[jamescw1234]

This is a required course for social work students, in order to continue in the program you have to get at least a 6 in this class. Students must also take this course before registering for their practicum. Students in labour studies are also allowed to take this course. In this class you critically analyze how oppression operates and functions in society, and what social workers and labour theorists do to address these issues. This course looks at how individuals use privilege to marginalize those in society, and potential ways to challenge privilege. My one warning is that this class may make you feel about about yourself. I sometimes left the class feeling guilty about having privilege, but you do learn through your assignments that you can use your privilege in good ways.

The course was taught by Gary Dumbrill, Gary is an extremely intelligent individual who is not afraid to challenge what is right and what is wrong in our society. He analyzed oppression through the lens of race, which is one of the topics that many people are afraid to talk about. He is one of the best lecturers I have ever had, and also conducted in class exercises, discussions and brought in various movies. He also brought in a number of guest lecturers so we were able to get multiple perspectives of issues.

As interesting as this class is, it is certainly not an easy class. The textbook Challenging Oppression and Confronting Privilege is a very hard text to read, and it can be very black and white when discussing concepts. However, Gary often used lectures to challenge the text and gave the class opportunity to agree/disagree with what the texts were saying. There were also several articles that we had to read written by Gary and others. There was a midterm worth 15% which tested our knowledge of lectures and readings, it was a very difficult midterm as there were a lot of concepts to remember. There was a take home exam worth 40%, we watched the film Rabbit Proof Fence and were given a set of questions to answer. These questions made us draw concepts from texts, lecture and our own perspectives to analyze the movie.

Finally there was a 10 page double spaced paper where we are to give our own perspective on Anti-Oppressive Practice and how we will apply it into our future work. I actually enjoyed writing this paper very much because I was able to craft my definition of oppression and how I see it operate in society. This was worth 45% of the grade. I should also mention that attendance was taken on a pass/fail basis, if you do not show up to 80% of the classes you will receive an F in the course.

So if you are in social work, this is something you will have to take this no matter what. But if you are in labour studies I would suggest taking this course because it allows you to critically think about the inequalities in society, and what we can do as advocators to address these issues. It is challenging, but you were learn many things that you can take with you into your future work.