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MFTS 532 Course Syllabus Course Title: Diversity and Family Therapy (MFTS 532) Meeting Times: Tuesdays 1:00 - 3:50 pm, from January 27 – February 24, 2009 Classroom: MRH 135 Instructor: Ana Estrada, Ph.D. Office: MRH 225E Phone: (619) 260-7547 Email: estradaa@sandiego.edu Office hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., or by appointment Required Text: McGoldrick, M. (1998). Re-Visioning Family Therapy: Race, culture and gender in clinical practice. NY: Guilford Press. ISBN: 1-57230-824-9 Additional articles on e-reserve at Copley library (password = diverse). Course Description and Goals: Consistent with the Biopsychosocial model which guides Family Therapy, we will examine families from multiple systemic levels, from the biological to the interpersonal/familial to the cultural. We will be unpacking the ways in which Family Therapy is structured to support the dominant value systems and keep invisible certain hidden organizing principles of our lives such as culture, class, race, gender, and sexual orientation. Our goal is to increase our understanding of the complex experiences of individuals within families and to more effectively meet the clinical needs of diverse clients. The course structure is designed to allow you to participate extensively in the learning experience. Students are expected to have read the assigned materials prior to attending class meetings. Students are responsible for participating fully in class discussions and activities, and for facilitating the learning of the class. Through small group discussions, experiential activities, written assignments, and viewing various media (film, DVD, etc.), students will be assisted in developing an increased awareness of their own cultural values, biases and personal assumptions in understanding and addressing the needs of underserved and diverse people. Final grades will be based upon the following distribution of course requirements (total = 100 points): 1) class facilitation, participation and attendance (10 points), 2) a diversity immersion experience (30 points), and 3) four reflection papers (60 points). Course Requirements: Facilitation, Attendance and Participation in class (10 points). The quality of this seminar depends on your participation. Students should come to class prepared, having done the required readings, and ready to participate. Consistent with the expectations in the MFT program, and the emphasis on class discussion in this course, only one absence is allowed during the semester before it adversely affects your grade. Two absences or more may result in an incomplete or failing grade in this course. In this context, absences are defined as missing more than 15 minutes of class time (e.g., coming in late or leaving early). I also expect that you will inform me, via an email message, before any class meeting that you cannot attend.
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Each student will take responsibility for facilitating (with classmates) one session of the course. For that particular session, we will begin the session with each student facilitator sharing their reflection papers in order to orient us to the assigned readings and to facilitate the discussion. Diversity Immersion Experience (30 points). In this course, you are invited (required) to venture into an unfamiliar cultural group and to create your own immersion experience. The goal is to extend yourself and to experience another culture with which you have little prior connection, and to create a meaningful experience which will further your own learning about people and families in a diverse culture. Please note that your immersion experience should last at least 3 hours. Feel free to consult with the instructor in developing this experience. You are required to submit your proposed immersion experience in writing and receive instructor approval before embarking on this experience. Your immersion experience proposal is due on or before February 10. After completing your immersion experience, you will submit a brief written report reflecting on your experience using the following questions. A hard copy of this report is due to Sergio on March 3. (1) Describe your experience (e.g., where you went, when you went, how long you were there, what you did). (2) What connections can you make between the readings and the immersion experience you planned for yourself? Discuss any particular aspect of your experience that had significance for you. What, if anything, did you learn from the immersion experience? Reference at least 2 of our readings. (3) How might your immersion experience inform your clinical training or work as an MFT? Take a risk. Be specific. Weekly Essays/Reflection Papers (60 points total). The reflection papers are designed to help you begin to integrate your readings and experiences in the course. The paper should reflect your serious engagement with the conceptual frameworks, clinical applications, and experiences from our meetings and the assigned readings. With the exception of the Examining Social Location Essay which can be up to 5 pages, these essays should be no more than 3 pages (double spaced, 12 Font), include at least 2 references from the assigned readings, and be free from grammatical errors. Please do not include a separate title page or reference section. Each of the 4 reflection papers is due at the end of our class meetings on February 3, 10, 17, & 24. Essay #1 on Challenging Racism due February 3. Seek out a person of color who is not enrolled in our course, and is older than you. Talk with them in person for at least 1 hour. Ask them about their lifetime experiences of prejudice. Probe for a few stories that illustrate how they have experienced discrimination, and how they responded. Also ask how, in retrospect, they wish they had responded. Be present to the conversation. Listen really carefully. Try to grasp their experience emotionally, and then summarize the following in your written reflection. A. From this conversation, provide at least two examples of a “racist double bind” (Mahmoud). B. From this conversation, discuss how one’s White Privilege may have played a role. C. Write about at least 3 things you learned.
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Essay #2 on Examining Social Location due February 10. Social location theory assumes that we are all located in society in relationships, institutions and values that are characterized by power. Our ways of seeing and hearing are informed by our particular experiences in our society. Social location is a self-explanatory term, which refers to an individual’s place or location in his/her society. People are socially located and socially constructed into a number of relationships that empower or disempower them: within the family, church, work-place, government and international class. Social location includes age, gender, class, race, ethnicity, history, health status, social class, physical challenges, sexual orientation, weight, height, citizen status, family status, church affiliation, education, national class, religion, world class, etc. The importance of social location is that it determines our experience in the society and the world – what happens or does not happen to us; what we see and hear and how we see and hear it, or, conversely, what we do not see or hear. A. Outline your social location beginning with your family of origin to the present time. B. How might your social location enhance or disrupt your clinical work? In other words, give an example of what might you easily see and hear and how might you see or hear it? And, conversely, give an example of what you might miss and not see or hear? Essay #3 on Challenging Sexism due February 17. According to Goldrich (2003), the “family is the mediator and reproducer of the patriarchal system around it.” Parker (2003) argues that power misuses show up in everyday socially accepted behaviors and arrangements, and completely shape our environment. For this assignment, you will watch an episode of either: Will and Grace, the Simpsons, Everyone Loves Raymond, or Seinfeld. A. Analyze the episode using the Parker’s four categories of power misuses: 1) the Unfair Bargain, 2) King of the Castle, 3) Don’t Worry your Pretty Little Head, and 4) Different Standards. Give an example of each category. B. Briefly, assuming you could convene this family for a first session, how would you “boldly name the power issues” in a first session? Essay #4 on Challenging Homophobia due February 24. Seek out a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning person who is not enrolled in our course. Talk with them in person for at least 1 hour. Ask them about their lifetime experiences of homophobia, prejudice, and hate crimes. Probe for a few stories that illustrate how they have experienced discrimination, and how they responded. Also ask how, in retrospect, they wish they had responded. Be present to the conversation. Listen really carefully. Try to grasp their experience emotionally. A. From this conversation, provide two examples of a double bind. B. Write a reflection on this experience and at least 3 things you learned. Final Diversity Immersion Experience Report is due on March 3.
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DATES, TOPICS, READINGS & ACTIVITIES January 27 Introductions, welcome and orientation to course Voices of Pain, Voices of Hope DVD
February 3 Challenging Racism in Ideology and MFT Training Facilitators: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack exercise White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (McIntosh, chpt 11) White Women: Protectors of the Status Quo, Positioned to Disrupt It (Brazaitis) The Dynamics of a Pro-Racist Ideology: Implications for Family Therapists (Hardy, chpt 9) The Double Binds of Racism (Mahmoud, chpt 19)
February 10 Re-Visioning Family Therapy Immersion experience proposal due Facilitators: Re-Visioning Family Therapy through a Cultural Lens (McGoldrick, chpt 1) Social Class as a Relationship: Implications for Family Therapy (Kliman, chpt 4) Asian and Asian American Women: Historical and Political Considerations in Psychotherapy. (Bradshaw) Hall, R.L. & Greene, B. (2003) Contemporary African American Families. In Silverstein & Goodrich, Feminist Family Therapy: Empowerment in social context. D.C.: APA.
February 17 Understanding and Challenging Sexism in MFT Facilitators: Comas-Diaz, L. (2003). The Black Madonna: The psychospiritual feminism of Guadalupe, Kali, and Monserrat. In Silverstein & Goodrich, Feminist Family Therapy: Empowerment in social context. D.C.: APA. Goodrich, T.J. (2003). A feminist family therapist’s work is never done. In L.B. Silverstein & T.J. Goodrich, Feminist Family Therapy: Empowerment in social context. Washington D.C.: APA. Levant, R.F. (2003). Treating male alexithymia. In L.B. Silverstein & T.J. Goodrich, Feminist Family Therapy: Empowerment in social context. Washington D.C.: APA. Parker, L. (2003). Bringing power from the margin to the center. . In L.B. Silverstein & T.J. Goodrich, Feminist Family Therapy: Empowerment in social context. Washington D.C.: APA.
February 24 GLBTQ issues and Challenging Homophobia in MFT Facilitators: The Families of Lesbian Women and Gay Men (Johnson & Keren, chpt 24) Oswald, R.F. (2002). Resilience within family networks of lesbians and gay men: Intentionality and redefinition. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 374-383. Russell, S.T. (2002). Queer in America: Citizenship for sexual minority youth. Applied Developmental Science, 6(4), 258-263. Eldridge, N. & Barrett, S.E. (2003) Biracial lesbian-led adoptive families. In L.B. Silverstein & T.J. Goodrich, Feminist Family Therapy: Empowerment in social context. Washington D.C.: APA.