Forgive me for being in a hurry, but I want to type this before I lose track: first of all, I love everything about this post. Second – I wonder if thinking about the distinctions (and similarities) between heuristics and stereotypes might be important here?

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I’ll just support what Jyotsana said about the importance of continuing to talk about these issues. And while I agree that words like diversity and inclusion get overworked, I think it’s a mistake to see concern about diversity or difference as being about maintaining segregation and hierarchies. Quite the opposite. Yes, of course all humans are “equal” but they are not the same. And most of us exercise a combination of privilege and disadvantage as we make our way through the world. Everyone is unique, and there are aspects of an individual’s experience, identity and their social context that make it easier or more difficult for them to survive or thrive.

It also helps to think about the relationships that affect value – even in the marketplace. The commodity itself doesn’t have inherent value. Rather its value is determined by relationships (such as supply and demand). Similarly, social categories like class that seem to integrated into economic structures are also relational (therefore can change and are not static but constructed or enacted). Sorry this might be tangent….

I also cringe when we have to turn to the marketplace to advocate for diversity. But there is some utility in engaging people in a context they value (even if you don’t share the premises of the system).

Yes — one of the reasons we blog is to give people who aren’t comfortable speaking in class a chance to be heard. Thanks so much for sharing these perspectives about designing inclusive pedagogies for international students!

I appreciate the concern you raise about needing confidence to cultivate “brave spaces” in the classroom. Your caution is completely understandable. One of the premises of this kind of work is that the topic and the potential for conflict around it make people uncomfortable — including facilitators. So, I think it’s good that you recognize that discomfort, and I hope you’ll not let that deter you from thinking about ways to create brave spaces in your own classes.

I learned a lot reading this. Thank you! I am especially intrigued by some of the insights from the NYT article you linked to about Chinese attitudes about race / ethnicity and the paradox of prejudices that confound those categories. Has living in the US made you think differently about Chinese attitudes? I’m curious because I know that spending a lot of time in Russia (which is probably not as different from the US as China is) made me see the culture here in a different light. (You are definitely not “alien”!)

This is kind of random, but since you aren’t on Twitter I’m leaving this here: http://www.npr.org/2017/10/08/554190720/in-this-blessed-earth-the-outdated-romance-of-the-family-farm
Reminded me of our convo at the GTA Academy gathering awhile back. Thanks for listening to me!