Privilege Topography Mapping

What participants gain

• Visualize the intersectional friction points within the higher education ecosystem
• Identify how personal teaching practices align with or disrupt institutional power dynamics
• Map the distance between student lived experiences and institutional policy

Materials needed

• Large wall space or multiple rolling whiteboards
• Masking tape to create large axes on the wall
• Index cards in 4 different colors
• String or yarn and pushpins
• Markers

How to run Privilege Topography Mapping, step by step

1. Create a massive 2x2 grid on the wall using tape: Y-axis is 'Visibility to Institution' and X-axis is 'Institutional Power/Capital' (5 min).
2. Distribute colored index cards: Green for Student Demographics, Blue for Teaching Practices, Yellow for Institutional Policies (5 min).
3. Instruct participants to individually write down 5 specific student demographics/identities on green cards (5 min).
4. Have participants plot their green cards on the wall grid, discussing placement with the group (15 min).
5. Direct participants to write their core teaching practices on blue cards and plot them on the grid relative to the student demographics (15 min).
6. Ask the group to map overarching institutional policies on yellow cards and place them on the grid (15 min).
7. Distribute string and pins; instruct participants to connect their teaching practices (blue) to the students they most easily serve (green) (15 min).
8. Facilitate a gallery walk to observe where the 'string density' is highest and where there are isolated, disconnected student demographics (10 min).
9. Conclude with a silent reflection writing prompt: 'Where does my teaching practice currently reside on this topography, and who does it leave behind?' (5 min).

Facilitator tips

• The physical movement is key; get everyone standing and negotiating space at the wall.
• When disagreements arise about where to place a card, encourage the debate—the negotiation is the learning.
• Use the string connections to visually demonstrate how traditional teaching methods cluster around high-power/high-visibility student norms.
• If the map becomes too clustered in one quadrant, ask probing questions to spread the analysis.
• Ensure the focus remains on systemic structures rather than individual student anecdotes.

Common challenges

• Reluctance to name specific marginalized identities - Model the behavior by placing the first few cards yourself with specific, intersectional examples.
• Chaos at the wall - Act as a traffic cop, having people place cards in rounds rather than all at once.
• Over-simplification of power - Introduce a 'wildcard' identity that forces them to reconsider their initial placements.
• Participants feeling targeted - Continually refer to the map as 'the system we inherited, not the one we want'.

Running it virtually

Utilize a massive Miro board with pre-drawn axes. Use digital sticky notes and the 'connection line' tool to simulate the string. The infinite canvas allows for zooming in on specific intersectional clusters that emerge during the mapping.

Expected results

A massive, interconnected wall map revealing the systemic landscape of the institution, highlighting specific zones where interventions are desperately needed.

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