Listening to Explore and Understand Identity
Help participants practice listening and gain a deeper understanding of their identities & how they show up in a discussion
Dear collaborative discussion friends,
This week we are highlighting two activities that help participants become aware of their identities and how they show up in a discussion, while also helping them develop their listening skills. All the activities in the toolkit have an activity key that indicates the level of the activity (beginner or advanced) and other characteristics using icons. Activities that support listening skills are denoted with the following icon.
If you missed the previous newsletter, Two Activities that Develop Listening and Collaboration Skills, you can access it and our other weekly newsletters by subscribing below.
This week's activities:
Activity 1.4 – Understanding Your Identity in Collaboration
Activity 4.1 – Awareness of Social Identity
Two activities that help participants reflect on their identities, understand how they show up in a discussion, and develop listening skills
Activity 1.4 Understanding Your Identity in Collaboration is a fun activity that helps participants reflect on their identity. This activity encourages participants to think about which parts of their identity they usually bring to a collaborative space, which ones they choose not to, and what about a discussion or group influences their choices. Participants also reflect on which aspects of their identity they would ideally like to embody in such a space.
This activity helps participants think about a complicated topic like identity through the playful idea of identity capsules. Participants are asked to imagine that they have received the opportunity to live with aliens on another planet and they need to pack 5 items into an identity capsule for the interview. They are instructed to write down the 5 items they would choose to best represent who they are. Participants are then invited to share and discuss their items in pairs or small groups, talking about which part of their identity each item represents. They then explore which components of their identity they choose to express and withhold in group discussions, as well as which parts they would ideally like to bring to a discussion. They also look at their identities as a full group and explore the possible connections and tensions. Participants are then encouraged to listen to each other and think about what characteristics of a particular discussion or group affects these choices and what could create a safe space where they feel comfortable expressing more of their identity.
This activity is designed to help participants reflect on their identity and their choices to express or withhold certain identity traits, explore how they would like to present themselves in a group discussion, and what conditions create a safe space where they feel comfortable sharing more of their identity.
Activity 4.1 Awareness of Social Identity helps participants build self-awareness about our social and cultural identities. It explores the meanings we ascribe to these identities and how they show up or are hidden in different contexts. Participants gain a deeper appreciation for which parts of their identity show up more dominantly in a discussion, and why, as well as a greater awareness of how others express or hide their own identities in a discussion.
Participants are asked to begin the activity by writing down the thoughts that come to mind when thinking about their social or cultural identities and other aspects of what makes up their sense of self. They are then invited to further reflect on what life experiences shaped their identities and which of these identities are visible or invisible. Participants are also asked to think about what others see in them, how important that is to them, and what identities they choose to withhold or express to others. They are then invited to distill their thoughts and create a list of 5-10 characteristics, identities, or components that make up who they are.
Participants are then asked to create an identity pie, by first drawing a circle to represent the pie and then dividing that circle into slices to represent each identity characteristic from their list, with bigger slices representing more dominant aspects of their identity. Participants will not be sharing their full pie with anyone else, so they can feel free to be open and transparent when creating their pie. Participants then invited to share 1-3 characteristics from their pie in pairs or small groups, if they are comfortable doing so. Encourage participants to practice good listening skills as they hear what each person shares, such as silence is golden, trying not to relate what you hear to yourself, and asking open-ended questions.
Participants then come back together as a full group and discuss the similarities and differences they observed among their pies. They share what surprised them about their own and others’ identities pies. They also discuss what identities they take for granted and did not list on their pie, while others did and what that reveals about privilege, society, and belonging. They also reflect on what they might add to their pie after hearing what others included in their pies. Participants also think about how gaining a deeper awareness of their own identity and worldview and being open to hearing about others’ helps them better work together as a group. They also reflect on how this can lead to positive action, such as how critically reflecting on their own identity might help challenge power imbalances in groups and improve accountability.
By practicing listening skills to develop a greater understanding of their own and others’ identity and worldview, this activity helps participants gain a deeper understanding of themselves and others, leading to more engaged and empathic discussions.
Looking forward to collaborating,
Ritu Thomas & the Collaborative Discussion Team