Resource - Addressing Oppressions through Drama and Dance

This resource was created as an invitation to engage deeply in thinking about the systems that affect our students and our responsibility as educators to develop safe, liberating, equitable learning environments for drama and dance. Considering the following statement:

“You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism." - Talia A. Lewis

For other systems of oppression, might it also be true that experience of an oppressive system is not contingent on an identity that is valued least in the hierarchy created by that system? What might this mean for our teaching practices as drama and dance educators?

This resource is meant to be a hub that you can use as a scaffold to engage with background knowledge in relation to specific CODE resources. Our hope is that teachers that use CODE resources will do so in anti-oppressive, emancipatory ways, and so this resource is an invitation to deepen your knowledge. Specific resources will invite you to revisit this resource before teaching, and each section of this resource will make recommendations of connected unit or lesson plans.

Before beginning work with students, educators need to create safety. Consider some of the recommendations here: Creating Safety for Students.

Explore resources for various oppressions and their connections to dramatic arts and dance:

Each section of this resource includes definitions related to the listed oppressions, links/scholarly articles that connect drama and/or dance to the arts, and links to CODE resources that deal with these topics. Some sections may include suggested artists or troupes in Ontario who focus on art related to these oppressions.

A note on Intersectionality: While each of the oppressions listed here are treated as branches affecting social positions in isolation, an individual's expression of oppression is based on the intersection of multiple social positions. "Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how individuals' various social and political identities result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of advantage and disadvantage." (Wikipedia) The links included within the sections of this resource may appear in multiple sections because of these overlaps. Educators should take care to consider the overlapping identities of students while learning more about these oppressions and when considering how to approach them in their classrooms.

The video above is a TED Talk given by Kimberlé Crenshaw titled "The Urgency of Intersectionality". A transcript of the video and other accessibility features can be found here: https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality?language=en

Further Reading:

• Crenshaw, Kimberle (July 1991). "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color". Stanford Law Review. 43 (6): 1241–1299. doi:10.2307/1229039
• "Salem's first accused 'witch' was an enslaved West Indian woman. This opera tells her story": "Nicole Brooks and Obeah Opera"
• Runyan, Anne Sisson (November–December 2018). "What Is Intersectionality and Why Is It Important?". Academe. Vol. 104, no. 6. American Association of University Professors.