When Two Worlds Collide: The Joy and Sorrows of Community Engagement

Minh Dang | 21 May 2014 |Scottsdale, AZ | Community College National Center for Community Engagement

OUR JOURNEY TOGETHER

Experiences of Joyful Sorrows and Sorrowful Joys

Human Trafficking 101

Applications to Community Engagement and Higher Education

Philosophy of Community Engagement

TEARS OF

JOY

Why do we cry?

Love – we care about people, ideasLoss – letting go of the past/longing, endingsImportance – we assign meaningDevelopment – we recognize growthHelplessness – we see our lack of controlExpectations – experience the unimaginable

How to Love

How do we love when we have been hurt?

How do citizens continue to love one another when they have hurt and been hurt by others?

“Justice is what love looks like in public.”- Cornel West

How does a nation love its citizens? What does a nation do when it has inflicted hurt and harm on its citizens and the world?

When we hurt, we often respond by...Hiding our pain Healing our pain

Harming others (cycle of violence)

HUMAN TRAFFICKING 101-ish....

“Modern slavery”, “forced labor”, “sex trafficking”, “labor trafficking”, “commercial sexual exploitation” Economic and sexual exploitation Affects approximately 29.8 million people worldwide$32 billion industry Mostly affects women and girls Caused by poverty, corruption, and sexual deviation

Current and dominant narrative....

→ Men, boys, and transgender people affected → Unsure the “size” of the problem

Legal Definition of “Severe Human Trafficking”

“the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery” - Trafficking Victims Protection Act, 2000

ACTION

MEANS

PURPOSE

Definition Reconceptualized

Slavery | Human TraffickingEvidence of control tantamount to possession Appropriation of labor powerUse of force and threat of violenceLoss of free will

?? The condition of a slave; an institution, an economic process?

the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services,

through the use of force, fraud, or coercion

for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery

SLAVERY * HUMAN TRAFFICKING

*SOURCES:Bales, K. (2005). Understanding global slavery. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Bellagio-Harvard Guidelines on the Legal Parameters of Slavery. (2011). Proceedings from The Legal Parameters of Slavery: Historical to the Contemporary. Boston, MA: Harvard.

Complete Domination &Dehumanization

Autonomy, Love & Respect

Slavery Debt Bondage freedom

child abuse, racism, low min. wage, sexism, homophobia, voter suppression

and all other forms of oppression

Continuum of Oppression & Liberation

MD definition: slavery is a social phenomenon existing on the far end of a continuum of oppression, where human beings completely dominate other human beings, and results in physical, psychological, interpersonal, and environmental trauma; financial and social instability and inequities; and dilution of the fundamental principles of democracy

APPLICATIONS TO CE & HIGHER ED1. Higher education and community engagement can contribute to the liberation of individuals and communities and/or can and does contribute to the enslavement of people.

- Institutions that promote intellectual rigor and individualism- Institutions that provide social services to young adults. - Colleges and universities as consumers too. - Colleges as institutions that equalize opportunity or increase inequity.

2. Community engagement addresses all of the issues on this continuum of oppression. - You are sending students to witness injustice and horror.- You provide opportunities to connect with other students at deeper levels, to witness community empowerment, and to contribute to social justice victories. - You are providing opportunities for empathy development.- Students are exploring what it means to be autonomous and yet a part of a community, locally or globally. - Students confront their own experiences of injustice. - Students have energy, passion, idealism that can be harnessed.

PHILOSOPHY (System of Principles)FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

1. SHARE* Stories: humanizes, comforts, provides models

- Stories of freedom - Multiple narratives; complexity- Feelings: fears, insecurities, hopes- Processes: individual + community healing

* Resources: people, money, skills, relationships, office space, etc.

* Power: - Survivor/community led or informed - Decision making, Policies, Input, etc. - Difference in skills/resources does not mean difference in fundamental human value.

PHILOSOPHY (System of Principles)FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

2. PLAY. SING. DANCE. LAUGH...TOGETHER.

3. LISTEN AND RECEIVE

4. WORK TOGETHER. Work: educate, activate, organizeTogether: define “the enemy” Is it really “out there”? In a specific person? Or is it a human potential?

5. GRIEVE TOGETHER. Emotional poverty and profits. Accept what you cannot change so you can change what you can. Avoid repeating the past.

PHILOSOPHY (System of Principles)FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

6. BE. CREATE SPACES FOR JUST BEING.

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."

- Albert CamusMinh Dang | | @minhspeakstruth