1st Edition
Facilitating Change through Intergroup Dialogue Social Justice Advocacy in Practice
In order both to prepare for an increasingly diverse society and to help students navigate diverse learning environments, many institutions of higher education have developed programs that support student learning and competencies around inter- and intra-group relations. Facilitating Change through Intergroup Dialogue: Social Justice Advocacy in Practice traces the impact of Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) courses on peer-facilitators who delivered Skidmore College’s IGD curricula over a five-year period. Through a series of in-depth qualitative interviews and auto-ethnographies, this book explores how former IGD facilitators are applying what they learned to their personal and professional lives three to five years post-college. By exploring facilitators' application of IGD skills, understanding of social justice, and the challenges inherent in this work, Facilitating Change through Intergroup Dialogue offers concrete strategies for supporting undergraduate students in their enduring efforts towards justice.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Contextualizing Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) Facilitation
- Introduction: The Power of Dialogue
- Skidmore College as a National Leader: Institutional Context and Methods of Inquiry Kristie A. Ford
- On Becoming a Social Justice Advocate
- Social Justice in Action and Inaction
- Learning the Meaning of True Advocacy
- Interrogating Privilege
- Toward a New Operational Paradigm for Social Justice
- Communicating Differently Post-College: An Analysis of IGD Skills and Outcomes
- Working Towards Social Justice Advocacy
- A White Male’s Post-College Reflections on Race, Resistance, and Social Change Kristie A. Ford
- "I Wouldn’t be the Person I Am Without IGR": Implications and Conclusions
- The Dialogue Continues: The Future of IGD
Kristie A. Ford
Part 2: IGD Facilitator Reflections
Higher Educational Institutions
Preface to the Auto-Ethnographies
Kristie A. Ford
Victoria K. Malaney
Sarah Faude
Schools, Non-Profits, and Community Organizations
Teshika R. Hatch
Luna Malachowski Bajak
Stephen A. Bissonnette
Synthesizing Patterns: Developing as Advocates for Change
Heather J. Lipkin and Kristie A. Ford
Kristie A. Ford and Heather J. Lipkin
Part 3: Beyond IGD Facilitation
Kristie A. Ford and Heather J. Lipkin
Stephen A. Bissonnette and Victoria K. Malaney
Biography
Kristie A. Ford is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Intergroup Relations Program at Skidmore College, USA.
Dr. Kristie Ford and colleagues provide an important contribution to our understanding of the post-college life and career choices following students’ roles as intergroup dialogue facilitators and intergroup relations minors. The narratives are compelling and illuminate the broader transferable skills that leadership in undergraduate social justice education offers. This book supports what many of us in higher education have believed---leadership in social justice activities creates powerful advocates and allies that use their learning as they navigate personal and professional relationships. I highly recommend this book for social justice educators who are mentoring undergraduates and especially for student leaders considering their post-college options.
--Kelly Maxwell, Co-Director and Lecturer, The Program on Intergroup Relations, University of Michigan, USA