It’s an everyone and everything kind of thing!
Cultural Competence
In the Classroom
Presented by:
The Office of Social Justice, Inclusion, and Conflict Resolution
Agenda
• Welcome and Introductions
• The Office of Social Justice, Inclusion,
and Conflict Resolution
• Who you are Matters:
Personal vs. Social Identity
• Who your Students are Matters
• Cultural Competence Defined
• How Culturally Competent is your
Curriculum and Pedagogy?
Office of Social Justice, Inclusion,
and Conflict Resolution
Mission
The Office of Social Justice, Inclusion and Conflict Resolution exists to promote an
inclusive university community where individuals are empowered to grow in their
understanding of identity, social justice, and the skills needed to lead a more just
society.
Objectives
• Provide students and professional staff opportunities to dialogue across
difference and develop key social justice and conflict resolution competencies.
• Create opportunities for students to explore their background and identities and
how this exploration is relevant to their college and professional success.
• Provide programs and services geared at supporting diverse students.
• Provide college-wide student mentorship programs geared at supporting
retention and graduation of underrepresented students.
• Offer students opportunities for leadership, professional development, and civic
engagement.
• Assess campus climate and provide ongoing feedback and consultation on ways
to promote an inclusive campus environment
• Assist and support efforts to prevent and respond effectively to bias related
incidents.
Social Justice, Inclusion,
and Conflict Resolution Defined
Social Justice
Social justice refers to a concept in which equity or justice is achieved in every aspect of society
rather than in only some aspects or for some people. It includes a vision of a society in which the
distribution of resources is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and
secure. Social justice involves social actors who have a sense of their own agency as well as a
sense of social responsibility toward and with others and the society as a whole (Teaching for
Diversity and Social Justice – Adams, Bell, Griffin, 2nd ed., Routledge 2007).
Inclusion
Inclusion is the active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity—in people, in the
curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical)
with which individuals might connect—in ways that increase one’s awareness, content
knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals
interact within systems and institutions. (AAC&U)
Conflict Resolution
The Office of Social Justice, Inclusion, and Conflict Resolution’s concept of conflict resolution
encompasses the identification and implementation of dialogic tools that are grounded in:
• Self-awareness
• Local and global diversity and its impact on conflicting ideologies and expression
• Constructive and collaborative strategies that promote individual and group coalitions
• Theoretical constructs to enhance cultural competence and literacy
• Models that stress leaning into conflict and using conflict to grow and transform
• Bridging difference through dialogic processes
Areas of Student Support
Dr. Harley E. Flack Student Mentoring Program
The Dr. Harley E. Flack Student Mentoring Program at Rowan University is an
academic success and retention program which provides participants
academic, personal, and professional support throughout the course of their
undergraduate career at Rowan. Through personalized mentorship, academic
support, professional guidance, co-curricular activities, and leadership
initiatives, the program has successfully supported participants in achieving
their goals and full potential as students at Rowan University for more than 20
years.
Mentoring Program Components
• Male Mentoring
• UJIMA Female Mentoring
• High School Mentoring
Areas of Student Support
LGBTQIA+ Resources
The LGBTQIA+ Resource Center is a resource for students who identify and
LGBTQIA+ and is intended to create a safe space for students, support students’
exploration of their identity, and advocate for campus inclusion for the LGBTQA+
community at Rowan.
Multicultural Resources
An evolution of the long established Office of Multicultural Affairs, the
Multicultural Resource Center is located within the Office of Social Justice,
Inclusion, and Conflict Resolution and houses materials for student/faculty use to
explore the many facets of multiculturalism and issues surrounding identity
development that is influenced by culture, the environment and the social
construction of race. The center serves as a resource for students from diverse
cultural and identity groups, and is intended to promote the celebration diversity,
development cross cultural understanding and competency, and inclusion of
diverse people in the Rowan community.
Areas of Student Support
Spiritual Exploration Resources
The Spiritual Exploration Resource Center is a resource to promote a campus
environment that is inclusive of student’s religious and spiritual identities and
allows for expression and exploration of spiritual and religious beliefs and values.
Programs and initiatives of the center will advance understanding and
appreciation of the contributions of communities of faith.
Women Resources
The Women’s Resource Center is a resource to address the needs of all women
and empower students to promote a campus community inclusive of all genders
and respectful of gender differences. Programs and initiatives of the center will
support efforts to address inequity, promote understanding of women’s and
gender issues, and create a space for women to build bridges and a strong sense
of community.
Select Spring 2015 Programs
• Dinning for Diversity
• Patchwork: Feminist
Conversation Series
• AWARE: White Ally
Development Group
• Social Justice Brown Bag
Lunch Series
• Speak and Eat Conversation
Series
• Multicultural Men’s Retreat
• Diversity and Inclusion
Week
• Social Justice Speakers Series
• Supporting Trans Students
• Women: America’s Gross
Domestic Product
• Islam and the Problem of
Modern Violence
• Social Justice and Inclusion
Workshops
• How Inclusive is my Life?
• Beyond Act Like a Lady, Think
Like a Man
• Diversity in Sports
Affiliated Student Organizations
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Asian Cultural Association (ACA)
African Student Association (ASA)
Black Cultural League (BCL)
Catholic Campus Ministry
Chabad Jewish Student Association
Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship
Council of African American Studies
El Círculo de Español
Glassboro Student Union
Hillel
International Club
Intersectional Feminist Collective
Italian Club
Rowan Christian Fellowship (Cru)
• Rowan University
Philippine American Coalition
(RU PAC)
• Muslim Student Association
• National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP)
• New Life Ministry
• Prism
• Progressive Student Alliance (PSA)
• Student Organization for Caribbean
Awareness (SOCA)
• Students United for Mentorship and
Service
• True Colors
• United Latino Association
Our Professional Staff
Kristine Allouchery
Administrative Assistant (part-time temporary)
allouchery@rowan.edu
Gardy J. Guiteau
Director of Social Justice, Inclusion,
and Conflict Resolution Initiatives
guiteau@rowan.edu
Temple Jordan
Interim Assistant Director of Mentoring
and Inclusion Programs
jordan@rowan.edu
John T. Mills
Assistant Director of Multicultural
and Inclusion Programs
millsj@rowan.edu
Phone: (856) 256-5495 | Fax: (856) 256-4856 | socialjustice@rowan.edu
Who you are Matters:
Personal vs. Social Identity
Personal Identities
Simply put, someone’s personal identity is the collection identifiers specific to
a person that make them a unique individual. While one’s environment plays a
role in its development, personal identity can be largely said to be a matter of
“choice.”
Social Identities
These are group-based identities that are not personal in that they refer to
part of ourselves that we value or are evaluated on based on social categories
we belong to. Social identities are shaped by common history, shared
experiences, legal and historical decisions, and day-to-day interactions. These
identities are socially constructed and are multiple and intersecting in how
they are lived. Eg., race, gender, age, religion, nationality, socio-economic
class, sexual orientation, physical / developmental / psychological ability, and
ethnicity.
When it comes to cultural competence in the classroom, who you are matters
because we live in a world where Social Identities are not simply benign social
categories. Rather, these socially constructed identities have inequality
imbedded in their very fabric.
Who your Students are Matters
Source: College Characteristics. (2012). Retrieved February 23, 2015, from collegeresults.org
Who your Students are Matters
Source: College Characteristics. (2012). Retrieved February 23, 2015, from collegeresults.org
Who your Students are Matters
Six-Year Graduation Rates: Overall and by
Race/Ethnicity and Gender
Source: College Characteristics. (2012). Retrieved February 23, 2015, from collegeresults.org
Cultural Competency
Cultural Competence alludes to our ability to function within a body of people
that have a shared sense for communicating and living with one another based on
common values, language, and customs. The individual has the ability to problem
solve and navigate the nuances of a particular “neighborhood” that includes
beliefs and norms that cultivates identity formation and everyday experiences. In
that respect we develop the competencies within the context of the community
that we are immersed in to actualize personal and collective life goals.
Cultural Competency then means having the capacity to understand and
competently navigate the systems that define another culture. To be Multicultural
Competent, one must be able to traverse their own self-awareness to realize the
experiences of persons and communities that are different from him/herself to be
fluent in more than one culture. This would entail being able to communicate
cross-culturally and have a sense of empathy, a deeper understanding and respect
for and ability to work with others as an ally despite the contrasting ethnic,
religious, political, gender, historical, and personal constructs that define how a
person views and experiences the world (Kivel, 2007).
Cultural Imprinting
The Cultural Imprinting construct outlines the extent to which a particular
individual is immersed in a specific and deeply lived cultural environment.
To varying degrees, individuals are raised in environments where cultural
imprinting of traditions, behaviors, social norms, values and expectations are
overt, deeply held, and consistently transmitted.
These imprinting environments can be limited to
a family unit or can be as broad as an entire
community and still have a strong ethnic/cultural
identity development influence.
http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/8/28/6078583/3-maps-that-show-how-segregated-americas-schoolsare?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=voxdotcom&utm_content=thursday
Cultural/Linguistic Racism
Language is a vital part of culture as through verbal/written communication the
foundations of thought, values, and beliefs that define a particular group of
people as a unit can be examined.
Differences in how different cultures view the most basic of things can illustrate the
divide in socially meaning and interpretation of life.
For example:
In English the watch “runs”
In French the watch “marches”
This gives light to the
nature in which the
In German the watch “functions”
Mexican described as
In Spanish the watch “walks” slow and lazy in context
to the Anglo value
system of time that is
rooted in “times flies”
Southwest Indian culture refer to time in
and “time is money”.
sense of “what time it’s getting to be”
Edward Nichols’ Model for the Philosophical Aspects of Culture
Adapted by Karen Trader
HISTORICAL
WORLD VIEWS
ETHNIC GROUPS:
VALUES
ACQUISITION OF
KNOWLEDGE FOR
EPISTOMOLOGY
LOGIC SYSTEM
OR ONTOLOGY:
THE NATURE OF
REALITY
PROCESS
EUROPEAN
EURO-AMERICAN
PERSON-OBJECT
COGNITIVE
BINARY
TECHNOLOGY
The highest value lies in the
object or acquisition of the
object
One knows through counting and
measuring
Either/or; standardization;
codification; precision;
uniformity
All sets are repeatable and
reproducible
AFRICANS
AFRICAN/AMERICANS
NATIVE AMERICANS
HISPANIC
PERSON-PERSON
AFFECT/EMOTIONAL
UNIONAL
INTERRELATIONAL
The highest values lies in
the interpersonal
relationships between
people
One knows through symbolic
imagery and through rhythm
Thematic, approximate
popular improvisation;
resistance to conformity;
freedom
All sets are interrelated through
human and spiritual networks
ASIAN
ASIAN/AMERICAN
NATIVE AMERICAN
PERSON-GROUP
The highest value lies in
the cohesiveness of the
group
INTUIT
KNOWING
COSMOLOGY
One knows through striving toward
transcendence
The objective world is
conceived independent of
thought and mind
All sets are independently
interrelated in the harmony of the
universe
Black Church vs. White Church
Communication Differences
Styles in Conflict and Emotion
•
Blacks are more animated, louder, &
expressive
•
•
Anger & joy are openly expressed
For whites, rational means calm/quiet
•
White culture separates mind & emotions
•
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•
Mask your true feelings
Whites = violent, less rational, unrefined,
childish
Blacks = cold, dispassionate, unemotional
Alan D. Desantis Black and White styles of Communication in Conflict
Five Elements of Cultural
Competence
Acknowledge
Cultural
Differences
Engage in SelfAssessment
Understand
Your Own
Culture
View behavior
of self &
others within
a cultural
context
Acquire
Cultural
Knowledge &
Skills
Engage in self assessment
• Critical reflection about your own feelings, bias, opinions,
perceptions is vital to having a multiple or layered awareness
to issue of difference.
• Find out the facts about whatever it is that you may be feeling
about a person or group of people.
• Most importantly do not be afraid to talk about it.
The truth about
Racism
Racism, prejudice, and bias are not interchangeable
Prejudice is a prejudgment, which can be either positive or negative, about a
person, group, event or thing, for or against. Discrimination is action based on
that prejudice. A negative prejudice about a group of people is often called a
stereotype. An action based on a stereotype is usually called bigotry.
Bias is most closely related to prejudice and means a strong inclination of the
mind or a preconceived opinion about something or someone. A bias may be
favorable or unfavorable: bias in favor of or against an idea. Prejudice implies a
preformed judgment even more unreasoning than bias and usually implies an
unfavorable opinion: prejudice against a race.
What distinguishes all these terms from racism is that none of them necessarily
involve a power relationship as a condition of their existence. For example, a
person of color can be prejudiced against another person of color or a white
person, but that doesn't make her a racist because she has little or no access to
the institutional power that could back up her actions (Lawrence & Keheler,
2004).
RACISM IS A RACE PREJUDICE PLUS POWER
Prejudice
A pre-judgment in
favor or against a
person group and
event, an idea or a
things
An action based on
pre-judgment
Stereotype
Bigotry
A negative prejudgment
An action based on a
stereotype
Discrimination
How Culturally Competent is your
Curriculum and Pedagogy?
• What would make for culturally competent
or inclusive curriculum?
• What does culturally competent or
inclusive pedagogy look like in practice?
• How are these related to one another?
• Is cultural competent curriculum and
pedagogy possible across all subject
matter or discipline?