As part of the Collaborative Learning initiative, the Study Climate Programme hosted an ‘Identities & Inclusion for Collaboration’ workshop on the 31st of October, during the DEI month. The workshop was open to all TU Delft members, out of which 9 students, 1 educator, 3 PhDs and 18 members of support staff from different faculties signed up for the workshop; 23 people joined the workshop.  

The workshop was designed as a pilot, to stimulate dialogue amongst groups to create a more inclusive environment for learning and working. The workshop was inspired by the understanding of Intersectionality. Intersectionality is a  sociological analytical framework for understanding how groups' and individuals' social and political identities result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege.  [Refer to resources to learn more]  

The session prompted participants to reflect on their multiple personal and social aspects of their own identity. The concept of Intersectionality was introduced to encourage a dialogue on how these identity aspects relate to privilege and exclusion in a context. The session ended with a discussion on how we could use our privilege to prevent exclusion in our immediate environments.  

The workshop proved to be a successful in stimulating a deep and personal dialogue around exclusion and privilege. Through space for personal reflection, and small group dialogue supported by tangible examples and real stories.  

 

What participants found most valuable: 

“Digging up and broadening my knowledge of intersectionality” 

“Meeting new colleagues and getting to know other colleagues better.” 

What was new for participants: 

“The interrelationship between identity, privilege and/or exclusion” 

“How different personality elements matter in any context, and how by being aware of those, we can anticipate on certain elements that conflict.” 

With Collaborative Learning we hope to extend this space for reflection and dialogue around identity, diversity and inclusion in the curriculum. We recommend integrating the workshop as one of the orientation activities for teamwork, or project groups. For teams to make space for all identities, get to know each other, or manage group dynamics based on awareness of privilege and exclusion. Other context participants recommended we host the workshop in: 

  • Introduction week for students
  • Training for assistants students supervising project groups
  • Teaching courses
  • Teaching Lab
  • Education days
  • Study Programmes
  • IDE Synergy Week

The workshop is developed by Annie Aggarwal (a.aggarwal@tudelft.nl) and Mireille Howard-Snels (m.m.howard-snels@tudelft.nl). Please feel free to contact us if you’d like to learn more about the workshop or host it in your context.

Resources

If you’d like to dive deeper into the concept of Intersectionality, here are a few resources:

  • A satirical reimagining of the Snow White tale wherein Subramaniam critiques the traditional narratives of science, using a feminist lens to reveal how scientific methods and knowledge production are shaped by gendered and cultural biases: Subramaniam, B. (2000). Snow Brown and the Seven Detergents: A Metanarrative on Science and the Scientific Method. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 28(1/2), 296–304. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40004461.