ABSTRACT
The chapter explores how individuals develop as allies and advocates. It begins by describing how acting as an ally or advocate requires both critical consciousness and action. In exploring critical consciousness, the chapter addresses challenges and pathways to critical consciousness in areas where one is privileged and in areas where one is oppressed, and discusses the challenges of a binary framing of totally privileged or totally oppressed by examining the intersectional experience of having both privileged and oppressed positionalities in relation to diverse statuses. In exploring ally or advocate action, the chapter offers ways to resist oppression and foster social change for greater equity at the interpersonal level with similar attention to positionality, and focuses particularly on concrete guidance for positive approaches to dialoguing across differences in privilege and status. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of contributing to institutional change and sustaining resistance to oppression as a lifelong process, including practices that increase restoration and prevent burnout.
