The name of this page is inspired by, Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press was an activist feminist press that was closely related to the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) which was started in 1980 following a phone conversation between Barbara Smith and at the suggestion of her friend, poet Audre Lorde. The group decided that they would publish books aimed at promoting the writing of women of color of all racial/ethnic heritages, national origins, ages, socioeconomic classes, and sexual orientations. As Smith states in “A Press of Our Own: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press,” the target audience of the press was “not solely women of color or lesbians of color, but the entire gamut of our communities.” The project resulted in the world’s first publishing company run autonomously by women of color. Smith describes this as “one of (the group’s) bravest steps”, as “most people of color have chosen to work in their separate groups when they do media or other projects.” The organization was founded on examining the specific situations and issues that women of color face.
Below is space for me to publicly share the work change work I do within aid system to support under-represented people in all their diversity.
Blog Posts
Theory: Beyond the Gender Binary
Within international development, the term gender seems to appear everywhere. Gender And Development (GAD), gender mainstreaming, gender approach, gender analysis, gender justice and so on…
Theory: Intersectionality and Development
Intersectionality has become a well-used term in development work, despite heated debates on its definition. Intersectionality is understood by many as a theory, a research paradigm or a strategy to transform power relations…
Theory: Breaking the Boundaries of the Equality, Equity and Liberation Meme
The original meme was created in 2012 by a fellow named Craig Froehle. He created the image to clarify why equality of outcomes was a better goal than equal opportunity….
Principle: Praxis Makes Perfect
Theory without action doesn’t create change. Action without reflection produces ineffective or counter-productive community work. That’s why we have praxis: a cycle of theory, action and reflection that helps us analyse our efforts in order to improve our (community) practice.
Theory: Reflective Practice
This reflective practice resource will guide you through the basics of what reflective practice is, its benefits, how to integrate it into your community work and the basics of reflective writing.
Principle: Consensus is a means and not an end
The two foundational values of consensus decision making are empowering every person’s full participation in decision making and respecting and accomodating diverse opinions. These values are more important than the form itself.
Principle: Take leadership from those most impacted
Effective community develop required providing appropriate support to, and taking direction from those who have the most to lose.
Theory: Narrative Power Analysis
All power relations have a narrative dimension. Narrative power analysis is a systemic methodology for examining the stories that abet the powers that be in order to better challenge them.
Theory: Cultural Hegemony
Politics is not only fought out on parliamentary floors and between political parties, workplaces or on battlefields, but also in the language we use, the stories we tell, and the images we conjure — in short, in the ways we make sense of the world.
Theory: Four Types of Power
Power is never static, for power is not a thing that we can hold or store, it is a movement, a relationship, a balance, fluid and changing. The power one person can wield over another is dependent on a myriad of external factors and subtle agreements
Principle: Strengths Based Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation
The measures we use need to be consistent with our approach (if we are strengths-based we need to find or develop strengths-based measures), be respectful and be appropriate to our audience.
Theory: 10 Approaches for Disability Inclusion in the Aid System
Best practice approaches to ensuring that international and local community development and humanitarian programmes are inclusive of and accessible to people with disabilities need not be costly or complicated. .
Theory: Seven principles that underpin my strengths-based approach to group work
Most of the available literature focuses on groups as part of a broader strengths-based approach to a particular issue or target group, rather than a strengths-based approach to working with groups.
Principle: Strengths-based practice: more than being positive
In strengths-based approaches we focus on strengths, aspirations, and potential rather than problems, needs and deficits. This does NOT mean looking at the world through rose-coloured glasses and ignoring problems, needs and deficits.
Opinion: Illuminating LBTQ Women this International Women’s Day
But queer women across the world, face added challenges and worries not just because of their gender, but also because of who they are and whom they love.
Theory: Active Listening
Active listening is more than hearing: It involves processing what has been heard and skilfully selecting a response.
Theory: bell hooks: Ideas for Social Justice
As a classroom community, our capacity to generate excitement is deeply affected by our interest in one another, in hearing one another’s voices, in recognizing one another’s presence. – Teaching to Transgress, 1994
Theory: Points of Intervention
Truly effective interventions go beyond simply disrupting a system to pose a deeper challenge to its underlying assumptions and basic legitimacy. This holds true whether the intervention targets a physical system like a sweatshop or an ideological system like racism, sexism, or market fundamentalism.
Theory: How to Build Narrative Power and Co-Create a Just Future
Truly effective interventions go beyond simply disrupting a system to pose a deeper challenge to its underlying assumptions and basic legitimacy. This holds true whether the intervention targets a physical system like a sweatshop or an ideological system like racism, sexism, or market fundamentalism.
Theory: Horizontal and Vertical Community Engagement
While the processes used to encourage vertical community, engagement are likely to be different to those used to enhance horizontal community engagement, many examples of community development involve aspects of both.
Practice: 23 Reflection Questions and one sentence to finish
Theory & Tool: Creating Accountable Spaces in Participatory Projects
A reflection, theory and tool on how we can become more accountable for ensuring spaces are safe/r, accessible and more inclusive.
Theory: Story as Collaborative Evaluation
Using Story as Collaborative Evaluation highlights using a storytelling methodology as one way community members can evaluate the impact of development projects.
