Creative Insights
Virtual Race-based Affinity Groups as a Source of Adult Learner Empowerment
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mia Kirk
This study focuses on the experiences of 70 Black women educators from 24 states in the United States who shared their feelings of feeling disempowered as adult learners in workplace settings where they encountered gendered racial hostility. In this explanatory sequential mixed methods study, many of these women engaged in informal cognitive apprenticeships within virtual educator affinity groups through self-directed and self-sought experiences. In these settings, they were able to share their expertise and learn from others in a setting where they felt comfortable both as learners and Black women. A conceptual framework of potential learner paths for empowered and disempowered adult learners within two distinct learning environments, the workplace and virtual educator affinity groups on social media, is also explored.
Waiting in the Wings: Examining Sustainable Employment Practices to Support Marginalized Theater-Makers View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Eh Den Perlove
Across the United States, women continue to be drastically underrepresented in the theater industry, both on stage and off. In a recent study by Broadway by the Numbers, from May 2018-April 2019, only 33% of designers, 13% of directors, 24% of choreographers, and 13% of writers were women. Of the 365 titled characters on stage, 32% were female, and 0.27% were nonbinary. And in another study of designers and directors in LORT theaters, in every category except for costumes, men held, on average, 68% of jobs available in theaters across the country. This paper addresses three key deficiencies that have proven to be hurdles to the inclusion of women, particularly women with disabilities and people of color, from maintaining careers in the theater field. These include the failure to incorporate basic principles around workplace violence, domestic violence affecting the workplace, and the consistent disregard for theater makers with childcare responsibilities. Using empirical survey data, as well as published interviews, this paper discusses the conditions that are making women and other marginalized gender people, including trans and non-binary theater-makers, feel unwelcome and unsafe, leading to an increase in their leaving careers in theater. I then consider broader research on equality in the workplace, including from other industries, to propose potential solutions and areas where additional research is necessary.
Empathy Without Pity: Artists Exploring Disability View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Timothy Hiles, Ashley Ekstrum
This paper demonstrates how artists with disabilities create an opportunity for empathy devoid of pity through a symbiotic experience, a metaphorical dance that encourages mutual insight. Taking into consideration social, emotional, psychological, and physical contexts, these artists strive for a deeper understanding of disability. As with other forms of difference, our approach toward disability is often centered around a desire to fill the void created by a lack of experiential knowledge. In proactive attempts to understand, to empathize, we create exercises to mimic what we consider to be the “lack” or deviation from the normal. Sighted students are blindfolded to experience visual impairment; able-bodied city council members push themselves around in wheelchairs to comprehend urban obstacles; and neurotypical individuals enter deprivation chambers to experience altered senses. While practically useful, these experiences only scratch the surface of the disability experience. As Helen Keller suggested, without insight from the blind, the sighted will only stumble in darkness. These artists seek to provide that insight.
