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We often struggle long and hard to explain the process we go through when we work in the area of multiculturalism and institutional change and what we ultimately hope to achieve. During a recent workshop I attended, I was put in the situation of having to explain this process to someone who worked with a school board. As I grappled with the somewhat vague theoretical concepts, we happened upon an analogy which we could both understand. I call it the egg salad sandwich theory.
My personal experience as a vegetarian has taught me that invariably any group that decides to have sandwiches brought in to a lunch meeting, unless it is already familiar with vegetarian culture, will order only sandwiches with meat. When I arrive and mention that I cannot eat any of the sandwiches, someone will probably rush out to get me something, most often an egg salad sandwich. Until the sandwich arrives we are all quite uncomfortable; I feel like I have imposed, and the other members of the group feel guilty primarily because they hadn't thought of me ahead of time. This I call the "afterthought" stage.
The next time we have a similar meeting, the group will almost always have remembered to order one egg salad sandwich ahead of time. They are still eating their usual assorted meat sandwiches; my one egg salad stands out, but they have accommodated my needs. Hence this is the "accommodation" stage.
In the time between the second and third meetings, many times some other people who are not vegetarians will decide that they would prefer egg salad to whatever they were having before. Often they had just not stopped to think of egg salad as something they might order. This is why, at the third meeting, we have not one but three egg salad sandwiches. Because they have acknowledged egg salad as a viable option for non-vegetarians as well as vegetarians, I call this the "acknowledgement" stage.
The fourth meeting is often quite interesting because it is at this point that people may begin to think that I might want some variety. For three meeting in a row they have only offered me egg salad while everyone else has had three or four different kinds of sandwiches to choose from. This is when the cucumbers and tomatoes begin to appear. It is obvious that they have moved to another stage in their thinking. They have been able to look past the egg salad to what it represents in terms of my diet and have been able to adjust their thinking and their ordering accordingly. This is, therefore, known as the "adjustment" stage.
The true test, however, comes at the fifth meeting. I know that I have really made a difference when I tell them well in advance that I cannot make the meeting, yet they continue to order the egg salad, the cucumbers, and the tomatoes. At this stage I know I have achieve what I wanted all along: acceptance of my choice as part of the "regular" culture of the group. The final stage is, thus, "acceptance".
In terms of relevance of this analogy to what we are doing in our work with institutions, it is important as well to point out that the number of sandwiches ordered has not changed. We have only increased the range of choices. Given our societal preoccupation with the "bottom line," it is also important to point out that, in the end, there is no additional expense. In fact, because egg salad, cucumbers, and tomatoes cost less than meat, we have actually saved money.
This may not be an incredibly intellectual explanation of the process, but it did serve to make my point. I welcome anyone to use it and to garnish it.
Note: From Multicultural Education: The Road to Understanding by the Alberta Association for Multicultural Education, 1988, 4, pp. 29-30. Reprinted by permission "with grateful acknowledgements to Lex Davidson, Alain Comeau and Jeff Bullard."
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