Cultural Representations

00:05 The next term I want to talk about is cultural representations.

00:09 So popular stereotypes, images, frames, and narratives that are socialized and often reinforced by the media, by language and other forms of mass communication and common sense.

00:21 So that goes back to what I talked about before critical thinking so that you apply information literacy to all these different perspectives.

00:31 Because a lot of these conversations, especially when we talk about structural racism can be polarizing.

00:38 And we can't expect any of us who don't share the same lived experiences to necessarily immediately understand.

00:46 So some of the conversations might be tense, but that's not a reason to stop having those conversations.

00:52 Healthy dialogue that oftentimes does get kind of a... what's the word? I don't want to use the word aggressive, because that comes off negative, but it might get passionate in terms of the conversation, that's okay.

01:05 Because that's a place that we learn from, and it might feel uncomfortable, but again, those conversations have to happen to create shared understanding.

01:14 And if we embrace the shared language, then we can get to that place of shared understanding.

01:20 And I have a good example of an organization that I worked for before that embraced the inclusive excellence model.

01:29 Change didn't happen overnight.

01:31 But being open to the change is the first step in the transformation.

01:36 And when I say change, obviously, again, I want to make the point that we're all going to be human.

01:41 So, we will revert back sometimes, and that's okay.

01:45 But having the conversations and getting back on the path to transformation is what's most important.

01:52 And of course, another thing I've mentioned many times is that it's contextual.

01:57 So sometimes we will have some and I hate to call it backsliding, but life will happen, right? And we just need to address things as they come up.

02:06 So what I really love about that organization, the change didn't happen overnight.

02:11 Like I said, they were open to change.

02:13 And they continue to put in processes that facilitate transformation and being open and embracing different ways of enforcing or moving toward that inclusive excellence model.

02:27 So that's what it takes is it has to be sustainable beyond just writing those words, as I've talked about before.

02:35 The words do need wheels on. So they have to be operationalized.

02:39 And you have to be willing to be flexible and adaptable.

02:43 So when different situations come up, you may have to try different strategies in order for sustainability to happen.