The%20Miner

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The Miners CanaryEnlisting race, resisting
power,transforming democracy

• Lani Guinier Gerald Torres

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Race for us is like a miners canary the
canarys distress signaled that it was time to
get out of the mine.Those who are marginalized
are like the miners canary their distress is
the first sign of a danger that threatens us
all (p.11)
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Rethinking Conventions of Zero-Sum Power
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The three dimensions of power

1. Direct force or competition. Winner takes-all
2. Indirect manipulation of the rules to shape the
   outcome
3. Mobilization of biases or tacit understandings
   that operate to exclude or include
   individuals/groups in the collective
   decision-making or conflict.

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A Critique of Power-Over Strategies

• Problems with the Individual-Access Model
  First-Dimension Rules
• Problems with Outsider/Insider Dynamics
  Second-Dimension Rules
• Loss of an Outsider Role
  Third-Dimension Problems

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• What are the authors trying to argue?
• How do the authors try to explain the argument?
• Do the authors assume the white, middle-class
  woman norm?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the
  argument?
• How can we apply the authors logic and/or
  findings towards a diversity training manual?

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Enlisting Race to Resist Hierarchy
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The Affirming Power of Struggle

• A reconceptualization of the meta-narratives of
  power over
• A commitment to sharing power in ways that are
  generative, that build from familiar settings,
  and that emphasize human agency within an
  organized community, and
• A willingness to engage with internally embedded
  hierarchies of race and class privilege

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Power-With
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Laboratories of Democracy
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Challenging Embedded Hierarchies
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The Relationship between Process and Outcome
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Gender and Power-With
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• What are the authors trying to argue?
• How do the authors try to explain the argument?
• Do the authors assume the white, middle-class
  woman norm?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the
  argument?
• How can we apply the authors logic and/or
  findings towards a diversity training manual?