no benefits are felt by a so-called privileged group, why call it privilege? Let's be accurate in our framing of this issue - which is a problem of criminal disenfranchisement.
numbynumb Race is a privilege, my friend. I know, I've been pulled over many many times for looking different and I have colleagues and friends who are anglo and who did not (some still don't) understand that by being white it entitled them to drive without the fear of being "randomly" pulled over for no reason at all. That said, some of my friends who now understand their privilege, actively speak out against racial profiling and racism because they now have a different perspective and want to extend their privilege (i.e. civil right) to those who are denied said privileges. Believe me I feel you, brother. I'm just saying that making allies is far more productive than inciting oppressors. Lastly, a friend at the NAACP once told me, "sometimes people try to take your power away, but more often than not we give it away freely." In other words, "that which angers you, owns you," Malcolm X. Peace be with you, my friend. ~Namaste
EndSpire I completely agree that racial profiling is a very serious problem. I just don't agree with the language being used. I think the word privilege, used in this way, injects confusion into a dire situation.
What I would like to see if massively increased surveillance of police behavior, a zero tolerance policy for any action that is even remotely racist, and for police brutality to be treated legally as a form of treason. Also, that if police shoot anyone for any reason, even a totally justified one, that their employment as police officers must be terminated.
numbynumb You spoke a lot about reform and punishment but left out the most important thing of all... Education. We must educate not only officer's but ourselves and our communities. We must inject a pedagogy of oppression into the curriculum for future generations. We must dig deep within ourselves and understand our own incrimination before we can point at discrimination. How can someone become angry at being called the N word if it is a redundant component of their own vincular? How can we ask someone else to value our lives if we don't value our own. Truth is, we must understand that blame does not create progress, enlightenment does. MLKJ taught the masses about what we see through the perspective of hindsight as unjust, because it was a privilege most were unaware of. It was the way things were. White people would drink from colored fountains to show solidarity to the disenfranchised and we're beaten and maimed for doing so by some of their peers... However, this act sparked a change in the superconscious of the oppressors because if one of their own deemed it wrong than maybe there was something to it. Make allies not enemies. A painful lesson learned in my own life. Love is the answer, my brother. :)
***** I limited my response to the subject of the abuse of police power because it was brought it up as an example, not because I think it's the only issue. Of course, I definitely think there are other important issues that need to be addressed.
Personally, I do think it should be our #1 priority to focus on effectively enforcing the law on police who commit crimes. I think that because they are paid to enforce the law, they should be held to an even higher standard than the average citizen. With great power, there should be great responsibility. We have written laws that are meant to protect everyone's rights and we should do everything we can to see them enforced. Ultimately, we do need laws to protect people from abuse and exploitation and clear consequences for those who break those rules, particularly if they are people in authority positions. Putting body-cameras on officers caused complaints against the police to drop 88%!!! in this experiment:
www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/04/california-police-body-cameras-cuts-violence-complaints-rialto
Im in favour of what is effective in protecting people's rights. Im in favour of what will reduce the number of people shot by police, beaten up by police, having drugs planted on them, and being racial profiled. Education is a long term plan and it is difficult to measure it's effectiveness. Many people are inclined to reject what they learn in school or have their family, church, or peer-group, re-enforcing a different message. Don't get me wrong, I think we should do everything we can to try to educate people better about social justice, but the things Im suggesting could be enacted very quickly and they have been proven to be effective in reducing abuse of authority by police. People think twice about doing the wrong thing when they are more likely to be held accountable. It's nice to have high ideals but if we didn't have a law against murder, I guarantee you that there would be a lot more murders. So in some cases, blaming murderers for murdering can bring about progress.
I still disagree about the word privilege. I just don't think it's the right term in a technical sense based on it's definition. I don't think it's a good idea to just start changing the meanings of words to suit a political agenda because it often creates confusion between people who still hold normal, dictionary definitions of words and those who have adopted the new politically-charged meanings that others are trying to give them. We already have enough words to describe the problem. Word definitions are not really the problem and trying to convince everyone to change their ideas about word's meanings is not a struggle that is worth pursuing IMO.
numbynumb Read Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I understand your point of view, I myself viewed the dilema this way many years ago. I have since evolved my mindset. Consider this, murder is against the law... yet people still kill each other. Stealing is against the law still people steal and so on and so on. Point is you cannot change social norms by punishing people and inhibiting them. You must have a dialogue, a living reference, a pedagogy by which people understand many factors which relate to specific actions. Simply put, crimes of passion (for example) are not reduced by the fear of punishment, but by the realization of the consequences; the understanding of all or at least most of the effects upon those in the periphery. Sociopathy, narcissism, etc. cannot be subdued through fear but through personal and individual breakthrough. You can not change society in a positive way by instilling fear, because beyond fear is truth and truth is pain. When you reach a person they decide to change for themselves. Violence begets violence. We must learn from our transgressors in order to help them enlighten themselves. Education is not more important than accountability... it is one of its most pertinent ingredients. The terminology is something you are fixated on, my friend. Racism and racial privilege are 2 seperate things. It would be like saying oranges and bananas are the same. They are both fruits (elements of the same family) but they are also different in many ways. Privilege refers to indifference, where racism refers to direct acts of discrimination. So to go back to my fruit analogy, if you were starving and I gave you a banana because that's all I had (what I was culpable of) would you scorn me for not giving you an orange? We are all guilty of some sort of privilege and it is through acknowledging these privileges and then addressing their inherent prejudices that we effect permanent change. If you beat a child every time they do something "wrong" and never explain to them why, what, etc., then you effectively create an oppressed modality for that souls life. We must teach, protect, and hold people accountable, but the idea of punishing is rooted in barbarism and simple-minded retaliation. We must transcend this if we are to invoke a ripple of peace and enlightenment which ultimately will produce the extinction of war. I hope that make sense, my brother. ~Namasté
This is interesting but I take issue with your last example, handicap bathrooms. Your gender privilege, as a man, makes you insensitive to the waiting time in women's bathrooms, because there are never enough women's toilets, while men have much quicker and shorter lines. The handicapped person has the privilege of not having to wait in line at all. It there is a 10 minute wait in the Ladies' room, but the handicapped toilet is free, I will certainly use it, and if the handicapped person has to wait a minute of 2 like the rest of us, I consider that completely legit. I also will use the men's handicap toilet if it is free, and have even been known on at the end of an intermission, for instance, to stake out the Men's room for female use.
First off, I believe the example applies to situations where other stalls are available. Secondly, individuals with disabilities often have issues less desirable than "bathroom waiting lines." Perhaps they have had to use the bathroom just as long, but it took them 10 minutes longer to reach the line. It is also possible that certain disabilities result in a less than functional bladder, and they are not capable of controlling it as well. If someone has a condition that requires them to use a handicapped stall, I would hardly consider a pass to the front of the line to be "privilege," but that's just my opinion.
ronjuice42 I was only referring to a situation where there is a 4 meter line to the ladies room and an empty handicap stall. Of course the handicapped person moves to the front to the line.
Robin Weisel-Capsouto I understand how you would see things that way, my friend... but I'd like you to consider the following observation I made just a week ago concerning handicapped persons. I was on the bus in New York City where I live and saw a lady in a wheel chair getting on. Some people (believe it or not) rolled their eyes because it takes a while for a wheel chair to get on board and be secured properly. Also, depending on where you get off you may have a long pause in between if the handicapped person has to get off at a stop before yours. Anyway, I struck up a conversation with her because she had a Knicks sticker on her chair and they have had the worst season ever. She told me it was a sick joke her brother played on her because she was a Cavs fan (as am I). She later revealed that she was going to a special spine clinic and was worried that the bus driver would forget her stop because it had happened in the past. It turned out we were getting off at the same stop so I assured her that I would make sure she got off there. To my surprise she was taking a bus to a train station which had handicap access, only to take another bus in a different borough. A trip that would take most of a little less than an hour would take her almost 3 each way. I then asked her how much planning went into her appointments and she replied, "weeks." I was humbled to say the least. I say all that to say this, if a person with that kind of disability and hardship gets an express trip to the toilet... they most certainly deserve it. I love you, my friend. I hope I didn't offend you in any way. ~Namaste ;)
I'm gonna sum up this idiotic talk. "Life is unfair". There you go, save yourself 14 minutes.
how not empathic of you