NCPH 2018: "Insider/Outsider: Racial Bias & Positionality in Interpretation"

Who gets to do what kind of work? In a “top-down” approach, practitioners aid disenfranchised populations in the interpretation of their histories. In a “bottom-up” approach, the disenfranchised originate grassroots initiatives to disrupt institutional power. When people of color interpret the past, we wrest the dialogue of inclusion from those who would undermine it by “giving voice” to our struggles. This working group grapples with institutional and individual self-assessment of positionality.