The Trajectory of Awareness: A Tool to Dismantle Anti-Black Racism in Social Work Education

Abstract

This article addresses the concerns brought forth in this special issue by offering a detailed and conceptually focused description and rationale for future plans of addressing anti-Black racism across the social work curriculum. We focus on a less-discussed experience of anti-Black racism – the experience of internalized racial oppression and how it might be integrated into the social work curriculum. Although internalized racial oppression has detrimental effects on mental health functioning, there is little research that examines how this phenomenon is understood by clinical social workers who might observe these effects in their clients. In this article, we introduce a theoretical framework for understanding internalized racial oppression that came out of a larger qualitative study which explored how Black women psychotherapists understand the phenomenon. The authors will explain the framework and use pedagogical examples to illustrate how the model taught social work students about internalized racial oppression. Emphasis is placed on how implementing this framework in direct practice courses facilitates integration throughout multiple other areas of social work education. The framework may provide social work educators and students with a means to conceptualize internalized racial oppression. This aspect of anti-Black racism has psychologically damaging consequences, persists within the Black community, and is currently under-researched.

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