Workshop 4: Exploring Your Multiple Identities

Beautiful orange sunset over a deep blue ocean. — Tapestry is Sunsetting

The UUA is no longer updating Tapestry of Faith programs.

Part of Building the World We Dream About

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Introduction
From Building the World We Dream About

I sometimes find myself “examining my identity” as other people examine their conscience … I scour my memory to find as many ingredients of my identity as I can. I then assemble and arrange them. I don’t deny any of them. — Amin Maalouf, contemporary Lebanese author, from In the Name of…
Workshop-at-a-Glance
From Building the World We Dream About

Activity Minutes Welcoming and Entering 0 Opening 10 Activity 1: Group Reflection 25 Activity 2: Exploring “Other” Identities 55 Activity 3: Large Group Discussion 20 Closing 10…
Spiritual Preparation
From Building the World We Dream About

Create your own “other” identity narrative or composition and share it with your co-facilitators. Together, gently probe your narratives for bias or prejudice, practicing how you will do the same with participant narratives or compositions. Participants may feel vulnerable coming to this workshop…
Welcoming and Entering
From Building the World We Dream About

Materials for Activity Sign-in sheet and pen or pencil Name tags for participants (durable or single-use) and bold markers Optional: Music and player Optional: Snacks and beverages Preparation for Activity Arrange chairs in a circle and set out name tags and markers on a table….
Opening
From Building the World We Dream About

Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity Worship table or designated space Chalice, candle, and lighter or LED/battery-operated candle Leader Resource 1, Multiple Identities Participant evaluations from previous workshop List of this workshop’s Goals Covenant established in Workshop 1…
Activity 1: Group Reflection
From Building the World We Dream About

Activity time: 25 minutes Materials for Activity Workshop 2, Leader Resource 2, Serial Testimony Protocol Newsprint, markers, and tape Preparation for Activity Review Workshop 2, Leader Resource 2. Write on newsprint, and post: What are your individual concerns about creating a…
Activity 2: Exploring "Other" Identities
From Building the World We Dream About

Activity time: 55 minutes Materials for Activity Participants’ “other” identity narratives or compositions Preparation for Activity Write these questions on newsprint, and post (if all groups are in the same room), or create a handout for each group: How was the experience of that person differen…
Activity 3: Large Group Discussion
From Building the World We Dream About

Activity time: 20 minutes Description of Activity Lead a large group discussion with these questions: What patterns and/or titles did you hear in the stories that were told? How and why was this exercise difficult? Easy?…
Closing
From Building the World We Dream About

Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity Lined paper and pens/pencils Taking It Home A copy of Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook Handout 1, Racism and Spiritual Death in the United States of America Preparation for Activity Write on newsprint, and post: Wha…
Leader Reflection and Planning
From Building the World We Dream About

Take a few moments right after the workshop to ask each other: What went well? What didn’t? Why? What do you think was the best moment of the workshop? Why? Did anything surprise you? Do we need to make changes in the way we work together?
Taking It Home: Exploring Your Multiple Identities
From Building the World We Dream About

I sometimes find myself “examining my identity” as other people examine their conscience … I scour my memory to find as many ingredients of my identity as I can. I then assemble and arrange them. I don’t deny any of them. — Amin Maalouf, contemporary Lebanese author, from In the Name of…
Handout 1: Racism and Spiritual Death in the United States of America

Joshua Mason Pawelek

From Building the World We Dream About

This sermon was delivered at the Unitarian Universalist Society: East (Manchester, Connecticut) on January 15, 2006. Used with permission. When you were born—if you were born in the United States—and if someone filled out a birth certificate on your behalf, in order to fill out that birth…
Leader Resource 1: Multiple Identities
From Building the World We Dream About

Suzanne Pharr, from the Foreword to Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation, by Eli Clare (Cambridge, MA: South End Press Collective, 1999).[Talking about multiple identities] “brings me back to those intense feelings of ambivalence, ambiguity, and isolation that I felt in my 20s…
Find Out More
From Building the World We Dream About

The UUA Multicultural Growth & Witness staff group offers resources, curricula, trainings, and tools to help Unitarian Universalist congregations and leaders engage in the work of antiracism, antioppression, and multiculturalism. Visit…

Download all of Building the World We Dream About (Word) (PDF) to edit or print.

The UUA is no longer updating Tapestry of Faith programs.

Workshop 4: Exploring Your Multiple Identities

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