Jane Elliot championed the eye-of-the-storm method, an experiential teaching method that educates students about the effects of overt racism and prejudice.
In our modern society, groups that are minorities, weak, or disenfranchised frequently experience micro-assaults, which are hidden or subtle forms of discrimination.
Watch the video below to learn more about the Eye of the Storm method. Then consider how this pedagogical practice may be used to microaggressions.
Link to Eye of the Storm Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gi2T0ZdKVc (MAKE SURE TO WATCH THE VIDEO)
Choose a contemporary social issue (for instance, gender discrimination) and produce a paper outlining how you would utilize an eye-of-the-storm teaching approach or demonstration to draw attention to the little offenses that affect a group.
Please specify the social issue (such as gender inequality), the social group (such as women), the microassaults you wish to subject your “class” to, and the strategy(s) you want to employ in order to trigger the eye-of-the-storm approach (i.e., what will you do). Please be succinct and imaginative.
Please discuss the following points in your work in further detail:
Define microaggressions, assaults, and invalidations (2 points)
Explain prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes, and racism, and how these ideas connect to contemporary prejudice (such as microaggressions) in particular (2 points)
Describe strategies you will use to induce the eye-of-the-storm technique (3 points)
Overview
Where did the phrase originate?
Dr. Chester Pierce, a Harvard psychiatrist, coined the term “microaggression” in the early 1970s. Dr. Pierce used this phrase to characterize the frequent epithets and dismissals he saw non-Black people use towards Black people. He thought that over time, these encounters may have a profound effect on a person’s mental and physical health.
Meaning of microaggression
Gueits adds that a verbal or nonverbal slight that affects a person who could identify as being from a marginalized or nonmainstream population is the traditional definition of microaggression. She continues by saying that a microaggression may even take the shape of an organizational procedure that was created to prevent members of particular groups from moving ahead.
Microaggression types and forms
Intentional or inadvertent microaggressions are both possible. Regardless of the motivation, these statements or deeds frequently stem from implicit prejudice, which refers to attitudes and convictions that are held without our knowledge or consent. Most of these presumptions are made about persons based on preconceptions about their color, age, gender, or ethnicity. Our attitudes may have been shaped by our family while we were growing up or by what we’ve seen in the news or on television.
Microassaults
Microassaults are targeted slights or insults that include name-calling, avoidance, and discriminatory acts with a specific desire to harm the intended victim. Abuse of words, grabbing or moving a handbag or bag while you’re nearby are intentional microassaults.
Microinvalidation
When someone makes an effort to belittle or dismiss the experiences of someone who belongs to an underrepresented group, this is known as microinvalidation. Microinvalidation, for instance, occurs when you refute what an Asian American coworker has expressed by interrupting to emphasize that they weren’t subjected to discrimination or by sharing your own experiences.
