Why are microaggressions a big deal? Hi Reader, I'm fascinated by microaggressions - to me, they are little Freudian slips revealing our cultural norms and assumptions - that's why they're so difficult, because people may not realise that what they're saying or doing is a microaggression, and even if they get that maybe it's a bit off, they might not be sure why. I'm running a 90 minute workshop on 23rd July at 1pm on the topic. If you'd like to come along, I'd be delighted to see you there....
5 months ago • 1 min read
Looking at Privilege through a Different Lens Hi Reader, When I was researching my PhD, I read a classic sociological text about the art world by Harold Becker. In it, he makes the argument that any work of art is not produced just by one person (the artist), but that that work is shaped by the conventions of the art world. Becker pointed out that most artists create their work with supplies that have been crafted by others, for example. And even if they were to make all of their own...
9 months ago • 3 min read
Stories, People and Ideas - Power Hi Reader, A couple of weeks ago, we saw an amazing example of speaking truth to power, in the form of Mariann Edgar Budde. You can read her sermon here. Whether you are religious or not, it was a real show of courage. In that example, it was power at its worst in the form of brute force. But power is not always a bad thing. In my workshops, we explore many of the kinds of power that are out there. Here are a few: Knowledge Influence Job role Visibility /...
10 months ago • 1 min read
Stories, People and Ideas Hi Reader, I had an interesting experience a few weeks ago. I often ask attendees to my DEI courses to take a privilege quiz. People are often surprised about their scores, and interested in what they mean. But I'd never had the reaction that I got in this particular case: the person said, "I hated this quiz." Why? Because his low score suggested to him that he'd in someway failed. I'd never really thought about this, but of course we spend all of our school days...
10 months ago • 1 min read
Stories, People and Ideas Hi Reader, Happy New Year! I thought I'd start this year's newsletters with a series of reflections on the stories, people and ideas that have shaped my thinking over the years. Today's story is about the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss. Some of my professors were quite disparaging about him. The story we were told was that he went to Brazil in the late 1930s, and in his writing, he described the people he met as if they had always be the same and would...
11 months ago • 1 min read
Happy Holidays! 🎄 Hi Reader, Just a quick note from me today to thank you for subscribing to my newsletter and reading my posts over the last year. If you're looking for inspiration for next year, I'd be happy to have a virtual chat and coffee with you. You can book in some time with me here or just reply to this email. Warm wishes for this holiday season and the newsletter will be back in January! Jasmine Here are some of the ways you can work with me: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion...
11 months ago • 1 min read
Review & Reflect Hi Reader, Happy Friday the 13th! Do you know, my mother always told us Friday the 13th was good luck, because in France, where she's from, it is considered good luck. Anyway... another year is almost over, can you believe it? 2024 went by really quickly for me. It's the time of year when we look back on success stories and lessons learned about the past year; and we start to think about what this means for the year ahead. For me, part of this means gathering some valuable...
12 months ago • 2 min read
Building on what you learned this year Hi Reader, One of the ideas that anthropologists are really interested in is resistance. Not big forms of resistance like going on a protest march, but the small, subtle everyday forms of resistance that you might see in the workplace. For example, you can see absenteeism or presenteeism as small acts of resistance - it's the ways in which people communicate that they don't want to engage at work without just quitting. It's not inherently good or bad,...
12 months ago • 1 min read
What do you need to build your courage & confidence? Hi Reader, Last week, I worked with a group of employee reps going through a difficult period of redundancy. When they came on the call, they seemed initially to be quite angry and aggressive. They asked questions like, "how are we legally protected?" "how are you qualified to train us?" "how do we stop management from making this change?" But as we worked through the training, the tone started to shift. The questions started to morph into...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
