What challenge inspired this recipe?
As part of the preparation for volunteers to go abroad and start their journey in a foreign country and culture, we need to address the topic “stereotypes and prejudices” and create and increase awareness of the existence of stereotypes and how they might affect a stent in another culture. That’s why in our Grenzenlos On-Arrival training next to presentations, testimonials and open dialogue we are using a powerful method from the ICYEs handbook called starting over.
Source: Anti-Bias Werkstatt. Methodenbox: Demokratie lernen und Anti-Bias Arbeit. www.anti-bias-werkstatt.de/?q=de
Ingredients :
Pens, one ‘Starting Over’ worksheet per participant:
“Starting Over” selection sheet:
A group of people get a one-time chance to begin a new life and lifestyle, living together on a secluded island.
The basic amenities and infrastructure (streets, houses, etc.) already exists. Any contact with other people beyond the island will not be possible in the next 50 years. The size of the group is limited to 8 people.
It is your job to select 8 persons from the 20 given below to travel to the island. All the persons on this list have volunteered to go to the island.
A retired professor
A Tanzanian lawyer
A BMW manager with a physical disability
A pregnant student
An unemployed engineer
An Angolan war veteran
A homosexual healer
A taxi driver with a masters in sociology
A politician
A sex worker
A Quran teacher
A cleaning lady
An atomic scientist, a member of a conservative party
A young tailor
A Vietnamese street vendor
A divorced psychotherapist
A 40-year old volunteer
A blind refugee
A student, HIV positive
An Afro-German musician
First make a selection by yourself. Thereafter, discuss your decisions within your group. Present your arguments and come to a common selection of 8 people.
Step by step guide
Preparation
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Prepare and print the worksheet ‘Starting Over’.
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Make sure the descriptions are understandable and a large variety of people are on it.
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Prepare a flipchart with this list of persons. There should be enough space to mark which persons from which groups are selected.
1. Explain the exercise:
A group of people get a one-time chance to begin a new life and lifestyle, living together on a secluded island. The basic amenities and infrastructure (streets, houses, etc.) already exists. Any contact with other people beyond the island will not be possible in the next 50 years. The size of the group is limited to eight people. It is your job to select 8 persons from the 20 given below who will travel to this island.
You first decide alone. Subsequently, in small groups, each person will present and argue for his/her choice of candidates. In the end, the entire group should agree on a list of eight people.
2. Individual work (5 – 10 minutes.):
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Each person goes through the list individually and decides which eight persons to take
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along to the island and mark these eight persons on their list.
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Explain that they have five minutes for this and should ask if something is unclear.
3. Group work (20 – 30 minutes):
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Divide participants into two groups. In their groups, they should present their own choices and discuss their choices of persons who should go to the island.
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The group must reach a common decision on the eight people to travel to the island. Explain that they have 20 minutes. Check after approximately 20 minutes if they have reached a decision. If needed, give them 10 more minutes.
Important to highlight!For the effectivity of the methode, it is important to have an afterwards discussion with the participants and conclusion of the activity. These are questions that facilitators might want to ask and discuss with participants: How was the exercise for you?
It is helpful to draw parallels between the socially dominant selection criteria and their own selection criteria. Participants often select according to social and/or economic benefit, performance, reproduction/gender, etc., i.e. according to criteria that are also used in society.
At this stage, a flipchart with the results of the small groups should be shown—to reveal that certain persons were selected by (almost) all groups, while others were not considered at all.
Bring out the fact that we all have images of “others” in our heads, which we use daily to classify people—based on our personal experiences but also on the socially shared assumed “knowledge” about “others” conveyed to us in the media, textbooks, family, science… Emphasise that prejudices alone do not constitute a form of discrimination, but in most cases contain a behavioural orientation, i.e. suggest a corresponding discriminatory behaviour. Draw attention to how we use biases to make decisions and how they can lead to or support institutional and structural discrimination. Clarify that it isn’t possible to completely dismantle all images and prejudices and thus crucial to raise awareness of one’s own images, prejudices and assumptions and to realise how these are applied by us to make quick decisions in our everyday lives. In order to develop non-discriminatory behaviour, reflection on one’s own prejudice-based behaviour is vital. The anti-bias approach therefore does not aim for a prejudice-free attitude, but a prejudice-conscious one. In the end, encourage the participants to report on their own everyday situations in which an image of other groups or persons did not prove to be true. (We highlight this part as we believe in the importance of connecting the activity to the daily life of participants for them to gasp the real impact of stereotypes.) |
Before you start cooking, keep in mind…
The activity needs a minimum participation of 6 – 16 people. The more people that participate the more fun and diverse the activity gets and the more impact shows. Therefore you might need an opportunity where a lot of people can participate like pre-departure camps with a medium to rather larger group of volunteers which might not always be easy to achieve.
