How Lego Blocks Can Open Our Eyes to Diversity

Introduction

            In Fostering a Relational Pedagogy by Ellyn Lyle (2019, p. 1), she states, “I don’t recall worrying much in my youth about who I was; I just assumed I knew until I realized I did not.” I, too, have not worried about who I am. However, like Lyle, my re-entry into adult education through a Master of Education program has allowed me to theorize my previous life experiences and re-examine who I am.

            This essay describes a life lesson gathered from a personal experience and transposes it to a metaphor of diversity everyone can understand. It is important to learn from life’s experiences because they need to be shared and as stated by Winter (1988, p. 235), “we do not ‘store’ experience as data, like a computer; we’ story’ it.” The purpose of this essay is to examine how my social identity connects to my social location and how the Intersectionality of my social identity has shaped my personal and professional life.

            The essay invites the reader on a critical analysis journey that uses formal academic writing examples and informal personal narratives. The essay will include my current personal and professional social identity, highlight the definition and interpretations of intersectionality theory, followed by how Intersectionality shapes my personal and professional life. Finally, the essay will conclude by answering the question, how can Lego blocks open our eyes to diversity?

Identifying my social identity

        Social identity indicates who individuals are regarding groups to which they belong, usually defined by physical, social, and mental characteristics. Examples would be race, ethnicity, gender, social class, economic status, sexual and religious orientation.  I am a person who participates in a society I did not initially create. Still, I must take responsibility for participating in that society and for my actions within that society. I understand that my actions can influence and change the society in which I live, and what I can bring to education is shaped by my position and experience of the world. I cannot ignore the culturally sensitive pedagogies such as diversity.

            My social identity is defined as a 64-year-old, married, privileged, White male, heterosexual, protestant, cisgender, military, and law enforcement trained, university-educated, relatively healthy, retired with pension, middle-class, non-disabled, father and grandfather, with PTSD. I can consider myself in a position of power and a white male with privilege while recognizing and appreciating Johnson (2018), who posits that privilege is always a problem for those who don’t have it and those who do because privilege is always related to privilege others.

            If I were to describe my social location, I would say it is a living document changing every day. My current place in society would be living comfortably in a beautiful Canadian city, happily married, financially secure, centrist in politics, with strong personal values, and having meaning and purpose in my life with moderate Christian beliefs.         

What is Intersectionality?

            Intersectionality is a word coined in 1989 by Columbia University professor Kimberle Crenshaw who has spent more than 30 years studying civil rights, race, and racism. Intersectionality describes how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics “intersect” with one another and overlap. It describes the way people from different backgrounds encounter the world. For example, the lived experiences, including experiences of discrimination, of a woman of colour will differ from those of a white woman or a black man.

            Intersectionality is widely used by scholars, policy advocates, practitioners, and activists in many places and locations. It is taught in courses, written in books and scholarly articles, and made part of ongoing public policy discussions with human rights activists and government officials. Grassroots organizers use the term to inform their work on anti-violence initiatives, worker’s rights, and many social issues. Bloggers use digital and social media to influence public opinion, and teachers use the ideas of Intersectionality toward transforming schools and education. People use the term intersectionality for their varied intellectual and political projects, which can be diverse and sometimes contradictory.

            According to Collins & Bilge (2020, p. 2), “Intersectionality investigates how intersecting power relations influence social relations across diverse societies as well as individual experiences in everyday life. As an analytic tool, Intersectionality views categories of race, class, gender, sexuality, class, nation, ability, ethnicity, and age – among others – as interrelated and mutually shaping one another. Intersectionality is a way of understanding and explaining complexity in the world, in people, and in human experiences.” Intersectionality can be used as an analytic tool to solve problems and challenges that people face or others around them face and may be considered in most contexts.

            Intersectionality is everywhere. Even Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) analyzed how education can either disenfranchise or empower. The book is a core text for Intersectionality as Freire uses the terms oppression and oppressed as intersecting inequities of class, race, ethnicity, age, religion, and citizenship. Freire linked the needs of oppressed people to calls for social justice.      

How Intersectionality can shape my personal and professional teaching life

            When I was six years old, I received my first Lego toy set. The small, coloured squares, rectangles, boxes, windows, and so many other pieces, immediately opened a world of creativity and possibilities. I could make buildings, cities, cars, people, animals, and spaceships; almost anything I desired. The colours were mixed, and stories surrounding my creations knew no bounds. I often played with friends who came from diverse backgrounds of families and with my older sister. From my friends, I learned that each of us has our own worldviews, and from my sister, I realized that girls could be just as smart and creative as boys and were my equal. I still enjoy building with Lego and appreciate the diversity offered within those simple coloured blocks.

            Johnson (2018, p. 12-13) posits, “difference makes us afraid of one another because we naturally fear the strange and unfamiliar, the unknown, what we do not understand. What we fear we do not trust, making it difficult to get along in our diversity.” Diverse learning environments are crucial in advancing critical thinking and preparing learners for the global workforce. Diversity is not merely a representation of differing others but includes adapting course materials and pedagogies that consider and acknowledge learner’s various pre-college backgrounds and contexts.

            Using the Lego metaphor in my law enforcement class, I will suggest nine ways to use and be aware of intersectionality in my personal and professional teaching life, each representing one Lego block (Image 1).

Black There will be diverse learners in the class and a social division created by power relations of race, gender, ethnicity, citizenship, sexuality, and ability. I will have learners who face challenges paying for classes (financial), who face historical racial discriminatory barriers or deal with distinctive barriers (sexuality, disability). These learners want fairness but bring very different experiences and needs to the class. A goal will be creating a more inclusive and fair community by using the classroom as a venue for disseminating intersectionality.

Red There is an ongoing growing dimension of social inequality in law enforcement. Intersectionality provides a framework for explaining how categories and combinations of race, class, gender, economic inequality, education, etc., position people differently when looking through the lens of a career in law enforcement. Factors influencing employment will be addressed and discussed through the idea of intersectionality.

Yellow One could argue Canada is a form of welfare state, whereas the multi-billion-dollar system involving all levels of government transfers money and services to Canadians to deal with an array of societal needs. To protect everyone and promote public well-being, governments have designed regulatory police services. The intersectional analysis will be used to illuminate the vast administrative, operational, and social differences between Federal, Provincial, and Municipal law enforcement and ensure learners have a clear picture of the differences and how they affect individuals.

Green Through teaching in my class, I will criticize, reject, or fix many problems, including complex social inequalities in law enforcement. Intersectionality will be used as a form of critical praxis to produce, draw upon, or apply intersectional frameworks in learners’ daily lives. Many real-life policing examples will be used, and learners will draw upon Intersectionality’s ideas to guide their lives and careers. They will help police address those involving criticizing, rejecting, or fixing social problems with complex social inequalities.

Dark blue While the number of women in policing in Canada is rising; they still represent only one-fifth of all officers (Govt. of Canada, 2018). Supporting women in their dual roles as police officers and women is pivotal to promoting their careers in policing and ensuring their wellbeing. Due to the long history of policing as male-dominated work and a culture of hegemonic masculinity, female police officers are often seen as a liability rather than an asset. Using Intersectionality as a form of critical inquiry in the classroom to discuss equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives will better prepare women learners for a fulfilling and lengthy career.

Purple Basic requirements for becoming a police officer include a high school diploma or GED, some post-secondary education or a degree and completion of police academy training. The emphasis is on “basic requirements,” so having my learners understand the intersections of their lives, the course will be an essential tool to link theory with practice, thus aiding in the empowerment of the learner.

Light blue Some learners will aspire to work in the corrections system and not policing. There are various careers, including Correctional Service of Canada, Provincial Correctional Officers, or Municipal police guard or attendant. The corrections systems have complicated and contradictory relationships with its many communities, governmental, and corporate stakeholders. The penal system and prison industry, including rehabilitation, counselling, education, and job placement, are rapidly growing and include diverse backgrounds. Understanding how these people intersect individually and together will require discussions on competing public policies, neoliberalism, racial profiling, right-wing populism, and so on.  

White Specific learners will be entering the field of social work, probation, or as a parole officer working within a correctional facility in the community. These are front-line workers responding to social problems. They have an up-close and personal relationship with violence, homelessness, hunger, illiteracy, poverty, sexual assault, and other social issues. My learners will be taught that they cannot focus primarily on praxis, but they must understand and work to solve the underlying social problems. Intersectionality will not be used as merely an intellectual inquiry but used as an essential intervention strategy for social justice work.

Pink Profiling in policing is a technique used for decades and will continue to flourish in one form or another. Unfortunately, when profiling goes bad, the consequences can be tragic. On December 1, 2013, Lucia Jimenez completed her shift as a chambermaid in a Vancouver hotel. While on the SkyTrain, Transit Police routinely stopped and checked her for her fare, which she did not have. No fare receipt, Mexican worker, and poor English resulted in her arrest and 20 days of detention with the Canadian Border Security Agency. No legal aid or mental health care was provided, resulting in her suicide. My learners will be taught to look through an intersectional lens and see how race, class, gender, and immigrant status can interconnect as a negative category of power that may have disastrous consequences resulting in an avoidable loss of life.

            The above nine examples of Intersectionality have been introduced, and they have the potential to foster a complex understanding of my learners’ identities. It changes the meaning of identity from something one has, to something one does. “Identity expresses intersectionality – a multifaced perspective acknowledging the richness of the multiple socially constructed identities that combine to create each of us as a unique individual” (Lind 2010, p. 3). An analysis of diversity through a lens of intersecting social identity is one of the foundational approaches to the law enforcement course I am designing.        

The connection between my social identity and social location as an adult educator

            As an adult educator, my social identity and social location have been identified, and they can be used to explain my approach to educating. Time will be spent reflecting on how I educate, but time will also be spent on my path to educating learners; underlying biases, preferences, and values that guide my education. I will use the knowledge gained in identifying my social identity and social location as essential mechanisms in my education and learning experience. In my classroom setting, as an educator, I can create an inclusive environment by being open to novel ideas, available and responsive to learner feedback, and include learners in portions of the course design.

Conclusion

            While placing together the 346 pieces of the Lego building set, I thought everyone in this world is awesome (Image 2).  It occurred to me that if everyone considered 346 ways to commit to building a more diverse and inclusive world where everybody belongs, no matter your race, your gender, how you identify or who you love, this world would be a much better place. As a society, we could and should be doing more to support each other and appreciate our differences. Everyone needs to step up to the plate, make heartfelt statements, and take action about love and inclusivity. Perhaps through reflection, reflexivity and Intersectionality while completing a simple Lego project, we can all open our eyes to diversity and be remembered as making a difference in this world, knowing “everyone is awesome.”

References

Ashton, M. (n.d.). Why I designed everyone is awesome. Lego.  https://www.lego.com/en-ca/page/why-i-designed-everyone-is-awesome?icmp=LP-SHH-Tall-     Rainbow_Hero_Tall_Product-TH-NO-2U5NENPKDG

Collins, P.H. & Bilge, S. (2020). Intersectionality (2^nd ed.) Polity Press.

Crenshaw, K. (1994). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against          women of color. Stanford law review, 43(6), 1241-1299. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Government of Canada (2018). Police resources in Canada, 2017. Statistics Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2018001/article/54912-eng.htm

Johnson, A. G. (2018). Privilege, power, and difference (3rd ed.). McGraw Hill Inc.

Lego (n.d.). [A diverse and inclusive workplace] [Image 2] Lego. https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/diversity-and-inclusion/

Lind, R. (2010). A note from the guest editor. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 54, 3-5.  https://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=042eeb56-9f52-4afd-abbd-   46856691b299%40pdc-v-sessmgr03

Lundman, L. (2021). [Everyone is awesome Lego blocks] [Image 1] Laurie Lundman

Lyle, E. (Ed.). (2019). Fostering a relational pedagogy: Self-study as transformative axis. Brill Sense.     

Winter, R. (1988). Fictional critical writing. In J. Nias & S. Groundwater-Smith (Eds.), The Enquiring      teacher. Falmer.