Brian C. Johnson

We've Scene It All Before: Using Film Clips in Diversity Awareness Training Brian C. Johnson

A revolutionary tool for corporate and academic trainers, We've Scene It All Before, harnesses the power of mainstream Hollywood film to enhance educational sessions about diversity and social justice. This resource manual offers practical guidance on how to effectively use the concept of difference as a starting point towards true inclusion. Seasoned and novice trainers will appreciate the suggested strategies and best practices on facilitating diversity dialogues, which are coupled with a set of twenty-five definitions that introduce and raise awareness of the personal and systemic nature of difference, discrimination, and power. Workshops on human relations and workplace diversity must move beyond the superficial "celebration" of diversity to the dismantling of systems of privilege and oppression that create environments where members of the organization are disenfranchised and disempowered. Using clips from a variety of genres of mainstream film allows the trainer to make intercultural concepts visible and offers a way for us to challenge our own values and assumptions. Participants will enjoy the presentations more as they view some of their favorite films in a whole new way; using this familiar medium creates a common basis for entering the discussions all the while giving us the permission to talk about serious and often controversial subjects. We've Scene It All Before: Using Film Clips in Diversity Awareness Training is a learning tool which will be tremendously useful in reducing resistance and increasing thoughtful cross-cultural dialogue.