Empowerment is a theory and principle deeply ingrained in social work. However, today, many people may associate empowerment with the structural force of neoliberal self-responsibilization, wherein individuals are compelled to shoulder the responsibility of extricating themselves from oppressive situations independently. Contrary to this perception, the concept of empowerment was initially championed in the 1970s by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian adult educator, to combat systemic oppression through literacy movements and mass mobilization.
In this course, our focus will be on the following areas:
- Learning from empowerment theory, practice, and research in popular education, social work, community psychology, and other related fields, both historically and in contemporary contexts.
- Drawing inspiration from feminist, anti-oppressive practice, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, and disability justice works to critique, enhance and support contemporary empowerment theory and practices (e.g., Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Billie Allan & Rhonda Hackett, Sara Ahmed, adrienne maree brown, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha).
- Peer-led learning experience on the areas of choice that would consider different ways of expressing and conveying ideas. The final assignment can be an arts-based project or a more traditional writing-based project. In the past, class members have created a digital story, garment, painting, music, poetry, and many others.
- Engaging in a series of peer-to-peer simulations using Forum Theatre (from the Theatre of the Oppressed/ August Boal) to examine strategies for addressing racism and other oppressive situations experienced in our own lives and practice settings. Racism and various forms of oppression encountered by workers within social service organizations may not be readily identified and addressed. Forum Theatre encourages exploration rather than providing definitive solutions to oppressive situations and conditions, serving as a rehearsal space for individual, organizational, community, and social change.
Throughout the course, class members are constituted as co-learners and co-teachers within the learning community. The assigned “readings” will include videos, podcasts, and popular writings, in addition to academic journal articles and book chapters. Class members are encouraged to bring in examples of inspiring practice, activism, and social movements that are relevant to the concepts we are learning.