EDUC 651 - Multicultural and Special Populations

Working within educational and social institutions in the United States requires a deep understanding of issues of diversity and equity. This course engages students in developing their own personal understandings of multiculturalism in their lives and professions, in critically examining how institutions and societies end up providing differing opportunities and experiences to different groups of people, and examining our roles in supporting or altering these systems and structures.

The course draws upon disciplines of anthropology, sociology, psychology, and other positions and practices offered by intercultural, multicultural, & social justice researchers to examine core concepts such as: culture, social identity, empathy, diversity, equality, equity, culturally inclusive curriculum, privilege, power, multiculturalism, oppression, social justice education, cultural competence, transformational education, critical pedagogy, and the interrelationship of race, class, sexual orientation, national origin, language, and (dis)ability.

The institution we examine specifically is education but your expertise and knowledge of other institutional inequities will add to the complex dimensions of this work.