TRAINING.

Overview

After participating in this course, you will be able to:

• Describe how race is socially constructed
• Explains the main points of the intersectionality framework
• Locate your own social position in terms of power and oppression
• Identify whiteness as a system of hierarchy and articulate how it functions
• Share insights about the experience with detours
• Recognize deficit discourses and explain how they harm

Description

Have you ever observed racism in the workplace? Did you want to speak up but feel unsure? We want to deepen your understanding of what racism is and how it functions.

While some professional programs (education, law, medicine) are beginning to implement anti-racist, anti-oppressive education, there is still an immense need for engineering and technical disciplines to take up this work. Join us as we lay the groundwork for engaging in anti-racism action. In addition to lecture components, this course will include activities and discussions to consolidate the learning.

Course Outline

This course covers some foundational anti-racist, anti-oppressive concepts:

• Race as a social (rather than biological) construct
• Intersectional, constructed identity
• Whiteness as a system of racial hierarchy
• Detours to anti-racism
• Deficit discourses

Who Should Attend

• The course is open to engineers in training, engineers, leadership and administrators, and general firm employees who are interested in better understanding the concept of racism and oppression.

Special Requirements
Course participants are expected to join the session on a computer with a functioning webcam and microphone.

Please note: You can check other time zones here.

Syllabus

Day 1

Welcome, Introduction, Overview

• Race as a social (rather than biological) construct
  • Historical/debunked scientific categories
  • Implications of a socially constructed system
  • Levels of racism
• Intersectional, constructed identity
  • Understanding identities that hold power
  • Examining social location
  • How society values and devalues identities
• Whiteness
  • System of racial hierarchy
  • Constructed to maintain white interests
• Detours to anti-racism
  • What gets in the way of this learning
  • Recognizing patterns/tendencies to unlearn
• Deficit discourses
  • Understanding biases and their implications
  • How language leads to outcomes
  • Disrupting harmful discourses

Instructor

Neda Asadi, Ph.D.

Neda is an educator and researcher in both community and academic settings. Her teaching and research are centered around anti-racism, decolonization of educational policies and practices, and settlement laws and practices impacting marginalized populations. She has taught in community colleges and undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Alberta and Queen’s. In addition to teaching in classrooms, she facilitates community workshops related to her field, such as anti-racism, multi-literacy education as a practice to create equitable educational spaces for newcomer learners, best practices in settlement, and building stronger relations between Indigenous People and Intercultural communities in Edmonton.

Neda obtained her bachelor’s degree in Science from the University of Alberta and has worked in molecular research laboratories. She pursued her passion in education and received her PhD in Theoretical, Cultural and International education from the University of Alberta, Department of Educational Policy Studies. She has presented her work at major academic conferences and at teachers’ conventions, as well as the Alberta Ministry of Education. Dr. Asadi has published her research in books and scholarly journals. She is also the co-editor of, Interrogating Models of Diversity Within a Multicultural Environment (2019).

Her diverse educational experiences in fields ranging from pure sciences to social sciences and familiarity with various institutions; educational, government, non-profit, research and innovative organizations provide her with the understanding and knowledge to deliver the anti-racism/anti-oppression course in a way that fosters stronger relationships and creates more inclusive and equitable work environments.