You have reached the gateway to each of the Study
Guide's sessions. This page introduces you to the topics of each
session and provides a brief description of the issues, subjects, themes,
problems, etc. to be dealt with in the session. You might think of this page
as a macro-view of the study.
The
overall agenda of the sessions unfold in the same way as the discussion in
the book. One session is given to the Introduction and to each of the first
two chapters (sessions 1-3). Then beginning with chapter 3, there are two
sessions for each of the remaining chapters (sessions 4-9). A final session
is a wrap-up and evaluation session, sort of a "where do I/we go from here?"
session.
To get to a session, simply click on the
session's title as it appears below.
1. Introduction to the
Study and Personal Inventory
This is the introductory session, a
time for the group members to get to know one another and share what they
think about taking up a study of racism. Even though this is the first session, group members should
be encouraged to do the preparation before the meeting.
In addition to a little reading, members
prepare for this first group session by (1) browsing some white supremacist
web sites to get a sense of how "race" and "others" are regarded, (2) completing a brief "personal awareness survey"
that will stimulate both reflection and questions, and (3) thinking about
why they are doing this group study.
The primary objectives in this
session are to expose group members to some extremes in thinking about
matters related to race and racism, and to stimulate self-reflection and
reflection on racism as a personal and social reality.
2. The Language of Race
In this session, members look at
some of the factors that make talking about race and racism difficult. As
members recall a conversation they have had about racism and reflect on
the dynamics and result of that conversation, some insight about the basis
and meaning of differing assumptions and perceptions emerges.
This leads to a focus on language,
how we use it to express ourselves and our awareness, and how it works to
influence us and the world we live in. Language is important in the study
of race and racism because we use it not only to name an experience and
the external world where it takes place, but also to create that very
experience and manage our everyday world. Preparation for the session also
includes the work of defining some of the main terms used in the
language-world of race.
The primary objectives in this
session are to discern the work of language in our everyday lives,
especially with regard to race and racism, and to begin to look critically
at what we take to be common sense and common knowledge about race and
racism.
3.
Theoretical Constructions of Race and Racism
People in our society do think
about race and racism in varying degrees. Conversation about them
frequently gets bogged down because of the different "explanations" of
what they refer to and how we got to where we are as a country. There are
different views on their origin as well as their extent in our social and
cultural world. In this session, members are asked to think about
reflecting on race and racism with the aid of thinking tools.
Members are asked to consider the
development of racism from several different perspectives (logical,
psychological, social, political, economic, etc.) by interacting with some
theories about this development. This is followed by some focus on several
important parameters in developing an understanding of race and racism.
The primary objectives in this
session are to develop ways to explore the complexity of racism, and to
recognize the evidence of its presence in the many arenas of our national
life, especially since its forms have undergone change and remain hidden
to many.
4. The
Sociality of Race -- Part I
We live in a social and cultural
world that is structured by its institutions and the activities that take
place there. In a very real sense, we are thoroughly institutionalized. In
this session members begin the process of exploring how this
institutionalization came about and what significance it has for race and
racism. This is organized by the idea of the social construction of race.
By reflecting on their own experience in institutions, members begin to
recognize just what makes an institution an external reality and how it
influences us in our day-to-day living.
This session also focuses on some
of the ways our forbearers made race an objective fact in a social world
that subsequently developed certain expressions of racism, and it
considers how we continue to participate in that development by making
race a fact in our social worlds. This is done by analyzing
stereotypes and they way they influence the many places in our lives where
social interaction takes place.
The primary objectives of this
session are to recognize how race has been constructed in our external
world, how it contributed to the structures of racism in the spheres of
everyday life, and how we contribute to its perpetuation by our
participation in these spheres.
5. The Sociality of
Race -- Part II
Life in the United States has
changed in many ways over the last several decades. While many of our
institutions continue to play an important role in shaping our common
life, they too are very different than they were when they began. This
session considers not only the ways these institutions developed and are
maintained, but also just what it is that makes them institutions.
The session explores the nature of
institutions with regard to the benefits they bestow on or deny members of
the society, and how this contributes to the reality of race and the
expressions of racism. So group members reflect on the ways institutions
express the purposes, interests, values and meaning of those whom they
serve. This leads to some attention on "white privilege" as well as the
ways the racism in our social world and its institutions has been defended
and maintained.
The primary objectives in this
session are to recognize how institutions are formed and contribute to the
reality of a social world and its racism, how they exist for the benefit
of some and not others, and how the worldview that makes sense of these
institutions--and their social world--has undergone both maintenance and
change.
6. The
Consciousness of Race -- Part I
With this session, group members
turn inward to explore the consciousness of race and racism. This is done
by exploring the role of socialization and the formation of identity.
Members reflect on the relationship between consciousness and the external
world, and how this relationship contributes to the reality of race and
racism. The important role played by the "significant others" in our lives
is analyzed as a factor in shaping our awareness of ourselves and our
world.
This leads to some exploration of
the worldview that makes sense of our personal and social lives and the
world in which they are set. Members analyze what a worldview is and how
it works, and this is done by thinking in terms of myth as the beliefs,
traditions, rituals and stories that integrate our social world and make
it meaningful. This makes it possible to recognize race as a myth, and
members explore how this race-myth functions, including the ways it
contributes to a false consciousness.
The primary objectives of this
session are to recognize the influence of others and the external world in
shaping our consciousness of race, the role played by myth in helping us
to make sense of a race-world, and the formation of false consciousness as
the inner reality of the ideology of racism.
7. The
Consciousness of Race -- Part II
In this session, members take a
closer look at personal and social identity, and the factors that
contribute to the formation of identity. In particular, members explore
the factors in forming a racial identity, and this includes
attention to the formation and preservation of racial group identity. This
leads to a look at the problems with a racial identity, both individual and
group, and how these identities contribute to the perpetuation of race and
the expressions of racism.
Beliefs about ourselves and our
society, and beliefs about race and racism, are the focus of attention
when members then turn to examining opinions as measured by poll-takers.
Opinions on matters of race and racism are influenced by many factors, and
members are asked to interact with the ways such opinions are formed and
expressed. This exposes not only many of the ingredients in race opinion,
but also the ways these opinions contribute to the perpetuation of racism.
The primary objectives in this
session are to discern how individual racial identity is formed and
sustained by internalizing a racial group identity, assess how this
contributes to the expressions of racism, and analyze how beliefs,
attitudes and values regarding race are sustained by a social world that
expresses racism.
8. Framing a
Theology of Racial Reconciliation -- Part I
This session explores the
intersections between our understanding and use of the Bible, the
sociocultural context in which we live, and the experiences we bring as
individuals and communities to the task of interpreting the Bible. Members
will look at the Christian story in terms of the ways it functions in the
life of faith, ways that put this story in opposition to the myth of race.
Members will also analyze expressions of race and racism as sin, or a
fundamental opposition to God and to others.
Members are asked to identify the
ways Scripture addresses our situation of racism. This is done by
exploring how the Christian story functions as an alternative way to
regard God's creation and redemption in Jesus Christ. This leads to an
examination of the letter to the Ephesians and the ways its situation and
message challenge the patterns and relationships that are characteristic
of groups fractured by the expressions of racism.
The primary objectives of this
session are to develop skill in theological reflection on racism using
Christian faith and Scripture as authoritative resources, formulate an
alternative vision for our situation based on the central convictions of
Christian faith, and prepare the theological foundation for Christian
initiatives in dismantling race and racism.
9. Framing a
Theology of Racial Reconciliation -- Part II
In this session members begin the
deliberate task of honing their skills in recognizing and challenging the
expressions of racism. This is done by focusing on the development of
critical consciousness that challenges assumptions, exposes the influence
of others and our context, and offers alternatives to racism as a
worldview, social order, and way of valuing and relating to others.
Members analyze the evidence of
critical consciousness as well as the obstacles to it. They also examine
several factors that are necessary for realizing racial reconciliation
from the perspective of Christian faith. Thus they explore the ingredients
that are necessary not only to contest racism but also to eradicate it
from our sociocultural world.
The primary objectives in this
session are to begin to exercise critical consciousness, assess the
requirements of reconciliation, and identify concrete obstacles to
accomplishing racial reconciliation in their everyday living as
Christians.
10.
Wrap-up, Evaluation, and What Comes Next!
In this final session, members and
leaders draw the study to a close by evaluating the study group experience
and significant learnings. This is done in relation to the goals each set
out at the beginning of the study group. Members also identify what they
can do as individuals (and as a group) to continue their engagement with
racism. Each is asked to commit to a plan of action that outlines next
steps, and describe how they will be held accountable.
