Dialogue Facilitation for Diversity and Social Justice

SW709, Section 001

This course is designed to give students a foundation in the awareness, knowledge, understanding, and skills needed to effectively carry out multicultural social work practice with populations who are culturally diverse in terms of the key diversity dimensions such as "ability, age, class, color, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), marital status, national origin, race, religion or spirituality, sex, and sexual orientation". In particular, students will gain skills in facilitating multicultural group interactions and in resolving conflicts or resistance that may emerge due to cultural misunderstandings or oppressive dynamics. The topics of this course include social identity group development; prejudice and stereotyping and their effects on groups; difference and dominance and the nature of social oppression; our personal and interpersonal connections to power, privilege, and oppression; understanding and resolving conflicts or resistance; methods of dialoguing and coalition building across differences; and basic group facilitation skills and their applications in multicultural settings.