Inclusivity Panel at Reunion: Sharing terms and definitions before we meet

By Terri Allred and Lisa Allred

The leadership team of ATS® Reunion and the Belly Dance Business Academy are hosting a panel on inclusivity in our dance community at this year’s Reunion.  The panel will be held at lunch on Sunday from 11:45-12:45 and is free to all attendees.  It will be streamed on Facebook Live and recorded/available on the Belly Dance Business Academy. This blog is an effort to lay some groundwork so that everyone has a shared understanding of the basic terms and issues that may arise during the conversation.    Having a shared “language,” as ATS® dancers know well, helps with communication and allows us to focus on listening and getting to a deeper understanding rather than struggling to understand what people mean when they use a term with which we may be unfamiliar.

We welcome you to comment and share any additional information you personally think participants would benefit from learning more about.  Like everyone else, we are learning every day and are not trying to present ourselves as experts, just people who want to help set the tone for a respectful and productive discussion at Reunion.

The discussion during the panel is intended to be a launching point for further discussion and sharing.  It won’t solve any problems in our community or even address all the issues of concern.  We won’t leave the room all agreeing or with a tidy list of action items.  But hopefully, we will all learn from each other, benefit from hearing our panelists personal experience, and begin a conversation!

List of terms and definitions:

Stereotype- An exaggerated belief, image or distorted truth about a person or group—a generalization that allows for little or no individual differences or social variation. 

Prejudice- An opinion, prejudgment or attitude about a group or its individual members.  Prejudices are often accompanied by ignorance, fear or hatred.  Prejudices are formed by a complex psychological process that begins with attachment to a close circle of acquaintances or an “in-group” such as a family.  Prejudice is often aimed at “out-groups.

Discrimination- Behavior that treats people unequally because of their group memberships.  Discriminatory behavior, ranging from slights to hate crimes, often begins with negative stereotypes and prejudices.

Cultural Appropriation- The unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.

Minorities- A relatively small group of people, especially one commonly discriminated against in a community, society, or nation, differing from others in race, religion, language, or political persuasion.

Dominant culture- The cultural beliefs, values, and traditions that are centered and dominant in society’s structures and practices. Dominant cultural practices are thought of as “normal” and, therefore, preferred and right. As a result, diverse ways of life are often devalued, marginalized, and associated with low cultural capital. Conversely, in a multicultural society, various cultures are celebrated and respected equally.

Intersectionality: The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender that can create overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. The term was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, who used it to describe the experiences of black women – who experience both sexism and racism.

Inclusion- A dynamic state of operating in which diversity is leveraged to create a fair, healthy, and high-performing organization or community. An inclusive environment ensures equitable access to resources and opportunities for all. It also enables individuals and groups to feel safe, respected, engaged, motivated, and valued, for who they are and for their contributions toward organizational and societal goals.

Marginalized groups or underrepresented groups- Not all marginalized groups are minorities, and this broader term is generally inclusive of more than race and gender.

Microaggression- This term was coined by a psychiatrist and Harvard University professor Chester M. Pierce in 1970 to describe the tiny, casual, almost imperceptible insults and degradation often felt by any marginalized group.

Code switching- The practice of having to behave or speak differently in the workplace than we do in our personal lives and the toll it exacts on individuals from certain underrepresented backgrounds.

Hidden bias- Scientific research has demonstrated that biases thought to be absent or extinguished remain as "mental residue" in most of us. Studies show people can be consciously committed to egalitarianism, and deliberately work to behave without prejudice, yet still possess hidden negative prejudices or stereotypes.

"Implicit Association Tests" (IATs) can tap those hidden, or automatic, stereotypes and prejudices that circumvent conscious control. 

Want to learn more about this or explore your own hidden biases?  Here is a free website where you can do these IATs and learn more about yourself.  Project Implicit—a collaborative research effort between researchers at Harvard University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Washington—offers dozens of such tests.

Some background on the issues being addressed by the panel.

The panel at Reunion is moderated by April LaMar and the participants are Bibi Fischer, Marek Ciechanowski, Missy Olivia, Aeshna Mairead, and Carolena Nericcio.

They are being asked to discuss cultural appropriation, non-binary language and inclusion of people of color (knowing that term isn’t perfect either).  The panelists will be asked to share their OWN experience, not to make global or tokenized statements about any specific group with whom they identify.  Here is a very brief summary of the discussion that has arisen around each of those topics.

Cultural appropriation-  The definition of cultural appropriation is the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, and ideas of one group by members of another, typically more dominant group.  ATS® had been called out in the broader dance community for things like face tattoos, bindis, and using the word “tribal” to describe the dance form. 

Diversity and inclusion of people of color in our community-  We acknowledge that there is some disagreement over using the term “people of color” but we decided to use it because it does fit the context here.  We are specifically referring to dancers who are not white or of European descent. The ATS® community doesn’t have a similar proportion of people of color as is represented in our countries and communities.  Additionally, ATS® performance troupes often don’t have people of color in them, which highlights the lack of diversity in ATS® performances and in the ATS® community in general.

Inclusion in terms of gender and sexual identity-  When we assume all folks in our classes identify as gender binary (M or F) or as straight (heterosexual), we don’t make room for those who identify in a myriad of ways in terms of gender and sexual identity.  One of the ways that we can create space for people in our community is to use inclusive language.  One example is to use non-binary (that means they don’t identify as male or female) language when addressing students (for example, y’all or folks).    Another example of an often-voiced concern around gender and language is the use of the term “sister studio” to designate affiliate status of FCBD®.

Thank you.

On behalf of the Leadership Team of ATS® Reunion and the Belly Dance Business Academy, we want to thank you for your interest in exploring this topic.  We welcome you to post links to articles or other content that you think helps illuminate these issues, including other terms and definitions that we didn’t include. 

In conclusion, we want to point out that ATS® Reunion and the Belly Dance Business Academy are independent of FCBD® and we are not speaking on behalf of Carolena or FCBD®.  Carolena is on the panel at Reunion and we look forward to hearing her thoughts on these issues as well. 

Thank you again.  Lisa and Terri Allred