Assignment 1: Journal Entry:Intersection and Religious Discrimination

When pieces of cloth are sewn together, you might have trouble discerning the individual pieces of cloth that make the final garment, but by looking carefully, you can find the seams. You may have experienced similar difficulty in the first week of this course when asked to explore the individual aspects of culture that combine to create your unique self-identity. Forms of oppression can come together often in almost imperceptible ways to form the complex environment in which you and your clients live and interact. As a social worker, you must examine carefully the intersections between religious discrimination, sexism, classism, and racism so you can respond accordingly.

To prepare: Consider this week's resources that describe how religion intersects with other forms of oppression.

Submit your response to those resources and analyze what you think is the role of religion in reinforcing sexism, classism, and racism.

As a social worker, how can you address these issues on a micro and macro level?

Assignment 2: Race, Empowerment, and Cultural Competence

The ideas, attitudes, values, and beliefs with which people are surrounded as they grow up inform their perceptions about themselves and their place in the world. Family and religious systems are usually the first place that people get messages about themselves and others. Those messages can be positive and illustrate how important it is to embrace difference, or they can be full of hate and intolerance. For this Assignment, consider how your own ideas about race and ethnicity have been influenced by those around you.

Submit a 2-page paper that answers the following question:

How does your family and religious systems lead to your ideas about your own racial ethnic group as well as the racial and ethnic group of others?

Be sure to address the concepts of ethnocentric practice, empowerment and cultural competence. Please use the Learning Resources to support your answer.

References (use at least 2)

Cristol, D., & Gimbert, B. (2008). Racial perceptions of young children: A review of literature post-1999. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(2), 201-207.

Patcher, L. M., Szalacha, L. A., Bernstein, B., & Garcia Coil, C. (2010). Perceptions of racism in children and youth: Properties as a self-report instrument for research on children's health and development. Ethnicity & Health, 15(1), 33-46.

Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2016). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Chapter 5 (pp. 254-294)