More than a jab: Using boxing as a metaphor to highlight the importance of counterstorytelling

1:45pm-3:15pm EST

Presenter: Martín Alberto Gonzalez

Session Type: Workshop

Topic: Historical perspectives and contemporary connections

Description

Similar to devoted boxers, people with marginalized identities (People of Color, LGBTQIA+, etc.) are constantly in a fight. However, unlike an ordinary boxing match that takes place in a ring, this fight happens through stories. Every day, negative stories are told about marginalized people. Critical Race Theory (CRT) maintains ‘majoritarian’ stories like “low-income people are lazy” are detrimental and can be challenged through counterstories. Similar to how counterpunches in boxing are punches thrown in return for those received, counterstories serve as way to debunk, annihilate, or “knock out” misrepresentations of historically marginalized people. In this workshop, we explore counterpunches as a metaphor for counterstories and ask: How are ‘majoritarian’ stories established and perpetuated? What are counterstories? In what ways do counterstories humanize marginalized peoples’ lived experiences? We will use CRT as an analytical framework to critically analyze deficit-oriented stories, and thereafter initiate our own counterstories.

Panelists

Martín Alberto Gonzalez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Portland State University
martingonzalez@pdx.edu