Being

How can we all be ourselves?

How do you define identity and belonging?

Who am I?

We are all connected and share the same DNA and planet. How do we celebrate the importance of diversity over the mono-culture of ego?

“Do not ask who I am - and do not ask me to remain the same.” - Michel Foucault

Back to Keys

Challenge the Normalizers

The Normalizers attempt to include others, but exclude to maintain a status quo.

They wield an ‘inclusiveness’ language, in order to determine who is included they instantly create a mental exclusion zone. Their determinations build a body of cultural memory of what belongs here, what is acceptable, appropriate and can be induced into our cultural norm and celebrated - and what is not. 'Lack' narratives introduce a reason for our anxieties - is there enough for all? How do we know? Even in the most positive inclusive scenarios, who decides who has the power to decide who gets included?

“Those of us who stand outside the circle of this society's definition of acceptable women; those of us who have been forged in the crucibles of difference - those of us who are poor, who are lesbians, who are black, who are older - know that survival is not an academic skill...For the master's tools will not dismantle the master's house. They will never allow us to bring about genuine change.”- Audre Lorde

Can we play a different game?
How do we keep our inclusiveness open and avoid survivor competitions, where factions of oppressed need to battle it our for the attention of the privileged gatekeepers?

In the ongoing Global Story Crisis, value and meaning is no longer created on the basis of merit, but through instantaneous popularity ratings. We celebrate currency as a socially mediated exchange of hybrid reality, battled out by billions of Entertainer contestants. The ones with the most likes wins. Let’s play a different game, in solidarity, that de-masks our self-deceptive powerlessness, and laughs at our cognitive dissonance.

How do the group members self-define? What stereotypes might be in play? Whose culture am I protecting?

Who defines difference?  Do I see myself as Other? What does 'whiteness' mean?

Who benefits from my process? Who determines cultural integrity? How can I represent diversity without tokenism?  How can I bring in new voices?

What don’t I see when I focus on difference? What can go wrong?