Image 1 of 1
Discourses of Difference – Summer 2026
An anonymous donor has made a limited number of fellowships available for the summer 2026 session of Discourses of Difference. If you’re interested, please complete the fellowship application by 22 May.
. . . . . .
Early registration: $295 through 28 May. Use code DODSUM26 at checkout.
→ Standard tuition: $395
→ Dates:
6–7 June / 11am-4pm ET
20–21 June / 11am-4pm ET
11-12 July / 11am-4pm ET
18 July / 11am-4pm ET
19 July / 12:30-3:00pm ET
This live, online listening seminar unfolds across four intensive weekends. Grounded in audioethnography (oral history remix), layered storytelling, and critical study, Discourses of Difference examines how race, power, and history shape the stories people tell about themselves and others. The seminar asks participants to consider how American cultural values, norms, and beliefs sustain the social, economic, and political systems that shape perceptions of self, other, and difference.
The seminar is not only for those already fluent in these conversations, but also for those who want to deepen how they listen across difference, think carefully, and enter difficult work with integrity, humility, and dignity. Participants examine how power constructs and depends on whiteness, masculinity, and notions of difference in order to sustain itself.
Through writing, close listening, critical study, digital remixing, and creative production, participants move between lived narrative and broader historical and structural contexts. The seminar includes guided work with recorded speech, a live interview conducted by the facilitator with a special guest, and instruction in editing and remix. It culminates in a public Hearing Collective.
No experience is required for this seminar.
OPTIONAL “Low-Tech Basics Tutorial”: For those who want to become more comfortable with basic tech, or who are new to Zoom, Google Drive, or working online, a live, online tutorial will be offered on 2 June, 6-7 pm ET. Tutorial registration ends 28 May, 11:59 pm ET. You must register for the seminar to be eligible for the Low-Tech Basics Tutorial. Sign up for Low-Tech Basics here.
The Ed Factory can provide the documentation and institutional information needed for participants to pursue graduate, undergraduate, or professional development credit for Discourses of Difference. Originally designed and taught by Dr. Lisa Arrastia as a graduate-level education course in a Massachusetts state teacher-licensure program, the seminar is especially suitable for institutions or employers seeking formal learning documentation.
Additionally, graduate-level extension credit may be available for 1-3.5 units for an additional cost paid directly to a partnering university. Contact usfor more information.
Let us know if cost is a barrier.
_
"I think your work is really brilliant and strongly support your program. It is one of the only approaches I've seen creating the conditions for a respectful, equitable, democratic civil society that seems like it might actually produce real change."
"Coming from the background of the Marines, you are taught that being vulnerable is a weakness. This seminar helped me realize that I am better than acting like a still body, strong on the outside, and hiding my vulnerability. I choose to be a vessel of good and compassion."
© Analog Collage by Vanessa Small Harrigan, 2022
An anonymous donor has made a limited number of fellowships available for the summer 2026 session of Discourses of Difference. If you’re interested, please complete the fellowship application by 22 May.
. . . . . .
Early registration: $295 through 28 May. Use code DODSUM26 at checkout.
→ Standard tuition: $395
→ Dates:
6–7 June / 11am-4pm ET
20–21 June / 11am-4pm ET
11-12 July / 11am-4pm ET
18 July / 11am-4pm ET
19 July / 12:30-3:00pm ET
This live, online listening seminar unfolds across four intensive weekends. Grounded in audioethnography (oral history remix), layered storytelling, and critical study, Discourses of Difference examines how race, power, and history shape the stories people tell about themselves and others. The seminar asks participants to consider how American cultural values, norms, and beliefs sustain the social, economic, and political systems that shape perceptions of self, other, and difference.
The seminar is not only for those already fluent in these conversations, but also for those who want to deepen how they listen across difference, think carefully, and enter difficult work with integrity, humility, and dignity. Participants examine how power constructs and depends on whiteness, masculinity, and notions of difference in order to sustain itself.
Through writing, close listening, critical study, digital remixing, and creative production, participants move between lived narrative and broader historical and structural contexts. The seminar includes guided work with recorded speech, a live interview conducted by the facilitator with a special guest, and instruction in editing and remix. It culminates in a public Hearing Collective.
No experience is required for this seminar.
OPTIONAL “Low-Tech Basics Tutorial”: For those who want to become more comfortable with basic tech, or who are new to Zoom, Google Drive, or working online, a live, online tutorial will be offered on 2 June, 6-7 pm ET. Tutorial registration ends 28 May, 11:59 pm ET. You must register for the seminar to be eligible for the Low-Tech Basics Tutorial. Sign up for Low-Tech Basics here.
The Ed Factory can provide the documentation and institutional information needed for participants to pursue graduate, undergraduate, or professional development credit for Discourses of Difference. Originally designed and taught by Dr. Lisa Arrastia as a graduate-level education course in a Massachusetts state teacher-licensure program, the seminar is especially suitable for institutions or employers seeking formal learning documentation.
Additionally, graduate-level extension credit may be available for 1-3.5 units for an additional cost paid directly to a partnering university. Contact usfor more information.
Let us know if cost is a barrier.
_
"I think your work is really brilliant and strongly support your program. It is one of the only approaches I've seen creating the conditions for a respectful, equitable, democratic civil society that seems like it might actually produce real change."
"Coming from the background of the Marines, you are taught that being vulnerable is a weakness. This seminar helped me realize that I am better than acting like a still body, strong on the outside, and hiding my vulnerability. I choose to be a vessel of good and compassion."
© Analog Collage by Vanessa Small Harrigan, 2022