Background
The protests that followed the killings of members of our Black communities in spring 2020 served to wake many people up to the realities of racism in America—realities to which the Waldorf movement has not been immune. Accepting the fact that racism exists within Waldorf Education and taking on the work of recognizing and eradicating it from our classrooms is a goal to which we must commit ourselves if we are to truly educate our children (and ourselves) toward freedom.
Calling It Like It Is: Uncovering and Dismantling Racism in the Waldorf Movement was first presented by Sunbridge in September 2020. The need for this conference proved to be so widespread, and the event itself so well-received, it was repeated to new audiences that following January and March. Because interest in the topic remains high among many individuals who were unable to attend the conference last year, and because many teachers and administrators who did participate asked us for the opportunity to return to take up this work in greater depth, in 2021-22 we are serving the needs of both groups by repeating the original conference (this event – aka “Part I”) and also by presenting Part II for those who have attended Part I.
Conference Description (this event)
Over the course of three one-and-a-half-hour sessions taking place virtually in real-time on Friday evening and Saturday morning and afternoon, this conference will:
- Define and articulate the ways many Waldorf school curricula center whiteness and set it up as an ideal, to the detriment of all;
- Use the frameworks of racial identity formation and biography work to better understand how we become who we are in a racialized society and how that impacts our engagement with the children in our care;
- Share practical tools, resources, and success stories with the goal of dismantling racism in Waldorf schools and communities.