The Dionysian Naturalist

Unlearning Oppression I often teaching classes on "Race, Class and Gender" in American Society.  I often call my class “Unlearning Oppression” because I deal with the interconnections of class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, ability, immigration status, etc.  My goal is to create a climate in which students can both deal with their own issues as people who are oppressed and deal with their issues as people who are oppressors.  To unlearn oppression and to dismantle the foundations of our “dominator culture”, we must acknowledge our everyday oppressive practices.  Moreover, we must engage in critical self-reflection, get the correct information, deal with our negative emotions, gain insight into our own passivity and become actively anti-oppressive. Oppression is the acts and effects of domination, including ideological domination and institutional control.  Ann Cudd (2006, p. 52) defines oppresion as “the existence of unequal and unjust in...