Dimension 3: Culturally Sustaining
Evaluating OER against the Intersectionality criterion
Culturally Sustaining
OER challenge historic methods of legitimising academia and recognise and celebrate each learner’s culture, inviting learners to engage with a topic through the richness of their own lens.
The Equity Rubric for OER Evaluation gives a resource a high rating for Intersectionality if it “re-centres educational practices around the languages, literacies, and cultural traditions that students bring into classrooms (Paris & Alim, 2017).”
The Rubric suggests looking for “content related to the crossover points of human identities, particularly identities that are marginalised.”
Key Examples and Suggestions
Wheel of Privilege/Power
Sylvia Duckworth
This openly-licensed image provides a visual representation of intersectionality and can be used alongside a textual explanation of the concept.
Sylvia Duckworth has created several openly-licensed infographics related to this and other topics of inclusion.
Access: Wheel of Privilege/Power
Democracy in difference: Debating key terms of gender, sexuality, race and identity
Carolyn D’Cruz
This openly-licensed book on the La Trobe eBureau platform endeavours to create an accessible lexicon of critical terms. D’Cruz achieves this through a variety of mixed media approaches. The term ‘intersectionality’ is covered on page 156.
Access: Democracy in Difference
Learning Resource: ‘Diverse examples and balanced perspectives’ in Enhancing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) in OER
Nikki Andersen
This chapter includes a section on intersectionality and how to apply this theoretical framework in the classroom.
Access: Be Aware of Intersectionality
Download this page (pdf)
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