One of the highlights of the D.C. experience was attending a panel discussion on “A Global Perspective on Diversity and Inclusion” at the Center for American Progress. That afternoon I was profoundly proud of my SAWIP team, who had two representative speakers on the panel (Siphosethu and Khanyiso) along with two students from the Washington Ireland Program. Their intelligence, elegance and sincerity was a shining light for all to see.
Naturally the session started by focussing on discussing the diversity in the facets that make up our identities, like race, religion and gender to name a few. As individuals we are multi-faceted- from this session I learnt that it is important to start thinking about how we hold multiple facets at once. For example, I identify as a women and at the same time I am white. This means that as a women I may experience some form of prejudice against that facet of my identity, while as a white person in other instances I have significant privilege.
The panel discussion then shifted to the diversity of thought and ideas. Reflecting on this has been a remarkably large portion of not only my SAWIP journey but my D.C. experience. The SAWIP program creates many opportunities to listen to other peers and professionals that you may have never met organically otherwise. Exposure to the unique patterns of thinking and reasoning of others undoubtedly sparks curiosity and hopefully, growth.
But how curious are we about ourselves? If we can acknowledge the different facets of our identity and how they affect our lived experiences, do we reflect on what it truly means in a broader context? I believe introspection is key to move towards the true meaning of our identities and lived experiences.
If we cannot truthfully evaluate this identity, then we may develop a gap in what our identities and lived experiences mean to us and what they mean in relation to the identities and lived experiences of others. In essence this identity may be a way we have come to evaluate ourselves. Without introspection into the network in which this evaluation has been formed, this may only be a superficial idea of our identity, for one of two reasons : we may become hyper critical of ourselves or we may become insensitive to how our behaviour and speech excludes or invalidates others simply because being aware of our identity is “enough”.
One social theory that makes a nod to the idea of this interplay between evaluating ourselves and a network of others and social factors is actor-network theory. In short, this theory was created to describe and interpret the social life and pathways related to the process in which scientific knowledge is created. Since then it has been applied to many other aspects of social life and politics.
Lastly, if we can move towards introspection on our identity and with this acknowledge the network in which it is formed and functions, then should we also look to the inverse? How may this broader context and interplay with the identities of others, the network if you will, influence what we believe our identities to be?