Education
Poster and Video Development
The poster and video projects aim to design specific messages to communities about issues of violence against women based on shared cultural beliefs. The posters and videos were developed and designed by Tufts students working with a staff facilitator and a graphic designer. The student-staff team worked together for an extended period of time—sometimes for a semester and sometimes for an entire academic year. Meetings usually took place in 2 hour increments totaling an average of 20 hours for each product.
Selection of student team members
The student team members were selected from the cultural or interest group that was the subject of the poster or video. For example, athletes designed the video about athletes; Latino students designed the poster with a message directed towards the Latino community. Each team had 4-6 members and we tried to represent the diversity of each community. For example, the Africana team had members who identified as African American, African Caribbean, and African which reflects the Tufts Africana community. Most teams had both male and female team members. The only exception was the first team that explored violence in the lesbian, bisexual, transgender community.
Team training and preparation
Section I: Team and community exploration
In the first meetings, the team described the Tufts community of interest and the backgrounds of the students on the team. The team became familiar with any available demographic data including the cultural/ethnic backgrounds, socioeconomic classes, religions, and number of involved students and met with the relevant Center director. Each team discussed the backgrounds of the students on the team in terms of cultural background, socioeconomic class, religion, sexual orientation, family, and community in which they grew up. The team then assessed whether the team membership reflected the relevant community or whether there were there parts of the community under- or over-represented.
The team members explored the experience at Tufts of the students in this community. Are they in the majority? Do they feel safe in general on campus? Do they experience harassment? Are they the targets of racism, sexism, or homophobia? How severe? How often?
Section II: Explore theories about behavior change and popular education
Each team read and discussed theories about behavior change and effective education. One of the most important ideas from these theories is that to be effective, messages must be very specific and tailored to the exact audience that is to be reached.
Section III: Learning about the issues of violence against women
Each team researched rape, sexual assault, relationship violence and stalking for the relevant community and met with off-campus providers knowledgeable about the issues. This exploration included discussing mainstream cultural stereotypes of the particular community of interest as they related to issues of violence against women. The teams discussed what they thought was the current level of knowledge within the relevant Tufts community of information about violence against women.
Section IV: Development of the message
Taking into consideration relevant research, the status of the population on the Tufts campus (mainstream or minority group), stereotypes of the community present on campus, and current level of knowledge within the community, each team developed a message that they thought would be an effective nudge to the community members about the issues of violence towards women. To check the viability of the messages, the teams met with existing student groups or created short-term focus groups to hear feedback on how to refine the message and improve the effectiveness of the presentation.
For example, the team that developed the first round of posters about violence within the lesbian, bisexual, transgender community, determined that a major barrier to discussing issues of violence for this population was disbelief that women could be violent to other women. The team decided that the posters that they developed would focus on breaking through this denial.
The Africana poster was developed with many different ideas in mind. The team took into consideration that the Africana community is a minority population (7%) of Tufts students on a predominantly white campus. This status is important considering that in mainstream US culture, through racist propaganda, historically and currently, Black men are often characterized as perpetrators of sexual violence. The team thought that, to be effective as an educational tool, the poster should present a complex set of messages; some directed at the predominantly white community and some directed at the Africana community. The elements that the students wanted to include in the poster were: a Black man being supportive to a Black woman, a caring Africana community, and a strong statement that connected this campaign against violence against women with the civil rights movement. These elements are all present in the poster design. The bridge to the civil rights movement is done by the use of the words, "we will overcome..."
Section V: Working with a designer
Each team worked with a professional designer to complete the poster or video project. The designer attended one or two meetings of the team to discuss the message and possible design approaches. Most often, the designer presented two different designs to the team.
Section VI: Finalizing the message and design
Using the final poster mock-ups, the team members organized discussions to hear feedback from the community. The focus of the feedback would be on the clarity of the message. These meetings also gave the community an opportunity to have a larger discussion of these issues on campus. For example, at the Latino feedback meetings, the community was engaged in a discussion of Latinos as represented in photographs for posters, advertising and television. Among the issues discussed were race, ethnicity and stereotypes of Latinas.