Courageous Conversations About Race

The workshop is designed to explore how the dimensions of power and privilege play out in multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multicultural settings.

The Courageous Conversations initiative aims to further develop cultural competence and literacy among participants. The workshop goes beyond the traditional 'trait-based' approaches to developing cultural sensitivity. The trait-based approach has limited use when presented in a stand alone format as it tends to ‘essentialise’ or stereotype certain groups outside the dominant races in modern Western liberal democratic societies. Competency-based approaches, on the other hand, cultivate a broader and more sophisticated understanding of race and culture through applying a power-sensitive analysis to the issues.

Courageous Conversations will challenge members of the University community to deepen the dialogue by talking openly about race on campus, and beyond. The interactive sessions provide various tools to simulate and inform the conversation and help us think through the different ways race affects our life and professional practice. The session offers participants an opportunity to unpack their own unique racial story (linking it to the local, national and global context), understand the concept of race privilege and examine its infl uence. Participants can utilise the insights gained to develop a more meaningful and targeted response around race and culture in a University context. To discuss incorporating Courageous Conversations into your curriculum, contact Mr Malcolm Fialho on 6488 2252

Equity and Diversity will also be running two workshops in 2010:

• Thursday 25 March
• Thursday 10 August

To register and for more information, see: www.osds.uwa.edu.au/about/workshop.asp?workshop_id=121