USF CMS kicked off the New Year, with diversity workshop hosted by USF St. Pete campus Office of Multicultural Affairs, Wendy Yu and Javier Gonzales. The workshop gave an overview of the ten most salient identities: ability, age, ethnicity, race, national origin, faith, sex, gender, sexual orientation, and socio economic status. We learned how each generates multiple sources of privilege and oppression for people.
We also acquired language to explore our own salient identities. Finally, we explored how individuals’ multiple identities intersect to create a whole that is different from the component identities (i.e. Intersectionality). This workshop is step toward providing a more inclusive environment at CMS and it has made CMS more resilient.