Theme 2: The Personal is Political

In this activity, we analyse systems of dominance. Step 1 focuses on gender and patriarchy. Step 2 expands into an intersectional analysis of oppression. Together, the two parts encourage discussion about what patriarchy is, how it works, and how it intersects with other systems of domination and discrimination.⁷

The Master’s House explores how complex power dynamics of patriarchy play out and function in institutions (such as in the family, formal education, the media, and government). The analysis covers relations of domination and discrimination between men and women, and across class, race, ethnicity, and other aspects of identity. Over the course of the activity, people draw on their diverse experiences and knowledge to collectively build a ‘house of multiple oppressions’.

Materials: Sticky note paper of at least four colours (alternately you can use pieces of paper and tape); white and different coloured notecards; flip charts; different coloured markers; scissors; white and other coloured posterboard; posterboard strips, or strips of white paper; masking tape; a big wall!

Before the session, draw or cut sheets of paper to create the shape of the Master’s House on a wide wall. Allow space for people to ‘build’ the House’s inner walls and pillars, each pillar having three rows of blocks.

The activity can take four to six hours or a whole day. Conversations are essential to the process, so allow sufficient time in small groups and plenary.

Step 1. Gender
Plenary: Explain the overall purpose of the exercise: building a house to reflect the forces that affect women’s lives and place in the world. Avoid terms such as ‘patriarchy’ at the start. Once the group gets the concept, then use the term that describes it.

Ask:

• Where do we learn about what we should or should not do as a woman/female person, or as a man/male person?
• Where do we get these messages? (You may need to give examples e.g. school, church, home.)
  Write responses on the flip chart.

From the institutions that people mention, choose six or seven to build the pillars of the House. Important pillars include the family/home, religion, government, educational institutions, the media, and organisations in which we participate.

Write the name of each pillar down on a strip of poster board and stick the pillars under the roof inside the house. Allow for three rows of ‘blocks’ to build each pillar. Assign a different colour for each pillar.

Small groups: Each small group ‘builds’ a different ‘pillar’ or institution (for example the family or the church). Ask each group to discuss:

• What does this institution say (directly or indirectly) about how women or men should act? How is this message communicated?
• Who is welcome or unwelcome in certain social spaces? Who is valued for what and when?
• What are the gender ‘rules’ or lines we are not supposed to cross? What happens when someone does cross them?
• How are these ‘rules’ enforced?
• How do these norms and rules affect those who challenge gender norms or who are gender fluid or transgender?

Groups summarise their key points on individual sticky notes – a different colour per pillar. These rules and norms are the building ‘blocks’ of the pillars of inequity, discrimination and oppression.

Plenary: To report back, groups take turns to describe their key points as they tape their ‘bricks’ in columns inside the outline of the house. In this way, they build The Master’s House. Invite people to ask clarifying questions.

Once all groups have posted, ask people what they notice. Any ‘aha!’ moments? What is the same and what is different across the institutions?

Step 2. The House of Multiple Oppressions
In each of several rounds, a new dimension of power emerges in relationship to identity. People add to The Master’s House, laying a new row of ‘bricks’ for each new factor such as race/ethnicity, class, or sexuality.

Round 2: Race/ethnicity
Small groups: Each small group again chooses a social institution – family/home, religion, government, educational institutions, the media, or community organisations. This time, the group focuses on the institution they have chosen in terms of race/ethnicity,

• What does this institution say (directly or indirectly) about different groups in terms of race/ethnicity (for example, indigenous, black, white, or whatever the relevant categories are for your context)? Who is valued? Who matters? How are these messages communicated?
• What are the rules about how certain groups should behave/not behave? Who is welcome or unwelcome in certain social spaces? How is this enforced?
• What lines are we not supposed to cross and what happens when we do? What happens to those who challenge or resist?

Groups write their key responses on a different colour of sticky notepaper from the colour used for gender. They add these to the wall, laying down a second row of blocks across institutional pillars of the house under construction.

Plenary: Groups report back in turn, taping their bricks in columns inside the outline as they present their key points, building more of The Master’s House. Invite clarifying questions from the whole group. Once all groups have posted, invite people to share their observations: what is different and what is similar across the various institutions?

After that discussion, ask:

• What do you see and hear about the intersections of race/ethnicity with gender?
• How do you feel about what has been shared? How does it resonate with your own experience of identities, intersectionality, and racism?

Round 3: Class and caste
Small groups: Following the same steps as in rounds 1 and 2, each group reflects on class (and caste, if relevant) in relation to the same institution, noting their responses on paper of a third colour.

• What does this institution say about how people obtain their wealth, status and privilege?
• How does it explain why some people have very low incomes or live in poverty? How are these people seen and treated differently?
• How does this institution view different classes and castes, and how are those messages communicated?
• How are the ‘rules’ of class and caste enforced? What happens when people challenge them?

Plenary: Each group posts and explains their observations in the ‘class and caste’ row of each pillar. Invite people to describe what they have heard about class relations. Point out that class is the defining feature of the capitalist system, while caste is a religious hierarchy where status is determined by birth. In both systems, some people accrue privileges and wealth while others are excluded, exploited,and dominated. Ask:

• In what ways have you seen or experienced this? How is class and caste exploitation justified and explained?

Go on to discuss how class interweaves with other power relations, such as gender and race/ ethnicity. Invite further thinking on intersectionality, multiple identities, and power.

Round 4: Sexuality and sexual identity
Small groups: Repeat the process above but focus on sexuality and sexual identity – heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other identities.

• What does this institution say is ‘normal’ or ‘natural’ in terms of sexuality and sexual identity?
• How does it explain or view variations in sexuality and sexual identity?
• How does it enforce its ‘rules’ around sexuality and sexual identity, and what happens to those that challenge or do not comply with them?

Plenary: Invite a discussion of the intersection of these identities and oppressions. Ask:

• What commonalities and differences do you see across the different identities and how they are treated? Any ‘aha’ moments?
• How does this relate to your own experience?
• How do each of the institutions compel the conformity to rules of gender, race, and class?
• How are these enforced? Examples could be violence, fear, or exclusion.
• What can happen if you cross the line and disrupt those rules?

On thin strips of paper, note people’s responses describing how behaviour is compelled and enforced. Place them between pillars as ‘walls’.

Emphasise key points from an analysis of the House of Multiple Oppressions.

To conclude, ask people to examine the House they have built. All of us live in and maintain the House of Multiple Oppressions, often in ways we are not conscious of. Ask:

• How do I live in that House and what is its impact on me?
• What do I do that maintains parts of it?
• How do I reinforce or weaken patriarchy and other systems of oppression through my actions, words, relationships, and beliefs?
• How does my leadership reflect this?

Each person writes down their answers anonymously and folds the piece of paper.

Engage people in discussing how all of us live in the House of Multiple Oppressions – men and women, white, black, indigenous, rich and poor, rural people, workers, employers, the elderly, the young, from North, South – by design, all of us building and maintaining these systems.

By contrast, we can work towards solidarity based on a recognition of difference and equity, towards transformational/liberating leadership, and towards transformational power for systemic change.

Invite people to place their cards in a bowl in the centre, each one announcing something they hope to transform.

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Identity is not merely a personal or interpersonal matter; it relates to larger power struggles. When we talk about difficult contexts, it is important to see how different groups experience them in different ways. This not only helps us to understand the political dynamics in our context better but also encourages us to build solidarity with others struggling in their own ways.

We tend to think of the most visible forms of risk and insecurity that protect those in power by silencing and suppressing any challenge: crackdowns on activism and outspoken community leaders, more restrictive laws undermining freedom of speech and assembly, surveillance and threats of violence. But risk and insecurity can take more everyday forms: discrimination, exclusion, marginalisation, subordination, silencing, harassment, economic exploitation, and domestic and sexual violence. These forms of violence maintain the social and political domination of people of non-dominant identities.

Materials: A computer and projector if possible; a handout of the introduction to this chapter.

Step 1: Intro to Intersectionality
Plenary: Review key points thus far: that identity is not singular and does not exist in a vacuum. Society assigns greater privilege and power to some identities than it does to others. Here, the concept of intersectionality is useful for locating our interconnected identities more clearly within social power dynamics.

To bring the concept alive, screen the video of Awino Okech’s intro to Intersectionality. You may want to show more videos from JASS’ Big Ideas page on Intersectionality, in which people talk about their own intersecting identities. Alternatively, choose and read out quotes on the complexities of identity, for example from the In Depth section of JASS’ Big Ideas page on Intersectionality (in which case, adapt the discussion questions).

Ask:

• Did you experience any ‘aha’ moments concerning intersectionality and why it matters? How did the video/s add to your understanding of identity?
• Did you relate to any particular video/s and if so why?
• What do these videos reveal about how different identities may intersect in a person’s life and how this can relate to their experience of systems of power?
• What struck you in the women’s accounts of reclaiming their whole identity and finding power and liberation that way?

You might want to direct people to this resource on Power and Protection for more on the targeting of activists in terms of gender and other aspects of their identities.

Step 2: Intersectionality Defined
Plenary: Share the introduction to this chapter as a handout or read out this shorter definition:

Intersectionality is a way of thinking about identity and its relationship to power. Every one of us has multiple and complex identities based on our gender, class, race, ethnicity, religion, education, age, sexual orientation, ability, etc. Some parts of our identity may connect us to more dominant groups and the power that comes with that identity (for example white, male, middle or upper class, heterosexual). Other parts of our identity may mean we experience discrimination, less opportunity or security, and more risk and violence. Intersectionality describes how these identities interact and overlap to create different experiences of power, oppression, discrimination, and privilege. Intersectionality has become a way for people to name their distinct experiences and fight for visibility, justice, and inclusion.

In pairs: For a few minutes, discuss these questions.

• Can you think of instances where a lack of awareness about identity and privilege undermined trust and authentic collaboration or reinforced inequitable power dynamics
• And correspondingly, can you think of instances where awareness and a commitment to challenge such inequities have built solidarity and galvanised collective efforts?

Plenary: Invite people to share their insights from the activity. Open a discussion, drawing out key points. Note that, to understand and acknowledge openly the ways in which identity, privilege and power work:

Is a critical step in social change.
Enables us to see and address these power dynamics within ourselves and our organisations and movements.
Gives us a better understanding of the workings of systemic power and how to challenge it.
Provides a foundation on which to build a common commitment to liberation and the trust and solidarity that are needed.

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Materials: Handout: Four Arenas of Power (from Chapter 3: Making Sense of Power)

Step 1: Invisible and systemic power revisited
Briefly refresh people’s memory and understanding of invisible and systemic power (from Chapter 3: Making Sense of Power). Discuss the ways that these dimensions of power link with identity and oppression.

Invisible power: beliefs and norms; ways in which we are socialised, conditioned to carry and reproduce ideas and prejudices that are activated in narratives.

Systemic power: logic and ‘genetic code’ that shapes all relationships, ‘operating system’, deeply embedded systems of meaning.

Discuss how this logic is reinforced in the laws, policies, and biases of formal decision making (visible power), and in shaping what issues are addressed and who has a voice and influence and is included in important questions (hidden power).

Each of the systems in the House of Multiple Oppressions drives a logic that explains and naturalises inequality and that in fact requires inequity. Each system proposes one set of characteristics or identities as superior and others as inferior. The interactions between them are dynamic.

Step 2: Where gender meets power
Plenary: Introduce the theme and activity.

Small groups: Draw two circles on large pieces of paper, then add the figure of a woman at the centre of each. For each woman, choose four to six aspects of her identity (such as indigenous, LBTQI+, young) – identities that exist within your context. One of the two women is also an activist. Write all those identities within the lines of her body.

Considering her different identities, list around each circle the various possible conditions that converge to shape and impact her life. These might include:

Experiences of discrimination (based on racial, ethnic, class, caste, religious, linguistic or other hierarchies)

Particular gender roles

Access/lack of access to education

Exclusion from/inclusion in specific spaces

Heavy burdens of care

Economic stability

Being targeted as an activist

Sexual violence

Legacies of colonialism

Lack of recognition of leadership

By contrast, her identities may also offer her positive experiences of power within and power with. For example, does she have a strong connection with others who share her identity and historical experiences? Does her identity give her a strong sense of who she is, a sense of purpose, and a feeling of belonging? What skills and capacities does she have from her lived experience?

Read out the quote from Dalila on common ground and difference. Ask:

• What are the similarities and differences between the two women? What is different for the activist?
• How do different aspects of identity offer differing levels of privilege and power?
• Are there ways in which each is ‘put or kept in her place’, and by whom or what, and why?
• For each, where and how is she likely to experience violence? In what part of her life: relationships and the family, in public spaces, within organisations, at work, in religious or community institutions, in courts and law making?
• How do you think each of the women might feel powerful and joyful in her identity?

To close the session, reiterate that one identity is not ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than any other. The purpose is to strengthen our political consciousness about how systemic power works in our own and other people’s lives, so that we are better able to work across differences and to disrupt the perpetuation of inequity.

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As an optional activity, analyse and explore intersectional identities in the Guardians of the River case study.

Small groups: Read or re-visit the case study and ask:

• How do gender, ethnicity, and class shape inequality and injustice in this story? How has the legacy of colonialism affected dynamics of identity, power, and privilege?
• How do powerful actors mobilise prejudice and systemic forms of oppressive and coercive power in the story?
• How do the activists, community, and/or movement in the story seek to disrupt systemic power dynamics of racism, sexism, and homophobia through their work? How do they build transformative power around a different vision and shared identity?

Each group prepares a three-minute scene, a body sculpture (still or moving, silent or with sound) or a drawing to illustrate the systemic oppressive power involved, and how the community built transformative power around a different vision and reclaimed identity.

Plenary: Groups present their scene, sculpture or drawing. Afterwards, ask:

• What did you see in these pieces? How did they shed light on the ways in which prejudice and systemic power are mobilised? How did they illustrate the ways in which communities are disrupting and shifting those dynamics?
• What can we learn from this about how systemic oppression is activated and reinforced as a powerful tool in our contexts? How are discrimination and prejudice embedded in structures?
• What strategies are activists and movements using to disrupt, challenge, or shift the power of systemic logics?
• What evidence of these systems do you see in your context? How do these logics show up in your own communities, organisations, and movements?

To conclude, draw out key points.

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