Frozen Stories

1. Frozen Stories Subject and Creating Space for Self Empowerment Carmen Perillo

2. Why Frozen Stories & Objectification are now issues • Privatization • Privatization of Globalization • Monetarism • Managerialism(Commodification of Social Services and Education Programs) • Cindy Blackstock statement that we are still living with Colonization and not Post Colonialism. We see its impact on certain groups but do not identify how it impacts us all in varying ways.

3. Story of the Teacher/HelperPower or Powerless • Disassociation and/or neutralizing our power • Lived Memories of Objectification and lack of awareness of how contexts influence power, privilege, and oppression • Acting as though we are in living in Third Person • Frozen Story- repeated pattern of Powerless behaviour that is caused by unconscious feelings of objectification.

4. Why Frozen Stories (and or Broken Stories) • Objectification of students (funding units, progressive language (talk and often no walk) • Looked at it closely and found we as teachers also objectified and don’t feel and own our power • Anti-Oppression Perspective without relationship based

5. Rewriting the Perceived ending of the story to unleashing healing • Identify where storyline is broken or frozen • Usually we approach it from a fresh start • Issue is to identify when the story breaks (usually where you identify with objectification of other and feel powerless) • Examples: • Diet and Monday or January that is not were it is broken where do you start to feel powerless that is were you need to re-author

6. Theoretical Underpinnings • Boal’s theatre of the Unimagined (audience into active participants) • Paulo Fiere concepts of banking model, objectification, subject, conscientization • Decolonization of language and theory and impact on teacher and student (thinking about thinking and making our own meaning) • Jim Ife and Managerialism • Stephen Brookfield (Critical Incidents)

7. Conscientization + creation of meaning = action + change

8. Boal • He creates an analogy on his perception of transformation by using Shakespeare • Hamlet argues that theatre is like a mirror that reflects our virtues and defects equally. • Boal changes this quote to think of theatre as a mirror in which one can reach in to change reality and to transform it • He directs us realize we are not powerless and we can change stories or not participate in maintaining an unequal system.

9. Principles • Recognizing and rewriting Frozen stories (third to first person authorship or from object to subject) • Assess the dynamics within a context and identification of when it freezes • Intersecting of oppression is key and relationship with your role and context. • Act of conceptualizing and creating meaning is authoring and one method of decolonization.

10. Context • Dynamic Interaction with person who from a social location and context perspective has less power (role, type of power) • Your story is frozen where you feel powerless and other (s) are powerful and behave accordingly (i.e.. difficult student or client)

11. Unpacking Incident • Self and/or context unconsciously identifying with imposed objectification • Feeling like an object and instead of a subject • old story that has become alive • Internalized oppression • I.e.. Repeated critical incident types, I will start again, etc.

12. We are disconnect from conscientization and thinking about our own thinking (Freeze) • Freezing are related to the feelings of powerlessness and inability to see the situation clearly • Immobilization caused by limitation in conceptualization, imagination, and stuck by the reinforced false sense of loss of power

14. Are you creating narratives of you as a protagonist as written as a victim in a third voice • How does this explain how we contribute to the authoring of institutionalized oppression and discrimination by not participating in transformation. • Rewrite it as a protagonist as the author written in first person story .

15. Why Racism • Class project (80% students of colour) • Students asked to identify critical incidents that were patterns for them (stuck, not knowing why they can not act, etc. • Often when students wrote up story or incident it was in third person and talking as though they were neutralized or not there . • Implied limited space for changing stories

16. Class project • Identify when and where they felt powerless • Intersecting oppression and context • Ask them to rewrite their stories. • One woman fearful of black youth (story)

17. Impact Of Unfreezing Story • The outcome it unleashed her from her own objectification in that moment • Where she could embrace her own aboriginal roots and it allowed her to breakthrough her own frozen story • Fear was not about black youth but her false sense of safety by identifying with the predominate group • She finished her education , got a job and is more happily connected with her family. • Lead to Inclusion and breaking down resistance

18. Thoughts • As Teacher we get frozen by being in third person and experiencing objectification because of a particular dynamic we help to maintain in a context (problem students, etc.) • Rewrite the ending and unfreeze • Magnifying on intersecting oppression that occurs for us. • Challenge the processes that are creating our own objectification contribute to space for our students to exercise their own power

19. My Wish for you • Dreams • Conceptualization and your own meaning • Energy.