CUMU Conference 2019

In 1903, W.E.B DuBois declared, “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line” (DuBois, 1903), and his words ring prophetic as they aptly apply to the 21st century in the United States. In an attempt to address the issue of the color line, this innovative workshop will create a gracious space for participants to explore issues of race, racial identity, and healing. In this session we acknowledge race as a social construct and it will be systematically explored through the use of the ecologies of knowing self (primarily), organization, and community (Guajardo & Guajardo, 2013; Omi & Winant, 2015; Guajardo, Guajardo, Janson & Militello, 2016). While a comprehensive study of the self must address the individual’s positionality within their organization, community, and socio-historical context, we offer participants the opportunity to zero in on the “self” ecology of knowing in order to author their own stories within the context of many other stories. In addition to storytelling, this dynamic-critical pedagogy allows participants to learn from one another, struggle with issues of becoming, and construct a framework for crossing borders and building bridges. Although the threat of racism and the institution of harmful racial projects is ever-present, we will pose questions that not only lead to critical conversations, but to collective problem solving and healing as well.