This qualitative case study examined how virtual intergroup dialogue (IGD) courses at a Mid Atlantic  university impacted teaching and learning of power, oppression, and justice. Utilizing case study  methodology and Critical Race theory (CRT), the research team explored the teaching and learning  experiences of four facilitators and three students who taught or participated in IGD courses related to  topics of race, gender, socioeconomic status, and religion and spirituality. Findings from the study  highlighted challenges that facilitators and students faced while navigating a dominant ideology on a  historically white campus, various social identities and educational backgrounds, and sharing a  commitment to social justice outside the classroom with those of differing viewpoints. This study is  significant because it is one of the first of its kind to document teaching and learning of participants in a  virtual IGD course, examined through a CRT lens.

This qualitative case study examined how virtual intergroup dialogue (IGD) courses at a Mid Atlantic university impacted teaching and learning of power, oppression, and justice. Utilizing case study methodology and Critical Race theory (CRT), the research team explored the teaching and learning experiences of four facilitators and three students who taught or participated in IGD courses related to topics of race, gender, socioeconomic status, and religion and spirituality. Findings from the study highlighted challenges that facilitators and students faced while navigating a dominant ideology on a historically white campus, various social identities and educational backgrounds, and sharing a commitment to social justice outside the classroom with those of differing viewpoints. This study is significant because it is one of the first of its kind to document teaching and learning of participants in a virtual IGD course, examined through a CRT lens.

This qualitative case study examined how virtual intergroup dialogue (IGD) courses at a Mid Atlantic university impacted teaching and learning of power, oppression, and justice. Utilizing case study methodology and Critical Race theory (CRT), the research team explored the teaching and learning experiences of four facilitators and three students who taught or participated in IGD courses related to topics of race, gender, socioeconomic status, and religion and spirituality. Findings from the study highlighted challenges that facilitators and students faced while navigating a dominant ideology on a historically white campus, various social identities and educational backgrounds, and sharing a commitment to social justice outside the classroom with those of differing viewpoints. This study is significant because it is one of the first of its kind to document teaching and learning of participants in a virtual IGD course, examined through a CRT lens.

This qualitative case study examined how virtual intergroup dialogue (IGD) courses at a Mid Atlantic university impacted teaching and learning of power, oppression, and justice. Utilizing case study methodology and Critical Race theory (CRT), the research team explored the teaching and learning experiences of four facilitators and three students who taught or participated in IGD courses related to topics of race, gender, socioeconomic status, and religion and spirituality. Findings from the study highlighted challenges that facilitators and students faced while navigating a dominant ideology on a historically white campus, various social identities and educational backgrounds, and sharing a commitment to social justice outside the classroom with those of differing viewpoints. This study is significant because it is one of the first of its kind to document teaching and learning of participants in a virtual IGD course, examined through a CRT lens.

The aim of this study is to examine identity development of Modern Orthodox women as they pursue their studies within a multicultural and multi-faith environment. Content analysis was used to analyze the final papers of undergraduate religious female students in Israel (N = 47) who participated in a semester-long dialogue course for Jewish students. The findings revealed three salient themes, suggesting that women's self-exploration developed noticeably within a rich multicultural context: (a) participants engaged in self-reflection by drawing comparisons between themselves and Arab students, leading to an exploration of their religious beliefs and group affiliations; (b) participants embraced their individuality within a multicultural context while balancing their religious duties; and (c) participants critically examined the status of Orthodox women in society, particularly within the family context. These findings highlight the process of identity exploration among Modern Orthodox women, complicated by intersections of religion, gender, and culture. In doing so, this study contributes to the understanding of identity development in multicultural societies.

In educational settings, intergroup dialogues often tackle intricate social issues, fostering student identity development. Religious discourse, specifically, has the potential to positively influence intergroup relations. However, the extent to which individuals consider their group affiliation integral to their self-concept can shape their exploration of ethno-religious identity. This study investigates the experiences and attitudes of 638 Jewish students, of secular, traditional and Modern Orthodox backgrounds, engaged in a secular-religious dialogue course. Results reveal that discussion-based meetings promote positive intergroup attitudes among students from diverse religious subgroups. Participants identified unique values in subgroup activities but expressed varied motivations and outcomes based on their diverse religious perspectives. These findings underscore the significance of contact theory in inclusive intergroup conflict contexts and highlight the role of interreligious discourse in identity exploration within educational settings.

ABSTRACT This study utilises a critical race discourse analysis to understand how cross-racial intergroup dialogue (IGD) participants perceive racial voyeurism, a form of racism within their dialogue course. IGD is a face-to-face, co-facilitated interaction between two or more groups within a social identity-based conflict where participants form intergroup relationships, reflect critically and interpersonally, and build intergroup alliances. The discursive statements of participants analysed through critical race discourse analyses reveals how racism penetrates the IGD through race-evasiveness and the normalisation of Whiteness.

Examining Dialogic Opportunities in Higher-Education: Lessons Learned from Dialogue Courses for Jewish Students

This critical constructivist descriptive case study examined how 12 students in a diversity dialogue course conceptualized action in response to oppression. Participants often defined action as individual-level intervention and rarely discussed systemic change. Although they increased their knowledge during the course, participants hesitated to take action fearing they did not know enough, would be physically harmed, or lacked the ability to make sustained change. Recommendations are provided to expand students’ conceptions of social justice action.

This article problematizes the practice of relying on participant self-identification in research on religious, secular, and spiritual identity (RSSI) within the field of higher education, with particular attention to the implications related to participants who chose non-religious labels. While this practice is commonplace in the field, it is rooted in Western/Christian assumptions about foundational concepts such as self, agency, knowledge, and religion. The article describes alternative understandings of these concepts in order to point out the onto-epistemic biases present in existing higher education RSSI research. It goes on to share descriptive data about “non-religious” students from a qualitative study on RSSI themed intergroup dialogue courses. The way these students understood, and sometimes struggled with, the concepts of self, agency, knowledge, and religion illustrates why and how the exclusive reliance on RSSI self-identification can ultimately lead to the erasure of religious minorities and the perpetuation of a hegemonic Western/Christian-centric worldview.

Background: White students are both curious and sometimes apprehensive about engaging in dialogues about race. Purpose: We investigate white university students’ experience of comfort and conflict in racial interaction in inter- and intragroup dialogues. Methodology/Approach: We analyzed student papers written at the beginning and end of the dialogue as well as their post-semester interviews, for their hopes/fears, classroom racial experiences, and learnings. Findings/Conclusions: White students in two types of semester-long dialogue courses reported issues of relative comfort and conflict as they explored their own and others’ racial histories and outlooks. They reported feeling safer in the white-only (intragroup) dialogues, as they learned about white culture and privilege; they also lamented not having racialized “others” to learn from. White students in the interracial (intergroup) dialogues often reported more discomfort, risk, and tension, as they learned about the impact of white culture and privilege on students of color, as well as about racism as a white problem. Implications: We draw implications for educational practice that include dissonance and conflict as stimuli for student learning and the use of experienced-based pedagogical techniques that encourage student sharing, critical reflection on narratives and encounters, and mutual participation.

ABSTRACTThis study examines the impact of interracial/interethnic dialogue, a model of intergroup contact that highlights the salience of racial and ethnic group membership, to improve intergroup relations on college campuses. A field experiment involving 737 participants demonstrated that participants randomized to enrol in an intergroup dialogue course increased thinking about and understanding of race and racial/ethnic group membership more than the randomized control group participants who were wait-listed for the course. This effect of intergroup dialogue was found both at the end of course and a year later. Furthermore, such racial engagement was associated with greater (a) motivation to bridge intergroup differences, (b) structural understanding of racial and ethnic inequality, and (c) behavioural commitment to redress inequality 1 year later. The study highlights a colour-conscious, as opposed to colourblind, model for multicultural and social justice education and provides causal evidence for its effects.

ABSTRACTUsing a grounded theory approach, this study explores the ways a diverse group of pre-service student caregivers, new to teaching and caring for infants, come to understand notions of ‘love’ during an infant practicum course in the United States. Through analysing weekly dialogue journals and course assignments produced by each of the 8 participants, we captured their unique and complex experiences of love and care in the infant room. Results revealed that for love and trust between student caregivers and babies to evolve, caregivers need to acknowledge babies as unique individuals, and commit to getting to know and understand them in depth. Further, student caregivers develop intimate caregiving connections and loving relationships with babies through shared time and space. Loving care for babies became an integral experience and an essential pedagogical tool for student caregivers as they developed their professional identities. Our exploration of the deep and complex connections between love, care, and education in childcare, which have been for the most part overlooked, silenced, or simply ignored, has important implications for re-envisioning the notion of love in non-familial infant care.

A dialogue with the ‘self’: Identity exploration processes in intergroup dialogue for Jewish students in Israel

ABSTRACTThis article presents data from a study of an intergroup dialogue (IGD) course in an urban Midwest MSW program guided by Derald Wing Sue’s multicultural education model. IGD was used as an innovative pedagogy to meet the Council on Social Work Education mandate for cultural competence and social justice education. Results showed significant gains in student aware-ness of self as a member of social identity groups, knowledge about structural group inequality, motivation to bridge, differences, and action to do so. Segregation by race and social contact did not predict change in confidence and frequency to take social justice action. Prior knowledge about racial inequality and motivation to bridge difference did predict change in action. IGD is a promising cultural competence pedagogy.

This article explores the role of personal storytelling about social identity-related experiences in two diversity courses that were informed by social justice education pedagogies with a focus on race/ethnicity and racism. The two courses included racially diverse groups of students in two undergraduate diversity courses at two Northeast universities (a social diversity and oppression course, and a race/ethnicity intergroup dialogue course). Participants describe a variety of learning outcomes after listening to personal stories. Findings also indicate that students across identities value storytelling, describing it as engaging, enjoyable, and integral to their learning. This underscores the value and impact of face-to-face, synchronous learning as a valid, transformative, and critical educational method in diversity courses.

Heterosexism contributes to an unsafe campus climate for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) college students. Intergroup dialogue courses about sexual orientation seek to build awareness, cross-group relationships, and commitment to social action to address anti-LGB prejudice and discrimination. Although dialogue courses are growing in popularity, few courses address sexual orientation. To advance knowledge of these dialogues, this qualitative study explores heterosexual students' motivations and expectations, challenges, and learning outcomes related to their participation in intergroup dialogue courses on sexual orientation. Core themes include desire to learn about the LGB community, concerns about offending classmates, anxiety around LGB stigma, conflict with classmates around controversial topics, affirming LGB people, and learning about heterosexism, privilege, and intersectionality of identity. Implications for intergroup dialogue pedagogy and research are discussed.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate White students’ experiences in an intergroup dialogue course that employed critical Whiteness pedagogy (Kincheloe & Steinberg, 2000) and focused on being White in a multicultural society. Using a qualitative approach, the authors investigated student participants’ (n 6) perceptions of the dialogue course and what they learned from engaging in this dialogue. Data from semistructured, individual interviews revealed several themes. With regard to students’ general experiences during the course, findings suggested that they benefitted most from a balance of reading, personal reflection, and peer dialogue. Additionally, students reported mixed feelings about the racial composition of the students and cofacilitators in the course. With regard to the goals of critical Whiteness pedagogy, findings indicated that students increased their racial self-awareness, enhanced their knowledge of critical racial issues (e.g., institutional racism and White privilege), and engaged in some small behavioral steps toward becoming allies. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed. Additionally, the authors provide practical implications of the findings for university personnel.

Tensions emanating from the Israeli/Palestinian conflict lead to misunderstanding, segregation, and conflict between Arab and Jewish students on U.S. college campuses. Teaching about this conflict presents particular challenges for faculty and student affairs staff. This study uses a participatory action research method that engages Arab and Jewish students in understanding and changing issues of concern to their own campus communities. A qualitative analysis of the final papers and interviews from the students in Arab/Jewish intergroup dialogue courses indicated that the students had different pre-perceptions of each other, experienced conflict and strong emotions in the dialogue, and reported outcomes that progressed from the development of communication and listening skills to critical self-reflection, perspective-taking and empathy, development of friendships, and action for social change. The students continued to struggle with understanding each other and maintaining relationships. Recommendations for pedagogy and research are discussed in this article.

Group‐based privileges are supported and reproduced in part by control of discourse about identity and structural inequality. In the case of social class, this discourse is largely absent. This article explores the ways in which the lack of explicit and sanctioned discourse on social class affirms and reproduces class privileges. Qualitative thematic content analysis was used to analyze the final papers of students (N= 82) who participated in a semester long class‐focused intergroup dialogue course. Content analysis found that students came into the dialogues with low levels of class salience. The dialogue course was an informative and fulfilling experience for most students, but the majority of students still had difficulty discussing class based privileges. This difficulty in engaging in an open and disruptive form of class discourse was in part due to the tendency to conflate discussions of class with race, taboos against discussing social class, and the presence of negative stereotypes about class groupings.