A black man who can't dance trapped in a white woman's body: The effects of the dramatic vignette in achieving tolerance.

摘要

This study investigates the possibilities for teaching empathy and tolerance. It is an interdisciplinary project that examines the issues, intellectual traditions, and characteristics of bias and prejudice. Its step-by-step development chronicles the author's journey and leads to the creation and reading of the author's original dramatic vignettes and monologues written to depict everyday scenes of intolerance and partiality. The depictions coupled with subsequent group discussions of the issues revealed within the portrayals document the effects of these discussions.;This inquiry speaks to both multiculturally specific as well as established communications issues including writing out of one's cultural set, group protocol and discussion systems, and active and effective listening techniques. Within the milieu of education, the study details non-proselytizing, self-examining, and methodological approaches for enduring "internalized" learning. These educational approaches are based on the opinions of the scholarly community and the author's 25 years of diverse educational experience.;This examination addresses concerns relating to prejudice and bias from both a historical as well as a contemporary perspective. It articulates the author's processes within the context of creative writing and the chosen subject that includes self-realized learning and empathetic awareness in regard to cultural acceptance. The discussions of the original portrayals bring to focus the complexities of bias and prejudice in a far-reaching manner. They provide a vehicle that assists in the development of self-awareness that in turn helps to foster empathy and tolerance.