11.7.4: Assignments and Activities

Chapter 7 Assignments and Activities

The prompt on this page includes ideas for interactive assignments and/or activities used to extend learning from this chapter. This can be used to further understanding, retention, and ownership of learner content.

Power Map Activity

All advocacy is tailored toward a specific audience. The technique of “power mapping” can be used to identify potential viable targets for a social movement. As illustrated in Figure 11.7.1, the basic structure of power mapping is to create a chart. In this chart, the vertical axis is based on influence. At the top of the chart, you will place individuals and organizations that are the most influential with respect to your defined outcome. As you go down the chart, you will place individuals who are less influential. At the same time, the horizontal axis represents support or opposition, with the leftmost part of the chart being the most opposition, and the rightmost part of the chart being the most support.

To complete the activity, create your own power map. 

1. First start by clearly defining an objective, which should be specifically defined. This might be a policy, or working to eliminate a concrete disparity, like improving high school graduation rates among Chicanxs and Latinxs, or addressing a specific health disparity within your city, county, or state. 

2. Then, begin filling out the chart relative to that issue by identifying individuals and organizations and estimating their amount of influence and support to place them on the chart.

3. You can start with the folx you are most familiar with. You may want to also look up elected officials or policymakers, such as legislators, mayors, or appointed representatives. Some of these people and organizations will be listed in news articles on your topic.

4. To complete the chart, identify the four groups that you have mapped: Champions (High Influence and High Support), Supporters (Low Influence and High Support), Targets (High Influence and Low Support), Opponents (Low Influence and Low Support)

5. Finally, reflect on what you have learned from this process in a short written response (250-500 words), focusing on the question: how can the identified champions and supporters of your issue work to influence the targets and opponents? Note that successful social movements do not always win over all of their targets and opponents to become in favor of the objective. Sometimes the most effective way to meet an outcome is to move Targets from opposition to neutrality. And Opponents may continue to work against your objective, but this is not always impactful if they do not have influence.

 

Figure 11.7.4.1: "Power Mapping" by Mario Alberto Viveros Espinoza-Kulick, Author is licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.