HOW?

How to achieve diversity sensibility and critique of social inequality?

© olyphotostories - stock.adobe.com

In order to create ideal learning, research and working conditions for all, barriers, exclusion mechanisms and discrimination must be dismantled and one's own privileges reflected upon. For some, this also means questioning norms and showing solidarity.

How can this be achieved? Certainly not overnight, not without one or two mistakes along the way, and not without the necessary patience (with oneself), openness and willingness to learn. On the subpages here you find concrete advice on accessibility, language, teaching/learning and recruitment. Some of it was developed by employees of the University of Graz, much of it comes from other educational institutions and experts. 
 

for getting started and becoming aware of our biases

Be mindful:
  • with your first impression
  • with hasty assessment [Take a little bit more time, for example]
  • in case of generalizing statements about people and groups [for example: "Men are ..." oder "All female students have ..."]
  • with your choice of words, especially in situations that are loaded with stereotypes
  • in intransparent decision making processes [when the connection between reasoning and application criteria is missing, for example]
  • when a person is solely seen as representative of a group [for example: as a study beginner, a typical professor etc.]

 

... I ask for
What can I do for you? What do you mean by that?

... I look closer
Who is that person in from of me? What does this person want?

... I approach the person open-mindedly
How can I be conducive to this situation? What do we want to achieve (together)?
How can we come to an agreement?



... I change the perspective
How else could one interpret that? How else could one see that?

...  I reflect my presumptions and interpretations
What am I thinking right now and why?  

... I reconsider my assessments of situations, people and groups
How else could I interpret/understand that?

did you get curious? Here you will find further suggestions

KNOWN ALREADY?

on language use and visualizations

on accessibility

for teaching and learning

for leading and recruiting

You are not affected by barriers, exclusion or discrimination yourself, but want to support others and be a good ally in the quest for more justice? Solidarity is important to you, but how exactly do you show solidarity?

Here are some links to texts that contain suggestions:

Open Educational Resources (short OER) are educational material that are published for the interested general public under an open license. Such an open license allows free access as well as free use, editing and redistribution by others without or with minor restrictions. The degree of permitted editing is regulated in the respective license (more on licenses here). Open Educational Resources can include documents, course material, textbooks, streaming videos, multimedia applications, podcasts, but also complete courses.

More about OER in the explanatory video of the FWU - Media Institute of the Federal States or in the video of the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb).

The iMoox platform offers freely accessible Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). Information and registration options for the freely accessible and free Massive Open Online Course of the AntiBias Circle of the University of Graz "Gut durch den Hochschul-Alltag: diversitätssensibel, vor(ur)teilsbewusst und inklusiv" can be found here: https: //imoox.at/course/antibias.

Quicklinks:

Helpful Links:

Videos for the introduction
Vernā Myers (2014): How to overcome our biases? (TED)
Anti-racist and unconscious bias training (English)

Bakk. MA.
Sarah Zapusek

sarah.zapusek(at)uni-graz.at

+43 316 380 - 1021
Koordinationsstelle für Geschlechterstudien und Gleichstellung
koordination-gender.uni-graz.at/