Treaty Relations

I t is relatively easy to get people together to talk about cultural awareness, but it takes effort to facilitate meaningful conversations that have a lasting impact. Dr. Cathy Rocke, an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba, is working on developing an intergroup dialogue initiative at the U of M that would be based on a successful University of Michigan model. "The philosophy of intergroup dialogue is that for people to really get to the root of all these issues, it has to be a sustained conversation over time," Rocke said. Her recent publication, The Use of Humour to Help Bridge Cultural Divides: An Exploration of a Workplace Cultural Awareness Workshop, arose from her doctoral research at the Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice on the efficacy of organizational cultural awareness workshops. Rocke stresses that humour is just one component of her research, but it can create a safe atmosphere for addressing difficult issues. Intergroup dialogue starts with training people to facilitate conversations between two groups that are in conflict. The dialogues involve four main components: building relationships, talking about the history of the conflict from both perspectives, having in-depth conversations about points of contention, and then taking action. "The final piece is a challenge to say, 'What do we do about it?'" Rocke said. "Afterward, people have the tools to address inequality in their own organization." Rock said most cultural awareness programs are too short and superficial, or they are based on "shame and blame," which results in participants who are defensive and closed down. Training and support for facilitators is a vital part of the process. They are trained to deal with the "prisoners in the room," and they can use humour to ease tensions and create a safe atmosphere for open dialogue. Currently, Rocke is training graduate students to be facilitators, and she is trying to negotiate an incentive so students would have an opportunity to do a practicum and get credit for running an intergroup dialogue. There's a need to build capacity to develop facilitators, but eventually, she would like to see the model incorporated on a more broad scale in the community. "I think this model can be used everywhere," she said. "It's not a new idea — you get people in the room to have a conversation — it's just really how do you do that in a way that it doesn't deteriorate." COMEdy OPENS CONvERSATIONS laugh and the world laughs with you. That is a lesson Chad Anderson, 27, has taken to heart as a standup comedian. Once called a "dirty Indian Spic" while he was standing at a bus stop after a long day working at a construction job, he turned the hurtful incident into fodder for his act. And after reading the infamous Maclean's magazine article that labelled Winnipeg as CAN WE TAlK? HUMOUR CAN bRIdGE CULTURAL dIvIdES Canada's most racist city, Anderson wrote jokes about that, too. "I thought about it a lot. The article itself opened up a lot of dialogue about racism; why wouldn't I write something about it?" he said. "let's find the humour in it. Obviously it's a problem, but if we can't laugh at our problems then we're not going to be able to solve them." Anderson now has a comedy bit that plays off the audience's response to his statement that the Maclean's article was right on the money. That leads to a conversation about stereotypes. "I was guilty of believing that all Asian people were good at computers and math," he quips. "That's not a horrible stereotype to have about your culture — I would kill to have that stereotype, that all Aboriginal people are smart." Originally from The Pas, Anderson started his standup career when he moved to Winnipeg in 2008, starting with amateur nights at Rumor's Comedy Club and other venues. He has toured across Canada, performed on bills with popular Cree comedian Don Burnstick and is appearing for the third time in the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, until April 12, 2015. While he comes at it from an Aboriginal perspective, most of his jokes about racism extend beyond the Aboriginal realm, although he does touch on another stereotype when he talks about his status as a non drinker. "I do jokes sometimes when I'm onstage: 'I've been sober for four years and I've been Aboriginal for more than 27 years, so if those two things surprise you, you're probably racist,'" he said. "As a comedian, you can talk about things and make light of them. Comedy is that bridge." He said people may be offended by some jokes, but everything should be ammunition for a comedian. "As long as you can write it intelligently," he said. "As comedians, that's our job – to go out and talk about things that are happening in the world and bring light to them." ❚ "As a comedian, you can talk about things and make light of them. Comedy is that bridge." ~ Chad Anderson

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