sexual orientation

relinquishing the patriarchy

This article is directed at people who identify as men and explores the impact that toxic masculinity can have on their relationships with people who identify as women. The author discusses reasons for toxic male relational approaches with women and offers a number of practices that can help “relinquish the patriarchy”. For more read here.

Relinquishing the patriarchy resource list

This is a terrific list of resources put together as tools for people who identify as men to learn how to “relinquish the patriarchy”. The list includes podcasts, articles, organizations, retreats and curriculum oriented around supporting people who identify as men to unlearn the internalized patriarchy. This resource list stemmed out of an article written by Adrienne Maree Brown on the subject. For more read here.

The Intersectionality Wars

This article explores the history of the concept of intersectionality and its rise to prominence over the last 30 years. The article includes an interview with the term’s founder, Kimberlé Crenshaw. The author describes resistance to the word by the American political right, who fear a creation of a new racial hierarchy, and explains how Crenshaw is seeking to dismantle racial hierarchies through acknowledging intersection identities. For more read here. 

Allies and Microaggressions

This article from an advice column provides suggestions on how to be an ally when you are in a space where a microaggression occurs. The authors describes the cumulative impact of microaggressions for their own mental health and provides a framework to engage in “microresistance” to microaggressions. For more read here.

Toolkit on Implementing the President’s Memo on Diversity & Inclusion in Public Lands & Waters

We built this toolkit to help you implement the Presidential Memorandum issued on January 12th, 2017. The memo is available online here. The toolkit is attached.

Madness & Oppression

The people at the Icarus Project put together this mapping tool for anyone to map out how oppression impacts their health.

In the words of the authors, “Mad Maps are documents that we create for ourselves as reminders of our goals, what is important to us, our personal signs of struggle, and our strategies for self-determined well-being.”

You an access the book for free here or, please consider, paying $8 for this resource here.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice Vocabulary

We have compiled this vocabulary sheet to provide you with some basic definitions of key words and phrases. This vocabulary sheet represents how we at the Avarna Group commonly talk about DEIJ concepts and are a reflection of our learning over the years. However, this is not meant to be a definitive list and we have provided other resources in this vocabulary sheet that provide more definitions, particularly from impacted communities themselves. Moreover, language and ideas move faster than we have capacity to update this sheet. Please use this information as a starting point for understanding rather than a definitive resource.

A Path to Environmentalism

Black Girl Dangerous contributor, Jasmine Kumalah, succinctly and precisely discusses her own path to environmentalism, which includes understanding the complexity of human relationships to the environment and social hierarchies. Read here.

NADOHE Standards of Professional Practice for Chief Diversity Officers

The National Association of Diversity Officers in High Education has created this useful guide that covers everything from the need for a Chief Diversity Officer position to the scope of that person’s responsibilities and areas of competency. Though geared toward institutions of higher education, this guide is useful for any organization seeking to hire a Chief Diversity Officer. Read more here.

Intersection podcast

We could try to describe this podcast, but their own description says it best: “New Republic editor Jamil Smith explores how race, gender, and all the ways we identify ourselves and one another intersect. He brings in journalists, activists, politicians, and everyday folks like you to fuel the conversation.”
Listen here.

Iceberg of Diversity Activity

This activity explores the meaning and implications of diversity, including visible and invisible facets of diversity and how we make assumptions about people based on what we see.

The Power House Activity

This is a relatively safe approach to exploring privilege and power structures in a way that minimizes feelings of resentment and empowering participants to be allies. Use this as an alternative to the Privilege Walk if you want to lower risk. But realize that this activity is too safe in that it doesn’t require that participants talk about their lived experiences of privilege.