Graphic design by Kamilla Mez, 2024.


Study Group: Breaking down Whiteness


Organised by a group of volunteers from lím collective


This study group is an intensive 4-week peer led online self-study on whiteness, privilege and supremacy. We will read Layla F. Saad’s book “Me And White Supremacy” as a central resource. The group is open to everyone who wants to learn about their own white supremacy, the ways it is often (unconsciously) practised in everyday life, and how to make steps towards changing such practices. This will create a potential space to work on your emotional resilience in relation to questions of race, practice listening and holding a space.

Saad’s book is one of many resources that can serve as a good introduction to working on your white supremacy through the lens of everyday life. It contains a 28-day challenge on “me and white supremacy” with daily exercises to complete, which gives a structure to practice what we read about. Over the course of 4 weeks, we will read the book together and commit to engaging in the 28-day challenge. We will meet once a week to discuss, share and help each other during a 90 minute online study group.

The study group is designed to be a peer-to-peer learning space for white people to work on changing racially biassed thoughts, practices, ideas, and behaviours. The aim is to create a non-judgmental space to learn and improve our ability to understand, identify and tackle white supremacy. It is based on the understanding that - as white people - we all have internalised racial bias and the privileges of white supremacy are an integral part of how our everyday life functions, even if our politics are anti-racist.

The focus of the study group is to create a genuine learning space where everyone can get to grips with their biases and ignorance, however severe, and we therefore have gathered some tools that can be used in the sharing and reflection sessions. The only requirement is that you genuinely want and are ready to look at your own whiteness, privilege and supremacy, and are interested in the sometimes uncomfortable but important process of learning to recognize and tackle it. We will support each other in this process.

The course is a starting point. There are many other resources in local contexts and languages that can support this learning. There is no end-point to this work, but we see the study group as a collective space to facilitate that time and resources from white people's lives are spent on dismantling white supremacy. After the 28 days it will be possible to form study groups based on specific topics or shared experiences, for example, white women, whiteness for under 10s, white queers, parenting and whiteness, whiteness and cultural organising etc. Here, we can organise in relevant groups and also open up for taking ‘learning tasks’ from friends and collaborators.


SCHEDULE

We will kick-off the 28 days together with an online session on Wednesday the 6th March 2024, and meet weekly until the 3rd April to discuss our learning and help each other out. Every week we will read a part of the book and work on the exercises suggested for the 28-day challenge which we then discuss in the next session. The book is about 250 pages, so you can expect to read around 60 pages a week.

Wednesday the 6th March 2024 20-21:30 CET
Homework for session: Chapters: Foreword + Part I entirely.

Wednesday the 13th March 2024 20-21:30 CET
Homework for session Part II: The Work + Week 1. The Basics.

Wednesday the 20th March 2024 20-21:30 CET
Homework for session: Part II: Week 2. Anti Blackness, Racial Stereotypes, and Cultural Appropriation.

Wednesday 27th March 2024 20-21:30 CET
Homework for session: Week 3: Allyship

Wednesday the 3rd April 2024 20-21:30 CET
Homework for session Week 4: Power, Relationships, and Commitments + Now What? Continuing the Work after Day 28.


What we will do during the study group sessions

Sessions are 1.5 hours.
We make sure we have a timekeeper, a breakout-session coordinator, and a person to stay behind if someone needs a chat.
☞ Intro and check in
☞ Sharing how exercises have been going (in smaller groups via breakout rooms)
☞ Sharing conversations that have come from sharing exercises (in plenum)
☞ Round off and check out

*literature can be accessed here or borrowed at your local library.
*study group will be in English, but smaller groups in for example Danish can be arranged if required.


How you can sign up

Send an email to info.limcollective@gmail.com

Please state the different languages you are comfortable speaking, and let us know if you wish to be placed in break-out groups in English/Danish/Other/No preference. After signing up you will receive a confirmation email that includes the link to the first study group session.