Elon University students consider Critical Hydra Theory

Posted on: March 21, 2023 | By: Tom Arcaro | Filed under: Hydra "privileging forces"

Elon University students consider Critical Hydra Theory (CHT) Introducing CHT in a 100 minute class Recently I presented the concept of Critical Hydra Theory to 4 classes of Elon University students. Included were three sections of our first year seminar The Global Experience taught by my colleague Dr. Karen Wirth and the fourth my Introduction to Sociology class. The vast majority of these students are first year’s and none had heard of CHT before this class. Dr. Wirth and I had our students write an essay about what they took away from the session. Below are the five best submissions. Each of these exceptional students will have a modest donation made on their behalf to a humanitarian cause of their choosing.     Critical Hydra Theory By Emma Hash On a globe scale, true equality is not something that we have obtained since the beginning of agriculture. Once there was…

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Basic tenets of Critical Hydra Theory

Posted on: February 23, 2023 | By: Tom Arcaro | Filed under: Hydra "privileging forces"

[Updated 8-4-23] ‘…the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…’ -from the first sentence of the Preamble to the 1948  Universal Declaration of Human Rights   Critical Hydra Theory ‘Critical Hydra Theory’ (CHT) is similar to but broadly expands on ‘Critical Race Theory’ (CRT). It is more comprehensive, interrogating not just race and ethnicity but all of the privileging forces which have historically served to marginalize the majority of humans, both past and present. Perhaps the biggest difference is that CHT includes anthropocentrism, an ‘othering’ of non-human life on our Earth. CHT has a demonstratively global perspective and seeks to provide a framework of analysis interrogating all social forces which have contributed to systemic marginalization of non-privileged status groups throughout history. Like Critical Race Theory, this new perspective has a…

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Sociology, critical Hydra theory, and social justice: online teaching with Azizul Hoque

Posted on: February 20, 2023 | By: Tom Arcaro | Filed under: Hydra "privileging forces"

Sociology, critical Hydra theory, and social justice: online teaching with Azizul Hoque Leading an online class for refugees I talk several times per week with my Bangladeshi colleague Azizul Hoque, an education specialist with the BRAC University Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We have been working together since the spring of 2021 when we began working on an online sociology and social justice course which combined Bangladeshi learners and Rohingya refugees. Our ten week course was a success and culminated in a virtual ceremony attended by all the learners and with a special guest appearance from (CPJ Executive Director Manzoor Hasan. I wrote a good deal about this experience on this blog. See here, here, and here for just a few examples. Azizul and I have worked together on the curricula for an online course he is currently leading that has learners from both Kenya and Bangladesh,…

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Examining and expanding on the concept of  ‘privilege’ through the lens of the Hydra model

Posted on: February 16, 2023 | By: Tom Arcaro | Filed under: Hydra "privileging forces"

Examining and expanding on the concept of  ‘privilege’ through the lens of the Hydra model An essay cum learning exercise [Note: This essay is a useful companion to my discussions of status array and positionality.] [Trigger warning: Inherent in the nature of the material covered in this post are topics and exercises which may be triggering.] A basic premise of critical Hydra theory (CHT) is this: included among the myriad social forces that impact all human life are the eight privileging forces represented by the heads of the Hydra. Using CHT one can gain a greater awareness of how these social forces impact their lives and the lives of others not only locally but universally around the globe. Simply put, social forces, especially privileging forces, impact one’s life chances, in many cases dramatically so. Around the heads of the Hydra: my white (and other) privilege in action Let me start…

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An Appeal to United States to take “Responsibility to Protect”(R2P) Rohingya for a Permanent Solution 

Posted on: December 31, 2022 | By: Tom Arcaro | Filed under: Refugee humanitarians

Introductory context I have been receiving multiple emails per day for the last several months from Mohammed Husson Ali, a 71 year old Rohingya man now living in the United States. Daily, Mohammad scours Internet for any news relevant to his people and, in a soulful act of witnessing, he forwards these news items to those who he knows will be interested. He added me to his mailing list -now 170 people long- after reading an article I had written about the plight of the Rohingya. Born in Myo Thu Gyi village, Maungdaw Town, Arakan, Burma, he earned several degrees and worked in various capacities including with the UNHCR and the World Food Programme. Fleeing violence in Burma, his family is part of the Rohingya diaspora. He has 3 sons, 2 daughters, 3 grandsons and 2 granddaughters now living in Kutupalong refugee camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. His single son who…

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Trump, Putin, and the Tatmadaw

Posted on: October 23, 2022 | By: Tom Arcaro | Filed under: General posts on the humanitarian aid industry

    [Below is a note to a colleague on his way to Bangkok for discussions regarding the Rohingya situation.]   My esteemed colleague, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…” -Lord Acton I am keenly aware that quoting the words of a colonialist -let alone a British colonialist- to begin this message is perhaps the height of irony. Acton’s words, though, are relevant to my observations below. I read the document you sent to me [as background for your high level meeting in Bangkok to discuss the situation in Maynmar regarding the Rohingya]. Thank you. I have been thinking a great deal about the situation in Myanmar and what can be done to create a different political narrative in that country. Enlarging my scope of attention, I see my own country, the United States, being very much influenced by the…

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Status array exercise using the Hydra model

Posted on: October 1, 2022 | By: Tom Arcaro | Filed under: Hydra "privileging forces"

Status array exercise using the Hydra model [Trigger warning: Inherent in the nature of the material covered in this post are topics and exercises which may be triggering.] [Updated 3-6-24] Introduction As with all of the exercises designed to explore critical Hydra theory (CHT) there needs to be a skilled facilitator to guide participants through each step, clarify definitions and usages of words, and insure all aspects of each step are explored thoroughly. Exploring and understanding your status set though the lens of the Hydra model starts with a quick and simple status count and, using some basic tools from sociology, ends up by discussing the concept of master status. The exercise below will be helpful in understanding the concept of positionality discussed here. This exercise must be seen as the beginning of many discussions about power, privilege, and status arrays and as part of a larger and even more…

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Confronting toxic othering exercise

Posted on: September 25, 2022 | By: Tom Arcaro | Filed under: Hydra "privileging forces"

[Updated 8-7-23] Confronting toxic othering exercise ‘…the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…      -from the first sentence of the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights   [Note: This exercise is an example of how to employ critical Hydra theory (CHT). For additional context the reader is invited to explore various other posts on this blog.] Overview This exercise builds on the insights and methodologies of Critical Race Theory (CRT). The purpose of this exercise is to generate examples of how toxic othering has been confronted at all levels, local, national, and global. One of the most important wisdom‘s from CRT is that we must interrogate the history of racism and how racist ideologies have been entrenched into laws, policies, norms, and general expectations of behavior. In CRT…

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Positionality and the Hydra

Posted on: September 18, 2022 | By: Tom Arcaro | Filed under: Hydra "privileging forces"

‘…the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…      -from the first sentence of the Preamble to the 1948  Universal Declaration of Human Rights [Updated 3-16-23] [Trigger warning: Inherent in the nature of the material covered in this post are topics and exercises which may be triggering.] Positionality and the Hydra In my continuing journey to expand on what I have been calling ‘critical Hydra theory’ and to better understand privileging forces I have been thinking a good deal about positionality. Dimensions of our identity influence how we both see and are seen by others. This exercise is a companion to and should be done after exploring one’s status array. Positionality can be defined as “… the social and political context that creates our identity in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability…

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Book of poems published by genocide survivor

Posted on: September 6, 2022 | By: Tom Arcaro | Filed under: Refugee humanitarians

The Painful Life of Rohingya by Roshidullah Kyaw Naing published by Evincepub Publishing   A must read It has been my honor to write about and in some cases to partner with many Rohingya poets over the last few years, and I have written many posts about these poets. I invite you to click here to read about some amazing young Rohingya women and men who have chosen writing poetry as one way of responding to the agonies of being a genocide victim. Early this summer I was contacted by Rohingya poet Roshidullah Kyaw Naing. After reading -and re-reading many times- his collection of poems I agreed to write a foreword for his book. His dream of having this book of poems is now, fantastically, a reality.  I encourage anyone who wants to learn about the struggle of the Rohingya people to order this book now on Amazon or directly from the…

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