At key moments in the Bodyswaps experience, useful notes are added to the learner’s virtual journal as a memory prompt that they can refer back to, as and when required.
In VR, learners access their journal by looking at their avatar’s left hand. On other devices, it can be accessed via a ‘burger menu’ in the top left corner of the screen.
This document collates the journal entries in relation to the individual activities for this course.
Navigating Microaggressions
Objective
Recognize and challenge microaggressions
Goals
Microaggressions
Share in the responsibility
Types of microaggression
Microinvalidations - Excluding, negating and nullifying the thoughts, feelings or experiences of racialized people
Touching someone’s hair
Having their hair touched by others is a common experience for many Black people.
Touching someone’s hair without asking - or asking with the expectation that the answer will be yes - signals entitlement for the ‘toucher’.
It’s patronizing and dehumanizing to expect another person to stand there and be petted like a dog.
It’s also an extension of the ‘othering’ that majority groups place on minorities. It says, “you’re different from us, let us examine you like an exhibit in a museum.”
Model minority myth
Refers to a minoritized group, or a member of such a group stereotypically viewed as being more successful than other such groups or individuals. It is most often applied to people of Asian ancestry.
For example, assuming an Asian student is an outstanding, straight A student just because they’re Asian.
Immigrant in own country
When visibly racialized people are assumed to be foreign-born and someone makes a comment to them like, “You speak good English.”
Or a person asking an Asian American to teach them words in their native language.
Myth of meritocracy
Statements which assert that race does not play a role in life successes. For example, “Everyone can succeed in this society, if they work hard enough” implies that marginalized people need to just work harder.
Colour Blindness
Statements that indicate that a person does not want to acknowledge race or denying a person of colour’s racial or ethnic experiences.
For example, “When I look at you, I don’t see colour or “There is only one race, the human race.”
Strategy
If you’re going to challenge a microaggression, consider using this approach:
Challenge misperceptions - keep discussions open and unambiguous, stick to the facts and keep challenging the perpetrator’s misperceptions
Be disarming
Withholding judgement
Using ‘I’ statements
Raise awareness
Challenge misperceptions