Course Description
Explores social work practice in international settings. Students will use a double lens of human rights and sustainability to examine selected social issues as they occur in the Global South and in the U.S. Students will engage actively in identifying and debating possible solutions by participating in activism and research.
Athena Title
Global SW Issues and Practice
Prerequisite
(SOWK 2154 or SOWK 2157S) and SOWK 2155 and (SOWK 2156 or SOWK 2156E) and permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
· Understand concepts that inform global social work, including globalization, sustainability, social development, human rights, social exclusion, and social justice. · Discuss the deep interrelatedness of sustainability and human rights in promoting human wellness. · Examine current social issues and the related role of social work in local communities in global and national contexts. · Explain how a country’s historic and current culture(s) affect its response to global issues. · Recognize indigenous social work models and examine how these models are shaped by cultural, political, and economic forces. · Understand how global forces can promote and/or impede progress toward social and economic development for historically disadvantaged population groups, including racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse population groups. · Engage research-informed practice and practice-informed research to assist in making cross-cultural comparisons regarding effective responses to global issues. · Advance human rights and social and economic justice by developing and implementing a constructive, culturally sensitive response to social problems. · Consider professional ethics from a global perspective and how ethics define the profession worldwide. · Demonstrate cross-cultural awareness and an appreciation for the role of culture in the development of social work interventions.
Topical Outline
Week 1: Introduction Week 2: Maps, colonialism, the nature of helping Week 3: Write for Rights Week 4: Social development and the SDGs Gender, poverty, education Week 5: Human rights Inequality Week 6: Climate justice Week 7: International child welfare Week 8: Arts, activism, and social change Week 9: Tourism and trafficking Week 10: Women’s rights and concerns Week 11: Global health and wellbeing Week 12: Migrant and refugees in the world Week 13: Migrant and refugees in the U.S. Week 14: Ripped from the headlines Week 15: Final presentations
Syllabus