Abstract
Although diversity training has become an institutional norm for businesses, schools, and organizations, the full extent of its impact remains unclear. This chapter reports on research aimed as more fully understanding the transformational journeys of diversity practitioners and discovering how they deepen their sense of cultural humility. Following a review of the evolution of diversity training, the chapter presents a theoretical framework featuring five interrelated transformational processes: dialogue, inquiry, self-reflection, conflict transformation, and identity negotiation. The chapter concludes with a discussion about how these processes can be applied to enhance the development of cultural humility and consequently better achieve the desired outcomes of diversity training. It argues for a multi-year model for the training of diversity practitioners and others committed to personal development and social change as well as a lifelong approach that supports the process of moving more deeply into a culturally humble way of being.
TopIntroduction
The cultural humility framework is inherently anti-racist. Becoming anti-racist is the act of doing something instead of simply standing by or saying, “I am not a racist!” Anti-racism is also the act of seeking true equity (justice and fairness) across racial groups. White supremacy and anti-Blackness have historically shaped and continue to shape our social, political, economic, health-care, educational, and religious landscape. At the same time, people of color are set against this racial caste system and are disenfranchised accordingly. Because race is baked into the systems we navigate, we must be vigilant in addressing racial bias. Thus, diversity and equity practitioners who use cultural humility as their framework and set of practices look at all aspects of their identity while staying race conscious. They investigate personal racial bias, the way power and privilege intersect and are leveraged through race, and how interpersonal dynamics are shaped by interracial engagement.
Cultural humility acknowledges that everyone comes to diversity and equity work with past experiences and personal stories, and that these serve as filters through which they see the world. To fully engage with others, one must understand how to show up, as well as how to meet others where they are. This is a practice in humility and an invitation to reflect honestly on the power of one’s personal stories. Loehr (2007) said, “Before you can write your new, better story, you must know who you are. Absent that knowledge, the author has no authority” (p. 43). With the intent of engaging in that process of reflection and establishing the authority to which Loehr referred, the author shared the following:
Growing up, I thought my family was like all other families; “normal” is the word that came to mind. Like many other families in the community, we were good neighbors, attended church, and took summer road trips. I had no reason to question this reality. Until one day at lunch in third grade. The bell rang, and we all dashed for the playground. Surrounded by my friends, I heard one of them say, “Veronica’s a zebra! Veronica’s a zebra!” I stopped in my tracks, overwhelmed with emotion, confused, hurt, afraid. And suddenly, different. I wanted my mother; I wanted the safety and security of her touch and her reassurance that my prior understanding of the world as safe and open was still real for me, for her, for our family. After recess, I told our teacher about what had happened. I had no reason to doubt she would see the injustice of this experience. However, she merely dismissed my concerns and told me to return to my seat. My sense of the world had been officially shattered.
My brother picked me up from school that day. He was eleven years older and solid in his identity. I told him the story from beginning to end, and he smiled at me. He said not to let other people’s ignorance pull me down. He said, “So what if they think that? You are a zebra… and be proud of it!” He explained that words can only hurt me if I let them. He pulled out his football jersey, which read zebra in capital letters on the back. He had zebra drawings in his room, and a zebra doll, which he gave me. He said zebras were the most beautiful animals in the world and none of them were the same—each bearing its own unique set of stripes.
The author has retold this story during workshops countless times, sharing it as a personal introduction to the history that informs the way she understands the importance of cultural humility in the context of diversity and equity education. In the world today, personal history experiences are further defined by the many lives lost to state-sanctioned police violence; the ongoing abuse of self-identified women (#metoo); the immigrant children taken from their families; the ongoing disenfranchisement of trans people, the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Brown, and Indigenous bodies; and so much more. Practitioners committed to addressing systemic racism must recognize how their stories reflect intrenched systems of oppression that are overwhelming not just at a collective level but also at the individual level—often exhausting the very actors who can see, understand, and find means of redress.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Diversity and Equity Training: An intervention that aims to decrease intergroup tension (e.g., less prejudice or discrimination), while increasing organizational participation or the inclusion of many diverse members, through increased cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills.
Self-Reflection: An process exploration focused on one’s past experiences and personal identity.
Cultural Humility: A lifelong process of self-reflection; self-critique; and commitment to understanding and respecting different points of view, and engaging with others humbly, authentically, and from a place of learning.
Conflict Transformation: A process that responds to conflict within or between relationships such that constructive change is initiated, violence is avoided, and a peaceful and just resolution is achieved.
Inquiry: A process of asking questions of oneself as well as of others in an effort to more deeply understand one’s own or another’s personal truth.
Identity Negotiation: A process for identifying perceived personal and social realities, as well as challenging one’s self-identity and others’ identities in different cultural milieus.
Dialogue: A communication process for building relationships.