Healing Trauma Through Waldorf DEIA Practices: One Woman’s Journey to Peace and Inclusivity
Reflections of a new WSSD family
by Mona Alsoraimi
I grew up in one of those midwestern immigrant communities where thousands of like-minded families fled in search of opportunities and came together to create an alternative universe in the midst of suburban America. We got our groceries from an Arab-owned neighborhood produce market, our bread from the Lebanese owned bakery that specialized in pita bread and other Levantine Arab baked goods and we got our sweets from a Palestinian owned pastry shop that made the best kanafa and baklava in this country. And within a few miles from where we lived were mosques that served both the Suni and Shia Muslim population. We could walk to our local shawarma and falafel shop and enjoyed late night business hours during the holy month of Ramadan.
Dearborn, Michigan is home to the most concentrated Arab community in the United States and growing up, that meant roughly 98% of my classmates were Arab and Muslim. We all enjoyed similar non-American foods and celebrated the same non-Christian holidays. For a minority kid growing up in the Midwest, it was a gift. I never had to feel ashamed of my culture, food, language or customs in my neighborhood. Hijab was celebrated as the golden expression of faith and identity and Ramadan was a whole “thing” for our community. My high school, Fordson High, is famous for their tenacious football team that shifted their practices to nighttime, after iftar (breaking fast),for a few seasons when Ramadan fasting challenged their ability to practice during the day.
But not everyone celebrated our contributions to mainstream American culture. Our public school system spent most of my childhood working to actively suppress our cultural identities and encourage assimilation instead of identifying the need for culturally relevant pedagogy. Christmas was aggressively pushed in all K-8 classes even though none of my classmates celebrated. By the time I was 8, I knew more about Christian holidays than our own holidays. My mom, a fierce PTA advocate, led a group of immigrant parents in shifting the toxic culture of forced assimilation that characterized our K-8 experiences. She questioned the relevance of Christmas in our secular public school and asked that our cultures at least be acknowledged.
The message we got from our early and even later education was loud and clear: we do not matter. We do not belong. To us, education was defined by whiteness and as “others,” our authentic identities had no place within the institution. So if we wanted to pursue careers that require education, we had to erase our own identities and adopt a more palatable American identity that made our white teachers and institutions comfortable.
As an educator, I cannot imagine designing a curriculum that ignores the identities of my student population. And as a parent, I cannot imagine sending my child to a school that perpetuates the patterns of my early education.
When exploring schools for my children, we were drawn to Waldorf for many reasons. But our hesitation remained rooted in the desire to ensure that our children experience an educational community that celebrates diversity and acknowledges their cultures. We could not deny Rudolf Steiner’s racist roots and the long shadow cast on Waldorf as a result. But after meeting teachers and discussing DEIA concerns, we were hopeful that the school was making efforts to cast aside this long shadow and reframe their reputation as an antiracist institution that celebrates diversity in all forms.
Despite what we learned during the application period, we remained cautious. We were optimistic but had yet to see actions the behind the words.
The week before classes, our daughter’s first grade teacher sat at our kitchen table early in the evening one day and enjoyed a snack and chat with our family. As a white (appearing) woman, her presence triggered anxieties about my own education. Within minutes of starting our conversation, my heart was at ease. We talked about antiracist education and it was immediately clear that she “got it.” I held back tears of relief as she invited our family to share cultural celebrations, traditions and stories to shape their curriculum. She acknowledged her own blindspots and emphasized every family’s role in ensuring representation. I felt her words viscerally. The waves of relief and hope melted my trauma-informed tension and assured me that my children would never experience education that did not affirm their identities.
A few days later my partner attended parent night for our kindergartener. Later that night he shared, with tears in his eyes, that their teacher also emphasized the desire to acknowledge traditions and holidays that reflect all cultures. The teachers passed around a sign-up sheet to collect a list of traditions and holidays. It seems like a small gesture. But for us, this acknowledgement and effort carries significant weight. We know that our children will be seen and will see others. The intention behind these efforts reflect a true commitment to affirming cultural diversity, equity, inclusion and antiracism.
As we continue our Waldorf journey, we see this commitment everywhere. A whole week committed to visual reminders, educational activities and actions acknowledging the indigenous land that we occupy has positioned The Waldorf School of San Diego as an institution that is moving into a thoughtful future that affirms all. What is often known in Waldorf Schools as the Michaelmas festival which features the dramatic performance of St. Michael and the dragon was renamed the “Festival of Courage” featuring “Li Ji Slays the Giant Serpent.” And just last week we relished in taking daily pause at the hauntingly beautiful ofrenda that graced the main hall of our school. All of this matters.
As Arab and Asian Muslim-American mixed children, our children don’t always identify with their peers. Their Okinawan, Chinese, Filipino, Palestinian and Yemeni identities are fraught with the complex pain of settler colonialism, war and cultural erasure. Supporting them in maintaining a positive sense of identity will take a village, and I am grateful that the Waldorf School of San Diego is committed to being a part of that village.
About the author....
Mona Alsoraimi-Espiritu has been proudly serving San Diego City College as part of the English faculty for the past ten years. She has co-authored and co-edited a collection of community narratives titled, Reclaiming our Stories: Narratives of Identity, Resilience and Empowerment and contributed op-ed pieces to a number of publications. Her academic journey began as a student at City, Mesa, and Miramar Community Colleges and later SDSU to complete her BA in English. She later served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in both Mongolia and Jordan and completed the Peace Corps Master’s International Program in Applied Linguistics at Georgia State University. Mona enjoys being outdoors with her family, including the goats in her goat cooperative, two cats, a first grader and kindergartner who keep her active and joyful.
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