Difficult Dialogues on Power, Privilege and Difference

Catalog description

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. COURSE OVERVIEW. Explores the practice of difficult dialogues and the communication skills needed to engage productively across differences. Focus on active listening, perspective-taking, deliberation, collaborative decision making, teamwork and/or additional processes of collective problem solving. Examines how dialogic processes can be designed and organized to minimize destructive consequences of bias, prejudice, discrimination, power disparities and/or unexamined privilege across dimensions of difference, such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, social class, ability, nationality and/or religion. Considers the role of facilitation techniques in creating conditions for constructive conversations on complex and often polarizing issues. Includes exposure to perspectives that may be unfamiliar or challenging, reflecting the diversity of voices in contemporary public life. RELEVANCE AND APPLICATION. Develops skills for navigating conversations on sensitive and complex issues in professional, academic, civic and personal contexts. Builds competence in listening across differences, managing conflict and fostering collaborative and intentional decision making. Strengthens the ability to engage constructively in contexts marked by diversity, disagreement or polarization. Skills gained apply to leadership, teamwork, organizational communication, relationships and community engagement across families, workplaces and/or public settings. DEEPENING UNDERSTANDINGS. Highlights how different models of interaction, such as debate, dialogue, negotiation and/or everyday conversation, frame the goals and norms of communication, allowing for comparison, application or critique. Expands understanding of how communication shapes perceptions of power, privilege and/or difference in personal, organizational and/or civic contexts. Introduces frameworks for recognizing how bias, equity and/or cultural perspectives can influence interaction. Emphasizes awareness of diverse viewpoints, the productive value of disagreement and the role of constructive exchange in building community. TOPICS AND THEMES. May include study of dialogue as a communication practice distinct from debate or analysis of persuasion; exploration of active listening, perspective-taking and deliberation; skills in conflict management, collaborative decision making and team problem solving; consideration of communication in the context of bias, prejudice, discrimination, power, equity and/or privilege. Attention to how dialogue functions across interpersonal, organizational and civic settings. Course materials and discussions may address sensitive or controversial issues, reflecting a wide range of political, cultural and/or religious perspectives present in society.