The Purpose Behind AnthroPerspectives

AnthroPerspectives has been a long time coming.  With a lifelong connection to reading and writing, my relationship to the human story has always felt like a part of me.  During my childhood, I was an avid reader. Book after book, I delved into the lives of young girls from around the world who were experiencing such different realities, cultures and experiences.  I was always infatuated by the individual’s story, and have not gone through a phase in my life where I wasn’t using writing as a tool for reflection, imagination or understanding.  The seeds of this blog were planted even…

Examining Social Justice Part 2: Methods for Engagement

“Unless we engage in these and other conscious acts of reflection and re-education, we easily repeat the process with our children. We teach what we were taught. The unexamined prejudices of the parents are passed on to the children. It is not our fault, but it is our responsibility to interrupt this cycle” -Tatum Social Justice methods are a tool for reflection, to learn about how we are engaging each other, and to consider how our preconceived notions can lead to uninformed or accidental mistreatment of people.  Contrary to this purpose, many have begun to see it as an infringement…

Examining Social Justice Part 1: A Road Map to Understanding

Tensions exist around issues of social import. If we are incapable of defining what it is that we are actually fighting for, we will be unable to engage one another constructively on topics that shape our world.” Social justice is a controversial topic whose definition and importance are often contested.  There are those who claim social justice as their moral obligation when shaming someone for their behavior, leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths around this cause.  When conversations come up that cite social justice or discuss social structures, inequity, race, gender, etc, people often back out of the conversation for fear…