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Experiencing Diversity : Experiential Exercises for
use in Multicultural and Diversity Workshops
Edited by Jeff E. Brooks-Harris, Lori E. Davis, & Rosemary E. Simmons
Circles of Diversity
GOAL : The goal of this exercise is to look at the ways that individuals feel both included and marginalized based on various identities and to simulate the experience of inclusion and exclusion.
TIME REQUIRED : At least forty-five minutes.
MATERIALS : Paper and pen/pencil for each participant.
PHYSICAL SETTING : An open space large enough for group participants to be able to move around comfortably as well as sit, write, and share in small groups.
PROCESS : This exercise uses a brief, physically involving, group activity called a circle break that simulates and often elicits thoughts and feelings that are associated with discrimination. This physical simulation is then used as a metaphor to exemplify how people sometimes feel like they are inside the circle (majority experience) and how they sometimes feel like they are outside the circle (marginalized experience). Because this exercise involves physical contact, it works best with groups of people who will feel comfortable physically interacting with one another.
Personal identities. Ask participants to list on a sheet of paper all the various "identities" they experience within themselves. These identities may be based on race, ethnicity, nationality, age, sexual orientation, religion, profession, geographical origin, political affiliation, world-view, or any other personally-relevant variable.
Circle break. Introduce the circle break activity as a physical activity to stimulate reactions to different group dynamics. It is best not to shape participants reactions too much by revealing a lot of detail about the goal. It may be best to give participants permission not to participate in the circle break if they feel uncomfortable with physical contact.
Ask participants to stand in a circle facing in toward the middle of the circle. Identify one participant to be outside the circle. Ask the participants in the circle to
hold hands and to keep the outsider from gaining entrance to the circle. Encourage the outsider to try to enter the circle. After the outsider gets inside the circle, identify another outsider and repeat the process. You may also want to identify two outsiders to work together to gain entrance into the circle.
Discussion. After a few people have had a chance to try to enter the circle, begin a discussion about the exercise. Start by focusing on participants' thoughts and feelings about this particular activity. Contrast the experience of people inside the circle (insiders) with those outside the circle (outsiders). You may also want to encourage discussion by making process statements. Common processes that occur are that the Insiders learn increasingly effective ways of keeping the outsider out of the circle. Outsiders will typically try a variety of methods of entering.
Generalization. After discussing what happened and how people felt in response to this physical activity, use the exercise as a metaphor and begin discussing how this activity may simulate discrimination and the process of keeping certain groups of people in power and excluding others who do not fit. Ask people how their feelings as outsiders or insiders may parallel the feelings of people who are discriminated against or people who are in power.
Personal application. Ask participants to use another piece of paper to draw a circle and for each of the identities that you wrote down earlier, write the identity in the inside of the circle, the outside of the circle or both, depending if that identity has resulted in feeling like an insider, an outsider, or both in different situations.
Group sharing. Give participants a chance to share which identities make them feel included and which identities make them feel marginalized. This sharing can occur in small groups or in the large group depending on group size and dynamics.
Discussion. This exercise can be used to stimulate a more general discussion on discrimination and prejudice.
SOURCE : This outline was written by Jeff E. Brooks-Harris, Ph.D., Counseling and Student Development Center, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. The circle break exercise is originally from Judith Katz. The writing and sharing exercise was presented by Karen M. Taylor, Ph.D., Counseling and Consultation Center, Ohio State University, at ACPA, Commission VII Meeting, Kansas City, MO, March, 1993.
SOURCE : Leader's Manual for Valuing Ethnic Diversity: A Cultural Awareness Workshop. Designed and written by the staff of the Counseling and Mental Health Center, The University of Texas as Austin, 303 West Mall Building, Austin, TX 78731-8119, 512/471-3515.
Prejudice: An Awareness-Expansion Activity
GOAL : To explore feelings and ideas about prejudice, to explore validity of common prejudices, and to provide the opportunity to experience being the target of prejudice in a non-threatening manner.
TIME REQUIRED : 60 minutes.
MATERIALS : Sets of cards prepared ahead of time with names of specific groups (e.g. African-American, Jew, Asian-American, Puerto Rican, Mexican-American, American Indian, White person, Arab, Ku Klux Klan member, Muslim, etc.). Prepare enough sets of cards so that there will be one set for each group of four in the workshop (e.g., if 24 are expected to attend, 6 sets of cards will be needed).
Overhead transparency of process questions.
PHYSICAL SETTING : Space enough to break into smaller groups for discussion.
PROCESS : Instruct participants to form smaller groups of four. Provide one person in each group with a set of the prepared cards. Request that the person leave the signs face down. Inform participants that each card identifies a specific racial, cultural, or ethnic group. The person holding the cards can now look at the top card without showing it to other group members. Instruct that person to be sure that it does NOT apply to him/her. If it does apply, instruct the participant to put that card on the bottom of the stack and choose another until a non-applicable card is turned over. After the first person has selected a card that does not apply to him/her, request that he/she pass the stack to the next person. Continue this process until all group members have a card.
The first member of each group should now display the card so that the small group can see the identifying word. During the next three minutes, the remaining group members are to take turns expressing stereotypical remarks about the category of persons named by that sign. The remarks do not necessarily need to be reflective of opinions held by the group members but may reflect things they may have heard or seen growing up in your family, at school, at work, or in the media. The person with the sign is to counter each statement and defend the group the sign represents. Inform the group when three minutes is up and request that they repeat this process with each of the small group members.
PROCESS QUESTIONS : Place process questions on overhead and request that the small groups discuss them: How did you feel when you were seated alone defending against others' comments? How did you feel when you were making stereotypical remarks? What did you learn about the effects of expressing prejudicial opinions?
Stand Up For Diversity
GOAL : To highlight how some people have benefited from and others have been hurt by discrimination in our culture.
TIME REQUIRED : At least twenty minutes for this activity. It should be used as a part of a larger workshop on diversity, racism, or multiculturalism.
MATERIALS : None.
PHYSICAL SETTING : A room where people can both sit and stand comfortably.
PROCESS : This exercise can be somewhat threatening and is, therefore, best with a group that has had a lot of exposure to the topic of diversity or in which there is a high degree of safety.
Instructions. This exercise will be used to highlight some of the different experiences that each of us have had. It will point out differences in our cultural backgrounds as well as different experiences with discrimination. It will also point out that some of us have benefited from discrimination, whereas others have been hurt by discrimination.
As I read the following statements, I will ask you to stand up if the statement is true for you. If you are physically unable to stand, please identify that this is true for you in some other way. As people stand I would like you to remain silent but to look around and to see how many people in the group are standing and how many are sitting. As you look around silently, I would like you to pay attention to how you are feeling and to make note of your feelings in response to different statements.
Please stand up if...
You grew up as a member of a minority group in your community.
You grew up in a neighborhood that was not multiracial.
Your family employed domestic help of a different race.
You went to an elementary school that was not multiracial.
You went to a junior high school that was not multiracial.
You went to a high school that was not multiracial.
People have ever made derogatory comments to you about your race.
People have ever made derogatory comments to you about your ethnicity.
You heard family members use derogatory terms for or made jokes about other racial and ethnic groups.
People have ever made derogatory comments to you about your religion.
People have ever made derogatory comments to you about your sexual orientation.
People have ever made derogatory comments to you about your disability.
People have ever made derogatory comments to you about your family income.
People have ever made derogatory comments to you about your gender.
People have ever made derogatory comments to you about your age.
People have ever made derogatory comments to you about your physical appearance.
Your family was eligible for food stamps or public aid.
As a child your family never had to worry about money.
You have ever been treated differently than other students by a professor and you believe this treatment was due to your race or ethnicity.
You have ever been a victim of violence because you were different than others.
You have ever confronted someone who made a racist comment or joke.
You have ever confronted someone who made a sexist comment or joke.
You have ever confronted someone who made a homophobic comment or joke.
You have ever been questioned or challenged by family or friends about your association or friendships with people of a different background.
You do not have any close friends of a different race.
You do not have any close friends of a different sexual orientation.
You are among the first generation of your family to attend college.
Remembering Prejudice Guided Imagery
GOAL : To help participants get in touch with their own racial attitudes and behaviors; explore reasons why participants choose to guard and/or act on their racial attitudes and behaviors (e.g. through colluding, etc.); to encourage participants to accept personal responsibility for perpetuating their racial attitudes and behavior.
TIME REQUIRED : 60 minutes.
MATERIALS : Process questions on overhead transparencies.
PHYSICAL SETTING : Space enough to break into smaller groups for discussion.
PROCESS : Instruct participants to arrange themselves into groups of three. Use the following guided imagery instructions: Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Allow yourself to begin relaxing. Take another deep breath, hold it for about 4 seconds, and let it out slowly. Do this once more. Now, close your eyes and think back to the most memorable time you can remember feeling discriminated against or left out of a group because you were different. For example, if your most memorable time occurred when you were a child, you might have felt like the other kids didn't want to play with you or be your friend because you were different from them. Maybe you were picked last or not chosen at all. Maybe you were different in some physical way - or different because of your age, sex, religion, race or social class. As you think about that time, try to remember how you felt while it was happening, where you were, who was present, how old you were, what time of year it was, and any other important details that help you remember it. As you remember this situation, remember the circumstances surrounding the discrimination. (pause 30 seconds) What were the feelings you experienced as a result of being discriminated against? (pause 30 seconds) What attitudes/beliefs/conclusions did you formulate about the person or people who discriminated against you? (pause 30 seconds) Did you draw some conclusions about yourself based on this experience? (pause 30 seconds)
Give participants 60 seconds or so to come out of the imagery and request that they discuss, in small groups, their thoughts and experiences during the imagery. Place the three process questions (i.e. What were the feelings you experienced.. ., etc.) on an overhead projector and allow small groups 10 minutes to discuss. A few participants may wish to share with the larger group.
Facilitate the second guided imagery with the following instructions: Close your eyes, and think back to the most memorable time you can recall discriminating
against someone else on the basis of their race, social class, gender, religion, and so on. Perhaps you left them out of a group or overlooked them. Or maybe you did not want to associate with them because they were so different from yourself. As you think about it, try to remember how you felt while it was happening, where you were, who was with you, what time of year it was, and any other details that help you remember it. What were the circumstances surrounding the discriminatory event? (pause 30 seconds) Did you feel any type of pressure (e.g. parental, peer, cultural) to continue discriminating against this individual? (pause 30 seconds) Is there anything you could have done differently in that situation? (pause 30 seconds)
Give participants 60 seconds or so to come out of the imagery and request that they discuss, in small groups, their thoughts and experiences during the imagery. Place the two process questions (i.e. Did you feel any type of pressure.. ., etc.) on an overhead projector and allow small groups 10 minutes to discuss. A few participants may wish to share with the larger group.
Summarize purpose of exercise. Some may have felt hurt, guilty, shameful, angry, etc. Acknowledge that awareness of these responses can help to reduce discriminatory behaviors.
SOURCE: Leader's Manual for Valuing Ethnic Diversity: A Cultural Awareness Workshop. Designed and written by the staff of the Counseling and Mental Health Center, The University of Texas as Austin, 303 West Mall Building, Austin, TX 78731-8119, 512/471-3515.
GL: I'm really a private person so I keep to myself most of the time. Thanks anyway, though.
H: All right, but if you change your mind, be sure to let me know! I could probably even fix you up with one of my guy friends (female friends if GL is male).
First, ask participants in role play how it felt to be in their role. What did you notice about this interaction? What assumptions were being made? Have you ever found yourself in this type of situation? How would it feel to be in either of these people's shoes?
Now re-do the role-play with direction from the audience. How could we construct this scene differently? How might the heterosexual person respond making fewer assumptions? "Freeze frame" the role play at times if the actors get stuck or if assumptions continue to be made. If necessary, make specific suggestions for how to be sensitive to assumptions (e.g. respect privacy; use terms such as partner; avoid use of pronouns unless gender is known). Also note that this scenario does not mean to imply that just because a person is private they are also gay or lesbian or that just because a person is gay or lesbian that he/she will be private about that characteristic.
SOURCE : Developed by Lori Davis and Karen Hampton while they were involved in the Outreach/Paraprofessional Practicum Program, Counseling Center, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Being a Minority on a Majority Campus: Checklist of
Stressors and Barriers
GOAL : To identify stressors and barriers to success that racial or ethnic minority students face on a majority campus.
TIME REQUIRED : At least fifteen minutes. Five minutes to complete and ten minutes to discuss.
MATERIALS : Copies of the Checklist and pens/pencils for each participant.
PHYSICAL SETTING : A room where participants can sit and write comfortably and can speak to one another in a discussion.
PROCESS : Distribute the Checklists and have participants complete them. Use the Checklist as a stimulus for a discussion about the challenges of being a minority on a majority campus. This checklist and discussion may also be used with role plays, scenarios, or to present a problem solving model.
SOURCE : This exercise and checklist was developed by Judith Holder, Barbara Eldredge, and Jeff Brooks-Harris while they were involved in the Minority Programming Team, Counseling Center, Southern Illinois University.
Checklist of Possible Stressors and Barriers
Please place a check on the space next to the item number if you have experienced a situation similar to the one described.
___ 1. A professor seems uncomfortable around you when you ask a question after class (because of your race, disability, nationality, or sexual orientation).
___ 2. You feel alienated, lonely, or isolated on campus because of being a minority.
___ 3. You do not feel connected to the university environment as a whole.
___ 4. You speak or look different than most students on campus.
___ 5. You think that one or more of your professors think that minorities don't measure up intellectually.
Being a Minority on a Majority Campus: Scenarios
and Problem Solving
GOAL : To experientially explore some of the challenges that minority students face on a majority campus. To introduce and apply a general problem solving model to these challenges.
TIME REQUIRED : At least forty minutes.
MATERIALS : A chalk board, over-head, or newsprint and markers.
PHYSICAL SETTING : A room where participants can participate in a discussion. If role plays are to be conducted, more room may be necessary.
PROCESS : As a part of a workshop on multiculturalism, diversity or minority struggles on a majority campus: (a) read one of the scenarios, (b) discuss it, and then (c) introduce the problem-solving model and then (d) apply the model to the scenarios in a discussion or (e) role play(s).
Problem Solving Model
- Identify the Problem
What are your perceptions? How can you check this out?
Ask, Gather information from other sources
What cultural values are affecting this situation?
- Identify your Feelings
- Identify Possible Solutions - What is under your control?
Accommodations - adapting self to situation
Adjustment - altering situation
Resources - people, place, thing
Prevention - an ounce of prevention...
- Choose and Implement
- Evaluate and Revise
Discussion Questions
o What is the problem?
o What feelings might the student have?
o What are some possible solutions?
Role Plays
o Based on scenarios or personal experiences of participants.
o Utilize problem solving model and feedback from others.
Scenarios
Tomuda is from a small country in Africa and this is his first semester on campus and in the U.S. There are not any other people from his country on campus and he feels lonely. He feels awkward meeting Americans and does not felt very close to other African students he has met.
Jackson is an African-American student who holds a student work job at an office on campus. When a friend dropped by to say hi, Jackson said, "Yo, what up?". As soon as his friend left, Jackson's boss confronted him about his speech and said that "we don't talk that way in this office."
Daniel sent his resume to several businesses in the area to try and get a summer job. He is granted an interview, but when the company director meets him and realizes that he is Hispanic, he treats him cooly and only interviews him for about twenty minutes even though an hour had been scheduled. Daniel is not offered that job.
Ann is an Asian-American freshman who is moving into the residence hall. When her white roommates' parents meet her for the first time they ask Ann if she is studying math or engineering and suggest that Ann will be able to help their daughter study for her Algebra class. Ann is planning to study anthropology and does not care much for math.
After living in a multi-racial residence hall her freshman year, Denise hears that things are much nicer on the other side of campus. As she moves into her new residence hall at the beginning of her sophomore year, she realizes that she is the only African-American on her floor.
Looking at White Privilege
GOAL : To help people become more aware of the privileges that White Euro- Americans receive because of their race.
TIME REQUIRED : At least twenty minutes. Discussion may take additional time.
MATERIALS : None.
PHYSICAL SETTING : A room where participants can sit or stand comfortably.
PROCESS : Introduce this exercise as a way to become aware of privileges that some people in our society have and others do not. It is a way for participants to become aware of their own privileges in our culture. Start with the following instructions:
Please stand if the item that is read is true for you. As you stand or sit please notice who else in the room is standing or sitting. Also, pay attention to your feelings as you stand or sit.
White Privilege Items
- I can, if I wish, arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time on this campus.
- I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in on-campus or off-campus housing will be neutral or pleasant to me.
- I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
- I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
- When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
- I can be sure that my classes on campus will use curricular materials that testify to the existence of my race.
- I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my
cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.
- Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
- I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.
10.I can speak in public to a important campus group without putting my race on trial.
11.I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
12.I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
13.I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to "the person in charge," I will be facing a person of my race.
14.If a police officer pulls me over, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.
15.I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children's magazines featuring people of my race.
16.I can go to a variety of group meetings on campus and find people of my race in attendance and in leadership positions.
17.I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having coworkers on the job suspect that I got it because of race.
18.I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.
19.I can choose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.
Discussion Questions
How did you feel about this exercise?
What privileges were you previously unaware of having?
How do you feel about the privileges that you have and that you do not have?
