Realities of Racism and Oppression
Final Paper
In this assignment, students will describe a population with which they will work in the
future and analyze how racism and other forms of oppression may impact the
population in the experience of this issue/problem. Students will discuss a specific
theoretical framework through which to further explore the issue and identify practice
implications for social work practice. Students should consider specific individual action
plans, policy implications, and the application of social work values and ethics. See the
example below.
The paper should include the following sections and components:
Background: This section will include a clear statement of the population and issue
that will be the focus of the paper. This section should include an overview of the
population and the area of practice.
Levels of Oppression:
In this section, the student should explore racism at the internalized, interpersonal,
institutional, and cultural levels. Additionally, students should use the framework of
intersectionality to discuss at least one other form of oppression that is important to
consider with the population/practice area.
In this section, the student should discuss the experience of racism and another form of
oppression should be specific and outline the potential issues that the student, as a
social worker, should be aware of in practice.
*If you would like to discuss additional theoretical frameworks that illustrates your
argument, you may introduce it here. Some examples may be Critical Race Theory,
Racial Identity Development, Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome, or White Racial
Framework.
Levels of Practice:
In this section the student should analyze how social workers can address the issue
identified in this paper at each level of social work practice – micro, mezzo, and macro.
Specifically, students should draw on how cultural humility and anti-oppressive social
work practice, and specific social policy that can be used to not only provide services to
the population of interest, but also within this work identify ways to dismantle racism and
other forms of oppression.
Critical Self-Reflection: In this section, the students should reflect on their growth and
future opportunities for growth as it relates to racial identity exploration, stereotypes
and/or biases. Students should also discuss a specific concept from class and reading
that they believe will impact their practice and in what ways. Students should review
specific application of social work values, ethics and the standards of cultural
competence in social work practice across difference. This is an opportunity for
students to reflect on their own individual growth and change over the semester,
specifically as it relates to their area of future practice.
This paper should be 7-9 pages long, double-spaced using APA formatting and
citation guidelines (6
th
edition). You should incorporate at least 6 references that
are relevant to your analysis, and should include articles and research from
outside of class.
For example, a paper that focuses on working with survivors of intimate partner violence
(IPV) would describe the dynamics of intimate partner violence and the specific
population with which you may work, for example, female identified survivors in
emergency shelter (background). The paper would then explore how race at all levels
of oppression may impact the experience of IPV, as well as one other form of
oppression such as sexuality that shapes the survivors unique experience of IPV (levels
of oppression). Next, the paper would cover how social workers address the issue of
IPV at all levels of practice, and drawing on cultural humility, anti-oppressive social work
practice, and social policy can work to dismantle the oppression experienced by the
population (levels of practice). Additionally, the student will reflect on their own growth
and the impact of this course. Finally students should discuss specific use of social
work values in future work with survivors of IPV, such as the client’s right to
self-determination in deciding if she wants to leave her partner regardless of the social
workers’ opinions (self-reflection).