Ethical and Non-Oppressive Communication WORKSHOP
This Ethical and Non-Oppressive Communication Protocol offers a practical, decolonial and participatory framework to strengthen how institutions communicate—internally and externally—with staff, communities, and global partners.
It is designed as a living document developed through collective reflection and applied practice.
Purpose
- Reduce structural and interpersonal forms of soft oppression.
- Foster ethical, intercultural, gender-aware, and trauma-sensitive communication.
- Promote equitable collaborations with communities, particularly in the Global South.
- Support institutional transformation through justice-centered dialogue.
Communication is never neutral—it redistributes power. Ethical practice ensures this redistribution is conscious, accountable, and non-extractive.
These workshops are uniquely shaped by the experience, practice, and methodology of :
Carmen Caro Click to know more
- 8+ years of grassroots experience in Latin America, the SWANA region, and Europe
- Work in conflict-affected, post-conflict, migratory, and culturally diverse settings
- Use of interdisciplinary methodologies: community arts, embodied learning, architecture, cultural research, somatic and emotional intelligence frameworks
- Facilitation methods that create safe, intercultural and sustainable learning environments
- Artistic practices used as creative communication tools for advocacy and collective memory
- Expertise in designing non-oppressive, decolonial, and feminist-informed pedagogies
Methodology
Embodied concepts (pragmatic compassion, ch’ixi coexistence, emotional literacy)
Creativity and artistic media used to break communication barriers and support narrative autonomy
A practice rooted in care, accountability, and transformation, not performative inclusion
Deep knowledge of community agendas, not only institutional perspectives
Allied institutions
Workshops, trainings, and protocols delivered in:
Europe
- ECCHR – European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Berlin
- SPORE Initiative – Internal Staff, Berlin
SWANAt & Latin America
- EAPPI – Colombia (World Council of Churches)
- Nisgua – Guatemala
- Comunidad Árabe de Chile – NGO
- Colombian Institute of Arabic Culture, Colombia
Museums & Cultural Institutions
- MAMBO – Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Mediadores Team
- Fundación Lunaria – Staff Training, Bogotá
This transregional foundation makes the protocol adaptable to any organization, museum, cultural space, advocacy group, or educational institution seeking ethical transformation.
Workshops
Ethical Communication Across Difference
Duration: 3–4 hours (half-day), adaptable to a 1-day lab.
Focus: Internal communication ethics for teams, institutions, and mediators.
Goal: Build shared frameworks for ethical, non-extractive, culturally sensitive internal and partner communication.
Content + Exercises
1. Positionality & Internal Ethics
• Exercise: Identity Constellations (mapping privilege, vulnerabilities, and power).
2. Cultural Difference & Interpretation
• Exercise: Role-reversal interpretation using anonymized communication scenarios.
3. Avoiding Gatekeeping
• Exercise: Gatekeeping Detector — identify exclusion points in workflows.
4. Advocacy Without Extraction
• Exercise: Narrative Risk Mapping to identify extraction risks.
5. Drafting Guidelines
• Exercise: Co-creation of internal & external ethical communication principles.
Outputs
- Internal Ethical Communication Charter
- External Community & Partner Charter
- Integrated principles: anti-extraction, no tone-policing, consent-first communication
Key References
- Confortini, “Feminist Peace Research: Pragmatic Compassion”
- Sara Ahmed, On Complaint
- Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak?
External Communication with Global South Communities
Duration: 4–5 hours (half-day or full-day), with optional follow-up sessions.
Focus: Ethical communication with Global South communities and partners.
Goal: Prevent extractivism, tokenism, and pain-banalization while centering community epistemologies and safety.
Content + Exercises
1. Case Studies (context-specific)
• Exercise: Harm Anticipation Grid — identify extractive practices before they happen.
2. Simulations & Role Play
• Exercise: Dignity-Centered Interviewing — practice consent-first methods.
3. Intersectional Reflexivity
• Exercise: Power Lines — draw social, cultural, and institutional power dynamics.
4. Participatory Decision-Making
• Exercise: Consensus Circles using Indigenous/collective methodologies.
5. Digital & Media Literacy
• Exercise: Narrative Autonomy Protocol — design safe media workflows.
6. Artistic & Somatic Tools
• Embodied practices: grounding rituals, sensory mapping, collaborative drawing.
Ethical Objectives
- Avoid narrative and cultural extractivism
- Avoid tokenization and performative diversity
- Prevent banalization/spectacularization of pain
- Strengthen community control of storytelling and social media presence
- Implement before/during/after safety protocols
Key References
- Rivera Cusicanqui, Un mundo ch’ixi
- Catherine Walsh, Pedagogías decoloniales
- Escobar, Sentipensar / Pluriversal Politics
- Buen Vivir & Andean relational epistemologies