This activity celebrates diversity within a marginalised cultural group. Participants work in small groups to create short biographies.

“A lot of different flowers make a bouquet”.

Islamic proverb

Issues addressed

• Identity and stereotypes
• Diversity with the group
• Groups as a collection of individuals

Aims

• To widen general knowledge about a cultural group
• To empower participants and promote solidarity
• To affirm participants’ feelings of identity, dignity and self-respect

Preparation / Materials

• Search on the Internet or in books to find six examples of people who are representative of, for instance, Roma, black people, disabled people, homosexuals, women – whichever group you wish to focus on. You need a portrait and some brief information about each one. They could include, for instance, a doctor, a teacher, a sports man or woman, a builder, a shop assistant, or a hairdresser, all from the group you wish to focus on. They should be real people, but not famous.
• Write the real biographies on sheets of A4 paper – to be displayed during the debriefing and evaluation.
• A wall to display the portraits on; tape to fix the pictures and stories onto the wall
• Pens and 6 sheets of paper (A4 size) per small group for writing up the biographies

Instructions

1. Divide the participants into working groups of a maximum of six per group.
2. Show the groups the portraits of the people you selected and tell them that they are to create a short imaginary, but realistic, biography of each one. This should include the person’s name, age, job or profession, where they were born, where they live now, their social status and cultural background, marital status and one other item of information.
3. Give the groups 45 minutes to do their work.
4. Now invite each group to send a representative to present their biography to the whole group in plenary of the first portrait. Tape the stories onto the wall under each portrait.
5. Repeat the above step with the other portraits.
6. Move on to the debriefing and evaluation. At the end of part 1, reveal the true biographies, and continue to part 2.

Debriefing and evaluation

Part 1:

Taking each portrait in turn, compare the different features guessed by the small groups. For example, ask:

• How did you decide the age of the person?
• How and why did you guess their occupation or job?
• What sorts of clues did you use to decide where they might have been born?
• How did you decide on a name?
• What sorts of stereotypes did you use to build your biographies? Were these stereotypes shared by everyone? Why? Why not?
• Round up by comparing the different biographies. How similar and how diverse were they?

Part 2:

• Are you surprised by the real facts about the different portraits?
• All the people have one thing in common: what? (Facilitator: reveal it at this point)
• How do you feel knowing that the portraits were all of people who have refused to be stereotyped and who have overcome discrimination to achieve something with their lives?

Tips for the facilitators

This activity has proved to be very powerful when used with a group of young Roma, who were astonished and delighted when they discovered that all the pictures were of Roma. They had not expected it. The pictures used were from the Portuguese campaign of the Anti-Poverty Network.

The activity works well with any group with a single cultural identity, especially those who are marginalised or discriminated against in society. However, it also can be used in a multicultural group with the aim of breaking down prejudices about, for instance, Roma, homosexuals or black people, by showing positive images of the targets of the prejudice.

Suggestions for follow-up

Take action: Find out more about one of the people whose portrait was highlighted in the activity. Alternatively, do some research about other (Roma, LGBTQ+, black people) who can inspire you.

Move on to another activity: Those we admire and choose as role models may be well-known or not, but, whoever they are, their inspiration is a precious gift. Do you have a role model, or a hero, and what qualities do you admire in them? You may like to take a look at the activity ‘Personal heroes’. Alternatively, you could try interpreting other pictures in ‘What do you see?’.