Ready to unpack racial and ethnic identity, pursue commonality, and find new ways to replenish individual wholeness? Do you know how to recognize racism and respond to it in a healthy way? Let’s examine the historical experience of race, ethnicity, and nationality in the U.S. and learn effective ways to disrupt discrimination in daily life.
Student Affairs is dedicated to principles of equity and social justice, and as such, all of our events and programs are inclusive to all who are committed to transformative learning. We need your support advancing social justice education on our campus through immersion retreat experiences for OSU students. Currently, OSU facilitates four social justice retreats:
- Racial Aikido
- Multiracial Aikido
- Examining White Identity in a Multicultural World
- International Student Social Justice Retreat
These weekend long retreats promote campus dialogues about race and racism. Each of the retreats engage in the active exploration of the concept of race and how race influences our lived experiences and interactions. As we begin preparing for our Winter Term retreats we ask for you to look within yourself and identify if you could benefit from these opportunities.
To apply for a retreat please click Here!
Multiracial Aikido Retreat: 01/11/19 – 01/13/19
Multiracial Aikido (MRA) is founded on the principles and history of the Racial Aikido retreat. MRA explores systems of racial oppression and centers experiences of multiracial, multiethnic, transracial, and mixed heritage individuals.
We offer a supportive learning environment for participants to unpack racial and ethnic identity through storytelling and to build a community of peers and mentors who support their growth. We hope that by the end of the retreat participants will have found commonality in their various experiences and identify tools to navigate, heal, and make meaning as racialized beings in a U.S. context.
Examining White Identity in a Multicultural World Retreat: 01/11/19 – 01/13/19
The Examining White Identity (EWI) retreat focuses on White identity development in both personal and institutional contexts, while introducing strategies to help students understand their relationships to others, and provide students the skills to help build community among diverse communities. This retreat helps students understand how notions of race and difference have been constructed historically, how they affect us today, and how best to interrupt discriminatory behaviors and to develop a global mindset that is rooted in social responsibility for our shared community.
International Student Social Justice Retreat: 01/11/19 – 01/13/19
The International Student Social Justice Retreat was launched at OSU in February 2016 in the spirit of initiating dialogue on issues of diversity, ethnicity, race, and nationality in the U.S. This retreat helps participants understand the socio-historical American narrative on race and ethnicity, and provides participants with skills to manage and disrupt discrimination based on their perceived identities.
Racial Aikido Retreat: 01/25/19 – 01/27/19
Racial Aikido seeks to empower students using the principles of aikido to recognize, respond, and replenish. Originally created at the University of Vermont, Racial Aikido acknowledges that certain communities-particularly communities that have experienced historical trauma due to racism may be ill prepared to deal with issues of race and racism as it affects them personally. Racial Aikido promotes tools to maintain a positive self-image and be able to respond to overt and covert racism.
By the conclusion of the retreat, you will have a better understanding of privilege, power and positionality, in-group and internalized oppression, identity development models, and be more self-aware of your multiple identities. You’ll learn by active participation just how to recognize racism, respond to racism in a self-affirming and positive manner that is appropriate for the situation, and replenish by taking care of your needs in order to maintain a healthy physical, emotional, and spiritual self.
Please direct questions about any of these retreats to sjretreats@oregonstate.edu
We would like to receive all applications by Monday November 12, 2019.
