Conduct Guidelines

Andrea Rimon has created and adapted this set of Conduct Guidelines because they believe that identifying and explicitly discussing expectations creates more accessible and inclusive communities. This document elaborates the expectations and agreements they like to have in place within the spaces they create and particpate within.

Principles

Promote Accessibility

Everyone comes from a different background and with different experiences. We strive to make our environment accessible, especially to people who belong to marginalized communities. We ask that our community members take neither knowledge nor ability for granted and work together with us to find ways to make what we do more inclusive. 

Respect Autonomy

Respecting autonomy means allowing people to have a say in how they want to approach their interactions. It involves giving others room to feel, think, and act for themselves. We consider autonomy to be not just the absence of coercive pressure but also the ability for people to engage in the ongoing, interactive co-creation of their communities and themselves. We want to cultivate an environment where everyone can learn, grow, and flourish.

Consider the Context

Behavior and communication that could be appropriate in one context might not be acceptable in another. Think about the context in which you are acting and allow it to inform your actions. We want members of our community to feel empowered to identify and explicitly discuss contexts and the social expectations associated with them. 

Part of being aware of context involves considering relative positions of power. Power imbalances are part of every interaction. They can involve explicit acknowledged structural elements such as formal hierarchies, titles, and assigned roles and responsibilities. They also can also involve forms that are less explicit and often not directly addressed, such as privilege accorded based on factors like race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, class, educational background, and others.

We aim to be more conscious in our understanding of how power relations influence our choices and those of others. We ask that members of our community keep in mind how asymmetrical power relationships can restrict autonomy, result in coercion, or cause harm in ways that might not be readily apparent.

Listen with Care

An important step in addressing power imbalances is to listen to others. We cannot fully know the experience of another person. Often, the best resource we have is someone else’s account of what they’re feeling. Create space for others to speak by not monopolizing conversation or punishing others for expressing themselves. Take what you hear in good faith.

It is just as important to listen to yourself. Get in touch with how you are feeling. If something is bothering you, it’s alright to take a moment to think things over. If you feel something needs to change, advocate for yourself or seek help from others.

Listening is an ongoing process. Feelings and understandings can change, and people’s wants and needs can shift over time. Pay attention and check in when appropriate.

Assess Impact

Be aware of those around you. Notice how your actions affect them. If the impacts of your actions do not align with your intentions, take a step back and consider the reasons why that might be happening. Think about what you could do differently next time. Be receptive to feedback and open to learning.

Applications

The following are a few applications of these principles in situations that are commonly encountered in spaces.

Identity

Respect the autonomy of our community members to determine and express their own identities. Take others at their word and refer to them using the language they request. It is not necessary to fully understand or agree with someone in order to treat them with respect. Please avoid language or behavior that is ableist, racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic

Care

Do your best to take care of yourself. If you need a modification for an exercise, ask. If you need to step out of class, stop doing an activity, or otherwise tend to your body, go ahead. When someone else expresses a need or takes steps to take care of themselves, reserve judgement. Listen to and respect what they communicate. 

Appropriateness 

Much of the work that Andrea does can touch on many different areas of life. However, not all topics are appropriate for a given event or gathering. When talking about topics that could be loaded or difficult for other community members, please first ask yourself whether such a topic fits in the expectations of a space and whether it is appropriate given the context. If both of those are the case, please make sure that those involved in the conversation have an opportunity to agree to discuss the topic as well as an opportunity to leave the discussion.  

Touch

Physical contact is a part of social interaction and is often a part of life. Nonetheless, experiences of touch can be highly personal and  influenced by individual, social, and cultural contexts. Consequently, we request that you follow specific guidelines and practices when physically interacting with others.  

If touch will occur in a professional or loaded circumstance, give yourself and those around you a chance to opt-in or opt-out. There are contexts within capoeira where the potential for touch to occur is widely understood, such as while sparring in martial arts. However, even then the kind of contact that can be expected in such a situation varies from group to group and between different styles of play. If you are unsure if someone is unfamiliar with the exact context, explicitly discuss it. Take steps to make sure that the purpose, scope and quality of touch is understood and anticipated. When in doubt, ask for permission. 

Use of this material 

This set of conduct guidelines is adapted from guidelines Andrea helped create for Chicago Rope. Andrea’s modified version, like the original, is a published written work under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Andrea Rimon and Chicago Rope grant permission to use the material within this guideline, in whole or in part, or to paraphrase our work, on the condition that they are appropriately credited.