Diversity Awareness

DIVERSITY AWARENESS.
Discussions 1
Review the TED Talk Chimamanda Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story, https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story. then, using at least two of the required readings from this week, answer the following questions:

• What stories did you grow up with? These could be from books, TV shows, movies, or another source.
  • How did these stories influence your perceptions of yourself and of the world?
  • Did you identify with the background of the main characters or were they from a different background than you? How did this affect you?
• As an adult, what stories do you identify with?
  • How are these stories similar to and different from the ones you grew up with? How might this relate to your exposure to and understanding of diversity?
  • Are there certain areas of the world or certain people about whom you only have a single story? (Think long and hard before saying that you don’t have a single story about anyone. How likely is this to be the case?)
  • What role does diversity play in your workplace, social life, and/or education?

Discussions 2
Use and cite at least two of this week’s resources in your responses to the following questions:

• Identify one part of your identity where you may have privilege relative to others. How is your privilege demonstrated? Using terms from this week’s resources, why is it important to understand that you have privilege in this area?
• Identify one part of your identity where you are at a disadvantage relative to others. How is your lack of privilege demonstrated? Using terms from this week’s resources, what does this reveal about our society?
• Do you have equal privilege (or lack of privilege) in all situations? Why or why not?

 
Discussions 3
To begin, go to the Project Implicit website (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html). Take the Age IAT and make a note of how you score and what percentage of IAT takers fall into the same category that you do. If you do not fall into the most common group, make a note of what that one is, as well. If you are unable to complete the IAT for any reason, please click here for a set of sample results you can use for this discussion.
Then, using concepts and information from at least two of the required readings, answer the following questions:

• What was the most common result on the Age IAT? Were you surprised by this? Why or why not?
• What are some of the stereotypes or single stories that people in our culture have about older Americans? For example, how often do you see older people represented on TV or in the movies? How might this relate to implicit or unconscious bias?
• How does age diversity benefit workplaces, families, and communities? How would you suggest businesses go about eliminating age-related bias?

 
Discussions 4
The resources this week ask you to consider the concept of gender in the US and how gender categories are constructed. They also introduce you to gender constructions outside of our binary (man/woman; male/female) gender system. Please use and cite at least 2 of the required resources as you respond to the following questions:

• What is the difference between biological sex and gender?
• What are some of the “single stories” (Aidichie, 2009) that people in the US have about men and women? In other words, what are the stereotypical gender roles in the US?
• How did you learn how to be the gender that you are? Provide at least 3 examples.
• How do people in the US treat people who don’t “fit in” to gender roles? How might this relate to the treatment of transgender, non-binary, genderqueer, and other individuals?

 
Discussions 5
Heterosexism is manifested in both personal behavior and social institutions. Unlike homophobia (i.e. the irrational fear of homosexuals), the prevalence of heterosexism in social institutions can result in the denial of services, resources, and civil rights.
The following are the components of heterosexual privilege:

1. The assumption that everyone is heterosexual.
2. Heterosexuality is the only “normal” sexual orientation.
3. Social institutions, laws, and public policies may exclude the acknowledgment of other sexual orientations or deny rights to LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Please respond to the following questions. Use and cite at least 2 of the week’s resources in your response.

• What are some of the “single stories” we have in our culture about LGBTQIA+ people in our culture? How did you learn these stories?
• Consider the last 2-3 movies or TV shows you have watched. How many LGBTQIA+ characters were represented in them? How were these characters portrayed compared to straight characters?
• If you were a television or movie executive or director, how could you improve diversity in your industry? Why might this be important?

 
Discussions 6
In this discussion, we’ll examine the concepts of race and ethnicity and consider the relationship between ethnic stratification and privilege.
Please answer the following questions in your initial discussion post using concepts and examples from at least two of the required resources this week:

• In the introduction to their book Seeing White: An Introduction to White Privilege and Race,  Halley, Eshleman & Vijaya (2010) argue that “Often whites simply perceive themselves as ‘normal’ or ‘just human’ and fail to notice their own race” (p. 4). What do you interpret this statement? How does this relate to the idea that race is socially and culturally constructed?
• Review the Pew Research Center’s (2020) report Amid National Reckoning, Americans Divided on Whether Increased Focus on Race Will Lead to Major Policy Change. Why do you think the different groups discussed in the article have different views of the progress that has been made on equality? Which group do you most closely agree with? Why? How do the groups that you’re part of influence your perspective here? Is this an area where you might have a single story?

 
Discussions 7
Using at least 2 of the required resources this week, please answer the following questions:

• In one of the week’s readings, Davis (2015) argues that disability is often left out of discussions of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Why do you think this might be?
• What does the term “TAB” (temporarily able-bodied) mean in the context of disability studies? What does this term add to your understanding of disability?
• How might the concepts of intersectionality and privilege relate to the experiences of people with disabilities? Please give at least two examples.

 
Discussions 8
We finish the course this week with an examination of what we all can do to help support the rights of all people, particularly those who may be disadvantaged because of the diversity group to which they belong. The resources this week focus on activism and allyship, which are differing but interrelated ways of supporting others.
Please respond to the following bullet points, using at least two of this week’s resources to back up your ideas:

• Identify at least three steps that you can take to be a better ally to people in oppressed groups. Based on what you read this week, why do you anticipate that each of these be effective?
• Several of the resources focus on activism and what still needs to be done to ensure equity for diverse populations. Choose one of the examples given. What are some concrete improvements for this group that have been made through activism? What are some improvements that still need to be made?

There are three projects.
 
Project 1:
Examining Representations of Diversity.
The Media Representations of Diversity final project in this course will have you analyze how media representations of diversity shape our understanding of groups that we may not be familiar with. This assignment will help you begin to narrow down your topic for that assignment and prepare you to do research on your topic of interest.
In your Week 1 Discussion, you reviewed Chimimanda Aidichie’s The Danger of a Single Story TEDTalk https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story  and identified some of the “single stories” that you learned from books, TV shows, and movies that you watched as you were growing up. As we discussed, media of various sorts can have a huge impact on how we understand our own identities and those of other people. This is true of the media we consumed as children and that which we consume as adults.
For this assignment, please choose a fiction book, episode of a TV show, or movie that you have viewed recently or that you found particularly memorable. You can love the source, hate it, or be indifferent to it, so long as you know it well enough.
Using at least two of the required resources from Week 1 and Week 2, please do the following in a brief essay:

1. Provide an introduction that includes the author and title of the fiction book, name of episode and name of TV show, or the title of the movie that you chose.
2. Provide a brief (1-paragraph, no more than 250 words) summary of the book, episode, or movie.
3. Discuss whether you think the cast of characters in this book, episode, or movie is diverse. How many different diversity factors are shown via the cast? Is it minimally diverse or maximally diverse?
4. How intersectional are the characters? In what ways do they have privilege and in what ways do they not have privilege?
5. Do you “see yourself” in any of the characters? How might this relate to how much you liked or didn’t like the work?
6. Conclude with your initial thoughts about whether the book, TV episode, or movie you chose provides a positive representation of diversity.

Essay Formatting:

• The essay should be 750-1000 words long and double-spaced with 1-inch margins.
• Use and cite at least two (2) of the required resources from Week 1 and/or Week 2 of this course. You may use additional scholarly or credible sources.
• Use in-text citations in APA style.

 
Project 2:
Finding Scholarly Sources.
For this part of the final project, you will use the UMGC library databases to locate two scholarly sources. You will also choose one other source from the required resources in this course, for a total of 3 sources.
What kinds of sources should I be looking for? There are several ways to begin your research. Terms like “bias in Hollywood,” “diversity in the movies,” and “diversity in media” may be useful. You can also consider searching for the title of the movie, book, or TV series or episode you have chosen.
Submit a summary of each article using the attached worksheet. In your own words, identify the key findings of the article. Do not simply state what the article was about (e.g., “This article talks about cyberbullying”). What specific information did you learn from your source? (E.g., “Cyberbullying has become a popular means of abuse among teenagers, affecting about half of all young people.”) The purpose of the key findings section is to demonstrate that you have read and understood each of your sources. Your key findings should be 200 words in length. Do not simply copy and paste the abstract or any other part of your source! This violates the university.
Project 3:
Media Representations of Diversity
Throughout this course, we have examined a variety of different dimensions of diversity, how diversity is represented, what role intersectionality and privilege play in creating and maintaining bias and discrimination, and how we learn our “single stories” about diversity. This final project in the course will require you to bring all of these ideas together as you analyze representations of diversity in the media.
On project 1, you identified a fiction book, TV episode, or movie that you have recently read or watched and did an initial analysis of the representations of diversity in it. On project 2, you identified two scholarly sources to help you extend your analysis of the work you chose. In this project, you will build on those two projects to complete your analysis of diverse representations in your chosen work.
For this assignment, you will take as your starting point the conclusion you came to on your project 1 does this work provide a positive representation of diversity? You can maintain the position you took at the end of your project 1 or contradict it. You will then provide evidence from the work and from at least 5 scholarly or credible resources, including the two scholarly sources you identified on your project 2 (the remainder can be course materials) to support your thesis. Please be sure to do the following:

1. Provide an introduction that includes the author and title of the fiction book, name of episode and name of TV show, or the title of the movie that you chose, as well as a thesis that tells the reader whether you think this work provides a positive representation of diversity.
2. Include a brief (at least 250 words) summary of the book, episode, or movie.
3. Discuss whether you think the cast of characters in this book, episode, or movie is diverse. To back up your discussion, identify 3 characters from the work and do the following for each:
   1. Provide a brief (1-paragraph) description of the character, including what they do for a living, relationship status, role in the work (main character, minor character, comic relief, etc.), and anything else you think is important in understanding the character.
   2. Is the portrayal of the character stereotypical? Why or why not? Provide specific examples from their dialogue or actions.
   3. Does the character have privilege and in what circumstances? Provide specific examples from their dialogue or actions.
   4. Is this a positive representation of the group(s) that the character represents? Why or why not? Provide specific examples from their dialogue or actions.
4. Taking a step back, consider who isn’t represented in this work. Do you think this/these groups were left out intentionally? In other words, would it affect the story to include them?
5. Finally, consider why representation of diverse groups is important. Draw on your resources to construct an argument for greater inclusion. Does this argument extend to other areas of life (such as in the workplace, in schools, etc.) beyond fictional representation? Why or why not?
6. In your conclusion, reiterate your thesis statement and summarize the main points of your paper.

• The essay should be 750-1000 words long and double-spaced with 1-inch margins.
• Use and cite at least two (2) of the required resources from Week 1 and/or Week 2 of this course. You may use additional scholarly or credible sources.
• Use in-text citations in APA (American Psychological Association) style.