LIBRARY
MIT has produced a number of videotapes that focus on race relations and diversity at the Institute. These tapes have been used by faculty and administrators to conduct presentations, seminars, training, and small group discussions about racial, ethnic, and intercultural relations in the MIT community. Two of the video resources described in this section are familiar at the Institute. The first, It's Intuitively Obvious, is a sequence of seven tapes in which MIT students of varied backgrounds talk candidly about their experiences, hopes, and desires. The second, the Sloan Professional Conduct Workshop: Skills Training for the Effective Manager—Lessons from the Kaleidoscope, is a single volume that contains a number of situations in which a racially charged event or discussion is witnessed by a third party; the video offers multiple takes on these scenarios, illustrating different bystanders' behavior.
During the 1999-2000 academic year, CRD was involved in the production and development of two additional videotapes and supporting educational materials. The first, entitled Breaking Down Barriers, is intended to complement the It's Intuitively Obvious series. The second video project, entitled Making Whiteness Visible: The Conversation No One Wants to Have, is the result of work by CRD's RACE2000! subcommittee in preparation for a series of public programs on issues of Whiteness and White Privilege.
It's Intuitively Obvious Video Series
It's Intuitively Obvious is a series of videotapes in which MIT students from different racial groups discuss the impact of race on their campus experience.
Volume 1: African Americans at MIT (one version is 45 minutes; one version is 90 minutes)
Volume 2: Asian/Pacific Americans at MIT (33 minutes)
Volume 3: Chicano, Hispanic, and Latino Students at MIT (29 minutes)
Volume 4: White Students at MIT (31 minutes)
Volume 5: Interracial Discussion (90 minutes)
Volume 6: Excerpts from Volumes 1, 4, and 5 (20 minutes)
Volume 7: Excerpts on Housing Issues from Volume 5 (23 minutes)
The videotapes, made possible by the work of many students, administrators, and faculty, originated from a seminar taught by Dr. Clarence Williams, entitled "Bridging the Gap Between Racial and Cultural Diversity." The series grew to include a wider group of students, who established a Committee on Race Enlightenment, for which Dr. Williams and Dean Ayida Mthembu served as advisors. CRD was pleased to be able to support the project and, through the work of Committee member Elizabeth Connors, was involved in the facilitation and production of Volumes 5, 6, and 7.
All seven videotapes are available for loan from CRD (617.253.5912, racerelations@mit.edu), Dr. Clarence Williams (617/253-5446), the Humanities Library (Room 14N-420), and Film and Media Studies (Room 14N-430). CRD members are available to facilitate discussions, and have done so with a number of faculty, student, and administrative groups across campus. A discussion guide is also available for groups who wish to conduct their own sessions.
Sloan Professional Conduct Workshop: Skills Training for the Effective Manager—Lessons from the Kaleidoscope
This video resource contains a number of scenarios to help bystanders understand their role in generating an inclusive climate. Much diversity training focuses on "perpetrators" or "victims" of an offense. However, in many settings, such as classrooms, team meetings, or dormitories, there are other parties present. If bystanders can become more comfortable in knowing their options for speaking up, they can help send a message about what kinds of remarks and behavior are or are not appropriate. Bystanders can break the tension and set a different tone.
The videotaped scenarios are based on real events contributed by people at the Sloan School. The role playing is done by Sloan faculty, administrators, staff, and students from different programs. For each scenario, there are multiple takes, where bystanders' actions range from doing nothing to doing something subtle to intervening assertively.
The videotape and its accompanying teaching notes can be used for small group discussions and are available for loan. The tape can be used as is, because it contains situations that will be familiar to people across the Institute. The videotape can also be a template that other groups around MIT can use to see how they might brainstorm and/or videotape scenarios from their own experiences. To borrow a copy of the videotape, please contact CRD (617.253.5912, racerelations@mit.edu). The tape is approximately 45 minutes long, with each scenario lasting three to four minutes.
Breaking Down Barriers
This series of two videotapes and accompanying educational materials is being developed and produced by a group of MIT undergraduates with the help of CRD member Tobie Weiner. Work on the project is ongoing, and each video is expected to be 20 to 30 minutes in length.
The first tape, which should be available for loan by fall of 2000, will focus on issues related to race and MIT. Topics will include visions for race relations on campus, voluntary segregation in housing and relationships, individual responsibility for addressing race and diversity, and the Institute's responsibility for helping students deal with race and diversity. The tape records MIT undergraduates speaking candidly about their experiences and includes discussion of possible solutions to these issues.
The second video, which will address issues that are non-MIT related, will focus on what it means to be an American; stereotypes and how to deal with them; how participants handle racist and/or derogatory remarks about race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality; and what participants think about interracial/intercultural relationships. For more information on these tapes, please contact CRD (617.253.5912, racerelations@mit.edu).
Making Whiteness Visible: The Conversation No One Wants to Have
This project is being developed by the RACE2000! subcommittee of CRD with the intent of sparking discussion on questions of Whiteness and White Privilege. The tape, entitled Making Whiteness Visible: The Conversation No One Wants, runs approximately 30 minutes. To develop the content, two interviewers asked a series of individual MIT community members—faculty, staff, and students—to describe their roles in addressing racist issues and respond to these questions: "When was the first time you became aware of race, of racism?"; "How does racism affect you personally?"; and "Does your race impact your daily life?".
Organized around specific topics, the tape is intended to stimulate discussion in facilitated group settings. Complementary educational materials are being developed, and the package of tape and materials should be available for use by the MIT community in the fall of 2000. The RACE2000! subcommittee will be organizing a series of public programs focusing on the issue of Whiteness during the 2000-01 academic year; these programs are described in more detail in the article on RACE2000!. For information on this tape, please contact CRD (617.253.5912, racerelations@mit.edu).