🎭 Part 5: Language and Power

Theme: Words as Tools of Culture

"In the very moment of using a word like culture, and feeling it as a description, we find ourselves having to look at our education, at our politics, and at the institutions through which we are formed. We are led to distinguish between experience and interpretation, between the felt reality and the imposed description."

Raymond Williams urges us to see that language is never neutral. Every word — especially words like culture — carries a history, a set of values, and often, an agenda. In this part, we reflect on how language shapes the way we see ourselves and others.

✍️ Activity: Reclaimed Words

Think of a word that has been used to describe you — positively or negatively. Write it in the center of your page. Around it, list the meanings others attach to it. Then add your own meaning, if any. What are you keeping? What are you throwing out?

🧠 Thinking Prompt:

What words do you carry — and which ones do you refuse to carry anymore?

✅ Your Code Word:

VOICE