Joanne,

I too have experienced this here at Oneonta and in our community.  Ralph
Watkins was the first person I spoke with that articulated this concept to
me in a way I understood.  He got me to understand why it is so important
that we work on all fronts to make our culture one of inclusion not
exclusion.

Sports team try outs, scouting groups, churches, after school events all
perpetuate this culture of power. They EXCLUDE people by tradition, rule,
policies, etc... for no real reason.  The can easily be run in a way that
INCLUDES people instead.

Mr. James B. Greenberg
Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center
Milne Library
SUNY College at Oneonta
Oneonta, New York 13820

email: [log in to unmask]
phone: 607-436-2701

"Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever"


> From: [log in to unmask]
> Reply-To: Teaching Breakfast List <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 09:03:09 -0500
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: THE CULTURE OF POWER - Posted to Teaching Breakfast List by
> JimGreenberg
>
> This is great and it is a reflection of my experiences even here at
> Oneonta. Thanks. Joanne
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> Joanne M. Curran, Ph.D.
> 205A Fitzelle Hall
> SUNY College at Oneonta
> Oneonta, NY 13820
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Teaching Breakfast List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Greenberg, James ([log in to unmask])
> Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 8:18 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: THE CULTURE OF POWER - Posted to Teaching Breakfast List by
> JimGreenberg
>
> Folks:
>
> The posting below, somewhat longer than most, offers a careful look
> at the culture of power that exists in various settings and the
> impact it has on those in excluded or marginalized groups. It is from
> Chapter 1: The Culture of Power, by Paul Kivel in, What Makes Racial
> Diversity Work in Higher Education: Academic Leaders Present
> Successful Policies and Strategies, edited by Frank W. Hale, Jr..
> Published in 2004 by Stylus Publishing, <http://www.styluspub.com/>
> LLC, 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, Virginia 20166. Copyright (c)
> 2004 by Stylus Publishing, LLC. Reprinted with permission.
>
>
> ----------------------------------
>
>           THE CULTURE OF POWER
>
> By Paul Kivel
>
> If you are a woman who has ever walked into a men's meeting, or a
> person of color who has walking into a white organization, or a child
> who has walked into the principal's office, or a Jew or Muslim
> who has entered a Christian space then you know what it is like to
> walk into a culture of power that is not your own.  You may feel
> insecure, unsafe, disrespected, unseen or marginalized.  You know you
> have to tread carefully.
>
> Whenever one group of people accumulates more power than another
> group, the more powerful group creates an environment that places its
> members at the cultural center and other groups at the margins.
> People in the more powerful group (the "in" group) are accepted as
> the norm, so if you are in that group it can be very hard for you to
> see the benefits you receive.
>
> Because I'm male and live in a culture in which men have more social,
> political, and economic power than women, I often don't notice that
> women are treated differently than I am.  I'm inside a male culture
> of power.  I expect to be treated with respect, to be listened to,
> and to have my opinions valued.  I expect to be welcomed.  I expect
> to see people like me in positions of authority.  I expect to find
> books and newspapers that are written by people like me, that reflect
> my perspective, and that show me in central roles.  I don't
> necessarily notice that the women around me are treated less
> respectfully, ignored, or silenced; that they are not visible in
> positions of authority nor welcomed in certain spaces; that they pay
> more for a variety of goods and services; and that they are not
> always safe in situations where I feel perfectly comfortable.
>
> Remember when you were a young person entering a space that reflected
> an adult culture of power-a classroom, store, or office where adults
> were in charge?  What let you know that you were on adult turf and
> that adults were at the center of power?
>
> Some of the things I remember are that adults were in control.  They
> made the decisions.  They might have been considerate enough to ask
> me what I thought, but they did not have to take my concerns into
> account.  I could be dismissed at any time, so I learned to be
> cautious.  I could look around and see what was on the walls, what
> music was being played, what topics were being discussed, and, most
> important, who made those decisions, and I knew that it was an adult
> culture of power.
>
> I felt I was under scrutiny.  I had to change my behavior-how I
> dressed ("pull up your pants," "tuck in your shirt"), how I spoke
> ("speak up," "don't mumble"), even my posture ("sit up, don't
> slouch," "look me in the eye when I'm talking to you")-so that I
> would be accepted and heard.  I couldn't be as smart as I was or I'd
> be considered a smart aleck.  I had to learn the adults' code, talk
> about what they wanted to talk about, and find allies among
> them-adults who would speak up for my needs in my absence.  Sometimes
> I had to cover up my family background and religion in order to be
> less at risk from adult disapproval.  And if there was any
> disagreement or problem between an adult and myself, I had little
> credibility.  The adult's word was almost always believed over mine.
>
> The effects on young people of an adult culture of power are similar
> to the effects on people of color of a white culture of power or the
> effects on women of a male culture of power.  As an adult I rarely
> notice that I am surrounded by an adult culture of power which often
> puts young people and their cultures at a severe disadvantage as they
> are judged, valued, and given credibility or not by adults on adult
> terms.  Similarly, as a white person, when I'm driving on the freeway
> I am unlikely to notice that people of color are being pulled over
> based on skin color.  Or when I am in a store I am unlikely to notice
> that people of color are being followed, not being served as well, or
> being charged more for the same items.  I assume that everyone can
> vote as easily as I can and that everyone's vote counts.  I am never
> asked where I am from (and this would be true even if I had stepped
> off the boat yesterday).
>
> In a society that proclaims equal opportunity I may not even believe
> that other people are being paid less than I am for the same work or
> being turned away from jobs and housing because of the color of their
> skin.  When I am in public spaces, the music played in the
> background, the art on the walls, the language spoken, the layout of
> the space, the design of the buildings are all things I might not
> even notice because, as a white person, I am comfortable with them;
> if I did notice them, I would probably consider them bland,
> culturally neutral items.  Most of the time I am so much inside the
> white culture of power and it is so invisible to me tat I have to
> rely on people of color to point out to me what it looks like, what
> it feels like, and what impact it has on them.
>
> We can learn to notice the culture of power around us.  Recently I
> was giving a talk at a large Midwestern university and was shown to
> my room in the hotel run by the university's hotel management
> department.  After I had put my suitcase down and hung up my clothes,
> I looked around the room.  There were two pictures on the wall.  One
> was of a university baseball team from many years ago-twenty-two
> white men wearing their team uniforms.  The other picture was of a
> science lab class-fourteen students, thirteen white men and one white
> woman dressed in lab coats and working at lab benches.  In total I
> had thirty-five white men and one white woman on the walls of my
> room.  "This clearly tells me who's in charge at this university," I
> said to myself; these pictures would probably send an unwelcoming,
> cautionary message to people of color and white women who stayed in
> that room that they could expect to be excluded from the culture of
> power in this institution.  I mentioned the composition of the
> pictures to the hotel management and referred to it in my talk the
> next day.
>
> A few years ago I would not have seen these pictures in terms of race
> and gender.  The pictures themselves, of course, are only symbolic.
> But as I walked around the campus, talked wit various officials, and
> heard about the racial issues being dealt with, I could see that
> these symbols were part of the construction of a culture of power
> from which people of color and most white women were typically
> excluded.  I have learned that noticing how the culture of power
> works in any situation provides a lot of information about who has
> power and privilege and who is vulnerable to discrimination and
> exclusion; this institution of higher education was no exception.
>
> The problem with a culture of power is that it reinforces the
> prevailing hierarchy.  When we are inside a culture of power we
> expect to have things our way, the way with which we are most
> comfortable.  We may go through life complacent in our
> monoculturalism, not even aware of the limits of our perspectives,
> the gaps in our knowledge, the inadequacy of our understanding.  We
> remain unaware of the superior status and opportunities we have
> simply because we're white, or male, or able-bodied, or heterosexual.
> Of course a culture of power also dramatically limits the ability of
> those on the margins to participate in an event, a situation, or an
> organization.  Those marginalized are only able to participate on
> unfavorable terms, at others' discretion, which puts them at a big
> disadvantage.  They often must give up or hide much of who they are
> to participate in the dominant culture.  And if there are any
> problems it becomes very easy to identify the people on the margins
> as the source of those problems and blame or attack them rather than
> the problems themselves.
>
> Every organization has work to do to become more inclusive.  I want
> to focus on some ways that groups often fail to include members of
> our country's most marginalized members-those marginalized by
> economic status, physical ability, and English language ability.
>
> Often, when groups talk about diversity issues, they address those
> issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation that are most visible.
> Without an understanding of how class limits people's ability to
> participate in organizations a group may end up with a remarkably
> diverse group of middle class participants.  Those who are homeless,
> poor, single parents, working two jobs, or poorly educated (and many
> people fall into more than one of these categories) often are unable
> to attend meetings or events because they cannot afford the time, the
> fees, the childcare, or the energy.  When they do attend, they may
> feel unwelcome because they have not participated previously, because
> they do not speak the language (or the jargon) of the organizers, or
> because they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the middle-class
> values and styles of the group.
>
> People with disabilities can be similarly excluded when meetings are
> held in rooms and buildings which are not accessible, when signing
> for the hearing impaired is not provided, when accessible public
> transportation is not available, or when the pace and organization of
> the meeting does not allow them to participate.
>
> When English is not people's primary language, they may face
> comparable barriers to finding out about meetings, attending events,
> becoming part of the leadership of an organization, or simply
> participating as a member when interpretation is not provided.  They
> are left out when non-English media and communication networks are
> not utilized or when the pace and style of the group does not allow
> for the slower pace that a multilingual process requires.
>
> I am Jewish in a Christian culture.  I am often aware of ways that
> the dominant culture of organizations I work with exclude me.  When I
> get together with other Jews in a group I can feel so relieved that
> we are all Jewish that I fail to notice ways that parts of the Jewish
> community have been excluded.  Because I am in the culture of power
> in terms of disability, I can overlook the fact that we may all be
> Jews in the group but we have scheduled a meeting or event in a place
> that is not accessible.  We may all be Jewish but we may have failed
> to do outreach into the Jewish lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
> transgendered communities.  Or because we are predominantly
> middle-class Jews, during our discussions we may be unaware of how we
> are excluding Jews who are poor or working class.
>
> We each have ways that we are in the culture of power (for me, for
> example, as a white male) and ways that we are marginalized (for me
> as a Jew).  Although we may be good at recognizing how we have been
> excluded, we are probably less adept at realizing how we exclude
> others because we do not see excluding others as a survival issue for
> us.  We have to look to people from those excluded groups to provide
> leadership for us.
>
> It is important that we learn to recognize the culture of power in
> our organizations so that we can challenge the hierarchy of power it
> represents and the confinement of some groups of people to its
> margins.
>
>       Assessing the Culture of Power in Your Organization
>
> What does the culture of power look like in your organizations?  What
> does it look like in your office or area where you work?  In your
> school or classroom?  In our living room or living space?  In our
> congregation?  Where you shop for clothes?  In agencies whose
> services you use?
>
> The following questions can be used to identify cultures of power
> based on gender, class, sexual orientation, religion, age, race,
> language, physical ability, immigrant status, or education:
>
> 1.  Who is in authority?
>
> 2.  Who has credibility?  Whose words and ideas are listened to with
> most attention and respect?
>
> 3.  Who is treated with full respect?
>
> 4.  Whose experience is valued?
>
> 5.  Whose voices are heard?
>
> 6.  Who has access to or is given important information?
>
> 7.  Who talks most at meetings?
>
> 8.  Whose ideas are given importance?
>
> 9.  Who is assigned to or expected to take on background roles?
>
> 10.  How is the space designed?  Who has physical access?
>
> 11.  What is on the walls?
>
> 12.  What languages are used?  Which are acceptable?
>
> 13.  What music and food are available?
>
> 14.  How much are different people paid?  How are prices determined?
>
> 15.  Who cleans up?
>
> 16.  Who makes decisions?
>
> Every person has the right to complete respect, equitable access, and
> full participation.  Anything less limits the effectiveness of an
> organization by denying it the contributions-the experiences,
> insights and creative input-of those individuals and groups excluded
> or discriminated against.
>
> Those inside the culture of power rarely notice it, while those
> excluded are often acutely sensitive to how they and others are being
> marginalized.  Therefore leadership in efforts to eliminate the
> culture of power needs to come from those in excluded or marginalized
> groups.  Unless they are in leadership positions with sufficient
> respect, status, and authority, the organization's efforts to change
> will be token, insufficient, and have limited effectiveness.
>
> As they become better at identifying patterns of exclusion, people
> from within the culture of power can learn to take leadership in
> identifying marginalizing practices so the organization doesn't have
> to rely as much on people at the margins to do this work. Although
> groups will always need to look to the insights of people at the
> margins to completely identify how systems of oppression are
> currently operating, there is an important role for those inside the
> culture of power to take leadership as allies of those excluded. They
> can challenge the status quo and educate other "insiders" who are
> resistant to change.  It is precisely because they have more
> credibility, status, and access that people on the inside make good
> allies.  They can do this best not by speaking for or representing
> those marginalized, but by challenging the status quo and opening up
> opportunities for others to step forward and speak for themselves.
>
> Every institution of higher education has a culture of power. Each
> department, division, school, program, and office within it has its
> own subculture of power.  These may not be consistent or overlapping.
> The university may have an educated white male administration while
> the women's studies department has a middle-class white woman's
> culture of power which excluded poor and working-class white women
> and women of color of all classes.  To be in opposition to the
> prevailing culture of power does not preclude us from creating
> subcultures of power that, in turn, exclude others who are even more
> marginalized than we are.
>
> We have a responsibility, as people who have had access to
> educational opportunities, to not let the fact that we are on the
> inside of a culture of power deny educational opportunities to those
> who are on the outside.  We need to fight for equal opportunity and
> full access and inclusion not just for those groups of which we are a
> part but also for groups to which we do not belong.  For most of us
> that responsibility means listening to those on the margins,
> acknowledging our inside status compared with some other groups, and
> acknowledging out access to power, our resources, and our privileges.
> Then we can work with others to use our power, resources, and
> privileges to open up the educational structures to those who
> continue to knock on the doors.
>
> One of our goals should be to create organizations and institutions
> that embrace an internal culture of full inclusion and whose members
> are trained to think critically about how the culture of power
> operates.  We each have a role to play; we each have much to
> contribute to create such organizations; and we each must push every
> group we are a part of to move from a culture of power to a culture
> of inclusion.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> --
>               Paul Kivel
>
> Paul Kivel is a trainer, activist, writer, and a violence-prevention
> educator.  His work gives adults and young people the understanding
> to become involved in social justice work and the tools to become
> more effective allies in community struggles to end racism.  Kivel is
> the author of numerous books including Uprooting Racism: How White
> People Can Work for Radical Justice, which won the 1996 Gustavas
> Myers Award for best book on human rights, Men's Work, Making the
> Peace, Helping Teens Stop Violence, and most recently, Boys Will Be
> Men: Raising Our Sons for Courage, Caring, and Community and I Can
> Make My World A Safer Place; A Kid's Book about Stopping Violence.
> This chapter has been adapted by the author from Uprooting Racism:
> How White People Can Work for Racial Justice (c) Paul Kivel, 2001
> (revised 2002).  He can be contacted at [log in to unmask] or
> through www.paulkivel.com.
> *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *
>