Anti-oppression: (or antioppression) a framework/practice that focuses on ending oppression. The goal is to develop strategies for creating an egalitarian society free from oppression of other’d groups. It is about responding critically to oppression by dominant groups and individuals.
Armpit Man: the man I – unfortunately – married, who proceeded to subject me to domestic violence
Assimilation: (or Cultural Assimilation) minority groups adapting to the majority group, especially when the majority group is the dominant one, for the purposes of survival and integration. Two variations of cultural assimilation are acculturation and cultural integration, which are not quite as extreme in how they occur, but are still changes within minority groups/individuals.
Colonial Legacies: (also Relics of Colonialism) continued oppression of former colonies, through neocolonialism, or through worldviews rooted in colonial ideas; for example, Ghanaians frequently explaining “black mentality” to me, as evidence that I am superior; spoiler: black mentality doesn’t exist and I am not superior to Ghanaians, just because I am white!
Cultural Appreciation: admiration of elements of a culture that is not your own, or at least not the one you were raised in – closely tied to cultural appropriation; some would argue that the difference is whether you took from the culture or merely learned from it.
Cultural Appropriation: in a sentence, cultural appropriation is taking elements from another culture. While this is often without permission, permission is sometimes granted by members of the appropriated culture – though power dynamics do play a role in the granting of this permission.
Cultural Exchange: when members of different groups swap elements of their cultures; while there may be power dynamics at play between the groups, the trade is mutual.
Dehumanization: the denial of another person’s humanity and the oppression that accompanies it.
Oppression: systemic discrimination of groups of people; malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power.
Power Dynamics: how differing levels of power between groups impacts interactions between their members, discrimination and oppression
Voluntourism: (volunteer tourism, international volunteering or volunteering abroad) any kind of volunteering that is in another community than your own, most often one you have travelled some distance to, often with some tourism sprinkled in. The best known sterotype of this tends to be white youth, frequently girls, who travel to Africa, Asia, South America, even Eastern Europe and the Carribbean.
White Privilege: societal privilege, due to racial identity, or racial appearance; rooted in European colonialism, white privilege exists to protect racial advantages that white people often do not recognize they (we) have.
White Supremacy: system of power rooted in Europes colonial history, in relation to the rest of the world; the system favours the maintenance and defense of white power and privilege. Related to white privilege, in that it can also refer to the structural advantages white people benefit from, over other races, both on collective and individual levels.
Obibini Bruni 