GLOSSARY

Accessibility Giving equitable access to everyone along the continuum of human ability and experience. Accessibility encompasses the broader meanings of compliance and refers to how organizations make space for the characteristics that each person brings.

Affirmative action Legislation and policies that support members of disadvantaged groups, called protected classes, that have previously suffered discrimination in such areas as education, employment, or housing. Taking affirmative action means that the organization will set goals to correct inequities in their systems that have systemically disadvantaged the protected groups based on race, gender, age, religion, nationality, color, creed, and in some states sexual orientation.

African American A person of African descent born in the United States (see also Black).

Agency The thoughts and actions taken by people to express their power to shape their experiences.

Allies/allyship People who uses their privilege to advocate on behalf of someone else who doesn’t hold that same privilege.

Asian American A person of Asian descent born in the United States.

Baby boomer Someone born between 1946 and 1964.

Belonging Sense of psychological safety leading to the ability to be one’s authentic self without fear of judgment.

Black A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa, not necessarily only in the United States. Often in the United States, all people with brown or black skin color are considered African American. However, those who are not born in the United States may identify more with their country of origin, such as Kenya or Nigeria, or as Afro-Caribbean.

Brave space/zone A condition that allows for the surfacing and sharing of each other’s deep truths without fear of retribution.

Cancel culture Refers to social media. A person is ejected from influence or fame due to questionable actions or posts. It is caused by a critical mass of people who are quick to judge and slow to question.

Cisgender Denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.

Code-shifting Act of purposefully modifying your behavior in different settings to fit the dominant cultural norm.

Collective responsibility A concept that individuals are responsible for other people’s actions by tolerating, ignoring, or harboring them, without actively collaborating in these actions.

Collectivist culture Cultures that prioritize group needs over individual needs.

Covering The act of concealing something about yourself to avoid making other people feel uncomfortable or to lessen attention to a given characteristic.

Cultural misappropriation Behaving or acting in ways that represent a culture you are not a part of and interpreted as demeaning by that culture.

Decentering the dominant narrative Learning to be interested in and to talk about what something means for someone in a subordinated position based on their identity rather than always starting from framing the conversation from what something means for the dominant, normative group’s perspective.

Distancing language Statements that distance one from the need/ability to take personal action.

Diversity A mix of differences in any particular setting to include but not necessarily limited to race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, age or generation, and job function.

Dominant group A group with systemic power, privileges, and social status within a society.

Equity The process by which we achieve fairness, equality, and inclusion that includes reallocation of resources and implementation of policies and structures that work to eliminate historical, systemic disadvantage.

Ethnocentrism An evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one’s own culture.

Forgiveness To stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for an offense, flaw, or mistake.

Gaslighting Psychological manipulation toward a historically marginalized group to make the receivers feel that the situation is their fault.

Gender Attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex.

Gender identity One’s sense of oneself as male, female, or something else

Gender neutral/inclusive pronouns Pronouns that do not associate a gender with the individual who is being discussed.

Grace Extending kindness to the unworthy.

Imposter syndrome Feelings of inadequacy or incompetence despite demonstrated evidence of success.

Inclusion An environment where people feel valued and respected for their uniqueness and feel a sense of belonging.

Inclusive conversations Dialogue between two or more people of different cultural backgrounds (e.g., race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, ability status, and so on) for the purpose of fostering understanding about the other’s culture and lived experiences for the ultimate purpose of achieving equitable outcomes.

Individualistic culture Prioritizes personal independence more than interdependence—is individually rather than group focused.

Intercultural Development Inventory A psychometric cross-cultural assessment tool that measures individual and group intercultural competence.

Internalized oppression The acceptance and adoption of negative messages about your identity group.

Intersectionality Acknowledgment that multiple power dynamics (“isms”) are operating simultaneously—often in complex and compounding ways—and must be considered together to have a more complete understanding of oppression and ways to transform it.

Latinx A gender-neutral neologism, sometimes used instead of “Latino” or “Latina” to refer to people of a Latin American cultural group.

LGBTQ The acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning.

Liberation Removing the barriers and inequities in the social systems that oppress or marginalize specific groups of people who share common identities.

Mansplaining When a man explains something to a woman in a condescending way when he either (1) doesn’t know anything about it, or (2) knows far less than the woman.

Marginalized A person or group whose public or private status has been lowered through hateful, deceitful, or misguided speech or action.

Microaffirmations Subtle acknowledgments of a person’s value and accomplishments that create a sense of belonging.

Microaggressions Brief, sometimes subtle, everyday comments that either consciously or unconsciously disparage others based on their personal characteristics or perceived group membership.

Microassaults Conscious, deliberate, and either subtle or explicit biased attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors that are communicated to marginalized groups through verbalizations or behaviors.

Microinequities Small, sometimes unspoken, often unconscious messages we send and receive that have a powerful impact on our interactions with others. Some common examples include a wink of understanding from across the table, or a distracted glance at the ceiling or watch while someone is speaking, or consistently mispronouncing someone’s name.

Microinsults Interpersonal communications that convey stereotypes, rudeness, and insensitivity and that demean a person’s identity. Unlike microassaults, microinsults are often committed unconsciously and may seem more subtle.

Microinvalidations Communications cues that exclude, negate, or nullify the thoughts, feelings, or experiential realities of certain groups.

Millennial Someone born between 1980 and 2000.

Minimization An orientation on the intercultural development continuum where one’s worldview is to overemphasize similarities. This orientation is where individuals will claim to be color-blind or gender-blind and they will assert that they treat everyone the same.

Multipartiality An empathetic openness to and the ability to integrate opposing perspectives and models in dialogue.

Native American A member of any of the indigenous peoples of the Western hemisphere especially.

Nonbinary People whose gender is not male or female. Some people don’t identify with any gender. Some people’s gender changes over time.

Oppression Social oppression is a concept that describes the relationship between two categories of people in which one benefits from the systematic abuse and exploitation of the other.

Oppression Olympics When two or more groups compete to prove themselves more oppressed than each other.

Othering Processes and structures that engender marginality and persistent inequality based on group identities.

Perpetration Induced Traumatic Stress (PITS) Incidents of PTSD resulting from the trauma of having committed an act of violence oneself.

Political correctness The avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.

Populism A political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.

Power System and group access, advantage, and privilege ascribed to one based on the identity groups to which one belongs.

Privilege Unearned access to resources in society and power that is only readily available to some as a result of their social group membership

Psychological safety Being able to show and employ one’s self without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status, or career.

Race A social construct with little biological meaning that separates people by physical characteristics, primarily skin color.

Racism A system of advantages based on race, involving cultural messages and institutional policies and practices as well as the beliefs and actions of individuals.

Self-esteem How a person feels about herself or himself; pride in oneself. Self-esteem is linked to family traditions, language, social customs, economic background, and other aspects of one’s cultural environment.

Social group identity One’s sense of identity based on group membership(s)—specifically those groups that influence any given social context.

Stigmatized identities Attributes or conditions that are socially devalued and negatively stereotyped.

Subordinated group A group that has been traditionally and historically oppressed, excluded, or disadvantaged in society.

Systemic power Group access, advantage, and privilege ascribed to one based on the identity groups to which one belongs.

Systems of inequity A structurally imbalanced system that lacks equity across all groups.

Tone policing A way of invalidating concerns because of the way (the tone) in which the message was delivered. Tone policing dismisses the “issue” (e.g., the inequity, injustice, oppression, and impact it has) and centers the way in which the issue was communicated (e.g., “You sounded angry” or “You sounded divisive”).

Trigger Something that forces you to relive a trauma.

Trust The sense that you can count on someone to have your best interests in mind. Trust is built by developing meaningful relationships with others.

White fragility The range of emotions (from fear, guilt, emotional distress, discomfort, defensiveness, etc.) experienced by white people when confronted with information about racial inequality and injustice.

Whiteness theory The idea that whiteness is the default of American culture, and as a result of this default, white people cannot see the advantages and disadvantages of being white due to a lack of “cultural subjectiveness” toward whiteness.

Whitesplaining Someone from a dominant group explaining to audiences of color the true nature of racism.

Woke Being conscious of racial discrimination in society and other forms of oppression and injustice. In mainstream use, “woke” can more generally describe someone or something as being “with it.”