Examining Privilege and Power

By Lee Anne Block, Education

At the center of the work to transform knowledge ought to be all of those who have been on the margins…   

-Elizabeth Minnich

“Transformative” is a word I have used in describing my experience as an Arts student at the University of Winnipeg in the 1970s. It is not a word I use lightly. Despite a somewhat privileged background and education, I found that the transition to the university was a shift in perspective, a glimpse of wisdom and an incitement for change. There was so much to learn and it was a great time to be in university as the social changes of the 60s were manifest. Feminism was not part of that experience, although I had two of the handful of female faculty members of the time. When we discussed representation in classes, it was literary or in government.

My perspective has shifted further in thirty years. When I look back on that  time, I am aware of who was not there, who was not represented. Now, I encounter  the presence of multiple differences in the students and faculty and in the curriculum.  What I question as I work with pre-service teachers is whether and how they are able to inspect their differences and their privilege. Has the university, have the Faculty, have I, made that a core element of their education, to understand power and their position in relation to it?

Does that understanding become agency?  Do their experiences here connect them to the world sustainably ?

At a town hall on January 26, 2011, the Campus Sustainability Office opened a conversation among students, staff and faculty to help the University move into the next phase of its sustainability initiative. The conversation was cross-generational, cross-disciplinary and complex. This process required a collective examination of privilege and power.