Abstract
This paper presents the case study of a 100+ year old school of social work recently shaken by acts of racial aggression targeted toward our Black/African American community. Following campus incidents that received national attention, minority social work students urged faculty to organize action to voice values of equity and justice, and to provide an intentional safe space within our school. In response, a volunteer faculty committee dedicated themselves to the group’s formation and implementation of the Undoing Racism Principles from the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB, n.d.), beginning internally and expanding outward. Representing multiple identities and positionalities of power, committee members use these principles to process our privilege. We reflect on our journeys with racism as social work educators and as individuals who are, and have been, influenced by internalized historical and contemporary racism. Guided by Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Freire 1970/ 2002) and Critical Race Theory (Sulé, 2020), the praxis of reflecting in-and-on our work has evolved (Schön, 1983, 1987). Authors share their personal experiences, professional impacts, and efforts to implement anti-racist pedagogy. Contextual implications for schools of social work that aim to become anti-racist within their implicit and explicit curricula are provided by this case study.
Highlights
This paper presents the case study of a 100+ year old school of social work recently shaken by acts of racial aggression targeted toward our Black/African American community
This paper presents the antiracism efforts of a 100+ year old school of social work across two major campuses in Norman and Tulsa Oklahoma
Authors describe the formation of an Undoing Racism Committee (URC) as the active mechanism to transform our school from one anchored in white supremacy to one that actively dismantles it
Summary
MSW, LCSW, MSW Program Coordinator and an Instructor, Anne & Henry Zarrow School of Social Work, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK. We chose the Anti-Racist Principles of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) as the foundation and guide for our aims, actions, and advocacy efforts This was due to the years of training and experience by one of our faculty members who uses this work. Reflecting on this work to date we examine our process through each principle’s lens, secure our theoretical stance, and share our experiences in narrative form through case study methodology True to this process, our first aim is to understand our recent campus turbulence, as explained, by researching lessons from the past within our state and our school of social work Our first aim is to understand our recent campus turbulence, as explained by researching lessons from the past within our state and our school of social work
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