This was a workshop facilitated by Heghine in Aghdzq, 2014
In the beginning, all participants are handed a piece of paper with a description of who they are. The facilitator can choose identities as they see fit. Some examples include: single working mother, white male professor, local farmer, 18 year old boy living in country with mandatory conscription, trans sex worker, lesbian in her 60’s, HIV+ person, teenage boy from a middle class family, university student, lawyer, refugee, etc.
Everyone stands in one line facing forward. The facilitator then reads out statements that participants can answer yes or no to. If the answer is “yes”, they step forward. If the answer is “no”, they stay in their place (if they haven’t moved forward from the starting line) or they move back one step. Some examples of questions include: “I have graduated university”; “I have never been stopped by the police”; “I live in a comfortable house and have all my basic needs”; “I am employed in the formal economy”; “I am not afraid to walk alone at night”; “I can choose the career path I want for myself”; “I am not afraid to hold my partner’s hand in public”; “I have citizenship in the country where I was born”; “I have a good salary”, etc.
The idea behind this workshop is to show participants the different opportunities that people either have or don’t have based on their identity and/or social status in the world. The exercise can be followed by a discussion about how people felt moving forward, staying behind and so on.