I have been looking at some of the websites recommended in the discussion. Jenny Horseman's suggested by Janet Isserlis, and Focus on Basics (Volume 5, Issue C, February 2002) in http://www.ncsall.net/?id=245 suggested by Kate.  I realized what I somewhat knew.   "But, I am not a therapist" is a legitimate concern but to an extent an easy way out.   We, as instructors, can go beyond referrals, which oftentimes are dealt with by overloaded social workers.
 
This discussion has brought up categories such as "forgiveness", "privilege", "male privilege", "perpetrator", "victim", that can be seen through different perspectives.  Feminism, religion, education philosophies, moral values are all prisms that involve our subjectivity and make us shy away or engage (disagreements expected as we have seen).  
 
Challenge seems to be the key word.   Dealing with violence is somewhat similar to dealing with diversity. Difficult but not that subjective.  Statistics talk. Just in case of violence against women: 
i) every 9 seconds a woman is physically abused by her husband
ii) 95% of assaults on spouses or ex-spouses are committed by men against women
iii) 42% of murdered women are killed by their intimate partner
info at asafeplaceforhelp.org or http://www.asafeplaceforhelp.org/batteredwomenstatistics.html

In the light of these numbers, reading about the work of Leslie Ridgway and Dale Griffith in York Correctional Institution was not only inspiring but productively challenging because it does provide tools and concrete examples of what instructors and social workers can do to help individuals deal with anger, fear and resentment, and open the possiblility of starting a healing process in different environments.
 
As our world seems to be permeated with violence, education must be a safe and committed environment where children, teenagers and adults, people from all background and venues can reflect upon these issues.   Challenging privileges, assumptions, prejudices is in itself a changing agent.
 
Yet, knowing how hard it is for Mexican men to deal with their privilege, aware of the potential sense of humiliation that comes with the change of roles from "the man of the house" to Mexican immigrant, and thinking of my very traditional family and friends (loved people all)  my first reaction was "no way".  I can not deal with domestic violence and I can not challenge male privilege because whenever I did,  I got in trouble.   Another piece is that in my experience students do know each other quite well, and even with potential perpetrators (which I might have recognized intuitively) they tend to be very protective because there is another intersection, quite poweful, that connects them all: adjusting with difficulty to a different culture, and sharing the joy and pains of learning a second language under stressing financial, emotional, and personal circumstances.   
 
Questioning ourselves, looking for relevant information (such as the sites provided by Janet Isserlis and Kate Nonesuch), finding the time to talk with the social workers in our work sites, asking colleagues with experience in the topic,  might all represent that  "extra mile" but, I am hopeful that it can pay off.
 
Anecdotal information.  During the first year I lived in New York City, I had the honor to work with El Barrio Popular Education Program.  Unfortunately I needed help myself and ended working only one semester there.   However, as I look back I remember that students made a "fotonovela"  whose main theme was sexual harassment.  All students participated and using a Freirean approach the plot built up and culminated with the main character's  liberation from her perpetrator.   Good information about this program  is found in Rivera, K. M. (1997), El Barrio Popular Education . In D. Taylor (Ed), "Many families, many literacies: An internatinal declaration of principles, pp. 128-133, Portsmouth, NH; Heinemann.  http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/education/home/faculty/rivera_bio.html 
 
Nadia Quiroz-Colby
Houston, TX



--- On Wed, 12/24/08, Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu> wrote:

From: Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>
Subject: [Diversity 303] Re: abusers in our classrooms
To: "The Diversity and Literacy Discussion List" <diversity at nifl.gov>
Date: Wednesday, December 24, 2008, 12:32 PM


thanks very much for this Karen.
I think a lot about 'school' privilege as well.  For some of us, learning/complying with the expectations of the classroom came far more easily than for others.

When we're teaching (and learning) it's really important to be mindful of that particular form of privilege (being good at doing school).

Many have written about the multiple layers of privilege and oppression – and as Karen and others have said here, the more we understand about how those forces act on ourselves, our colleagues and our students, the better able we are to be responsive and proactive in our teaching strategies and practices.

Janet




From: Karen Wyman <Karenw at nmcadv.org>
Reply-To: The Diversity and Literacy Discussion List <diversity at nifl.gov>
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:08:40 -0700
To: The Diversity and Literacy Discussion List <diversity at nifl.gov>
Conversation: [Diversity 301] Re: abusers in our classrooms
Subject: [Diversity 302] Re: abusers in our classrooms

Dear Kearney, 
I have to disagree that Kate’s comment is sexist. While most men are not abusers and are not violent, most abusers are men, and most acts of violence, particularly those acts against women, are committed by men. It is not unreasonable, inaccurate, or sexist to conclude that “in any ordinary group of men that some will be violent to a greater or lesser extent.” I think Kate was being very careful not to be sexist with her language and word choice. 
 
Also, I’d like to suggest that students are not in classes to “handle” their classmates; they are there to learn. It is the instructor’s responsibility to create an environment in which that can occur, and that often includes being aware of potential problems before they happen and intervening on behalf of the safety and wellbeing of all students. I think it is an interesting assumption to think that these hypothetical students are necessarily “non-feminist.”
 
I think that privilege is an important piece of this conversation that is being left out. I believe that, in addition to confronting racism and sexism, we also have a responsibility to interrupt male and white (and other kinds, too) privilege when it rears its head. I wonder if that might be an interesting discussion: what can we do to confront the use of unwarranted privilege in our classrooms? How can we interrupt those conditioned behaviors that come with that privilege? Male privilege is one of the many tools that abusers employ to exercise power and control over their victims, and there are a number of ways in which we, as educators, have the opportunity to either challenge or reinforce that privilege.  
 
Respectfully, 
Karen
 
 

 

  




 



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