SW8821: Social Work and Difference, Diversity and Privilege

This course develops essential knowledge, awareness, and skills necessary for culturally competent social work practice. A deep understanding of diversity, indifference, power and privilege, oppression, and intersectionality, as well as self-awareness within these systems, is fundamental to effective and ethical social work. Thus, this course is designed to teach students to: (a) analyze the systems that sustain unequal access to power and privilege while marginalizing certain groups; (b) develop critical self-awareness by examining and interrogating their multiple social identities (i.e., social locations) and their intersectionality; (c) apply knowledge and skills that support culturally competent social work practice in consideration of both student and client social locations; and (d) implement strategies to disrupt systems of oppression while advancing social work?s core value of social justice. Major course topics include bias, xenophobia, systemic power and privilege, historically oppressed groups, and shifting the landscape of marginalization. Students will also engage with practice theories (e.g., ally models), practice techniques for working across differences (e.g., ethnographic techniques), and strategies for addressing injustice within advanced social work practice. Throughout the course, we will explore deconstructing systems of oppression, fostering cultural wellness, applying intersectionality in practice, and developing actionable strategies for transformative social work. These themes are not just concepts to understand, but tools to integrate into ethical, equity-driven practice.

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