MF551: Syllabus Page 4
MF551: Syllabus Steven J. Sandage, Ph.D.
Fall 2012 Bethel Theological Seminary
Sept 24 – Dec 9 Office: A204; 638-6170
Monday, 1:00 – 5:00 pm e-mail:
Office Hours: Available to set up appointments
FAMILIES IN CONTEXT:
GENDER, CLASS, AND CULTURE
Course Description:
In this course, we will consider socio-economic, cultural, and gender influences on families. Students will be invited to reflect upon the ways in which these issues of social class, race, culture, and gender have influenced their own family experiences and those of the families with whom they work and minister. Course material will be covered through praxis (experiential learning), readings, lectures, and discussion. Intercultural development and diversity competence will be emphasized within a theologically integrative framework.
Course Objectives:
1. Demonstrate an awareness of the pervasive impact of culture on family experience, as well as its impact on personal assumptions about family life.
2. Analyze the inter-relatedness of issues of class, race, culture, and gender in family experience and in work with families.
3. Identify strategies for integrating theological and social science perspectives in forming a contextualized ministry and/or therapy with families.
4. Develop a plan for one’s own intercultural development and growth in diversity competence.
Required Reading:
Books:
Dueck, A., & Reimer, K. (2009). A peaceable psychology: Christian therapy in a world of many cultures. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.
McGoldrick, M., Giordano, J., & Garcia-Preto, N. (Eds.). (2005). Ethnicity and family therapy (3rd ed.). New York: Guilford.
McGoldrick, M., & Hardy, K.V. (Eds.). (2008). Revisioning family therapy: Race, culture, and gender in clinical practice (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford.
Articles/Chapters:
Canning, S. S., Pozzi, C. F., McNeil, J. D., & McMinn, M. R. (2000). Integration as service: Implications of faith-praxis integration for training. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 28, 201-211.
Edgell, P., & Tranby, E. (2010). Shared visions? Diversity and cultural membership in American life. Social Problems, 57, 175-204.
Helms, J. E. (1995). An update of Helms’ White and People of Color racial identity models. In J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L. A. Suzuki, & C. M. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling (pp. 181-198). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Hyde, J.S. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60, 581-592.
Jensen, M.L., Sanders, M., & Sandage, S.J. (2010). Women’s well-being in seminary: A qualitative study. Theological Education, 45, 99-116.
Pozzi, C. F., & Pressler, R. S. C. (2002). Psychology and social justice: Working towards a Christian justice-based model of integration. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 21, 301-308.
Sandage, S.J., & Harden, M.G. (2011). Relational spirituality, differentiation of self, and virtue as predictors of intercultural development. Mental Health, Religion, & Culture. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/13674676.2010.527932
Tan, S. Y. (1999). Cultural issues in spirit-filled psychotherapy. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 18, 164-176.
Note: Articles and Chapters are available for viewing on the course Moodle.
Course Requirements:
1. Volunteer Fieldwork Report (Approximately 2500 words; Due Dec 10): This fieldwork project involves serving as a volunteer in a setting that offers you an experience of social and cultural diversity. You are asked to complete a minimum of ten hours of volunteer work (factored into the required number of course hours) with ministry or community organization in sociocultural context that is new to your personal experience. Examples might include community family programs, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, residential facilities for seniors, etc. A list of possible programs will be offered in class, or you can propose a site to be approved by me. The primary criterion is that the site provide you with a new experience of diversity and involve some actual contact with people. The main goal is one of sharing community with others in a fieldwork setting that will give you experiences for personal and professional reflection. The intention is also that participation in this fieldwork will allow us to experience the inter-connections of various dimensions of social reality affecting families today.
This volunteer work will culminate in a Volunteer Fieldwork Report (approximately 2500 words): (a) Briefly describe your volunteer hours (number and areas of service); (b) What did you learn or experience about cultural, racial, economic, psychological, gender, family, and/or spiritual issues in the lives of people by the program/agency/ministry? (c) What insights did you gain that are relevant to the work of family therapy and/or other family ministries? In other words, what have you been learning about helping families? (d) What did you learn about yourself and your own multicultural formation? What did you find personally uncomfortable, comfortable, or surprising? (e) What do you see as next steps in your own development toward greater diversity competence? Incorporate relevant course readings and insights from your Intercultural Development Inventory feedback.
Grading will be based on the following (200 points possible): (a) Quality of insight and self-understanding (150 points), (b) Application (25 points), and (c) Writing quality (style, grammar, spelling, punctuation, references, etc.) (25 points).
MF551: Syllabus Page 4
2. Ethnic Heritage Paper (Approximately 1500 words; Due Oct 15): Drawing upon the readings [see relevant assigned or unassigned chapters in McGoldrick et al. (2005) and McGoldrick & Hardy (2008) and other readings], write a paper tracing your own ethnic or cultural heritage and how it affects your life experience and worldview. This paper should include the following, as well as other issues relevant to your particular life experience:
(a) Describe what you understand your ethnic or cultural heritage to be and how you believe it is generally perceived within the wider socio-cultural context in the United States. If your heritage includes several ethnic groups, discuss who in your family most influences your sense of ethnic identity.
(b) Describe the ways in which your family life, now and as you were growing up, was influenced by your ethnic heritage: composition of your family, how roles were assigned, discipline of children, expression of feelings, celebrations and family rituals, care of the elderly, communication and conflict styles, etc. Was your faith tradition influenced by your ethnic heritage? If so, in what ways?
(c) Discuss how your understanding of your heritage has changed as you have learned about other kinds of families. How did your family seem to relate to others (i.e., differing races, ethnicities, social classes, spiritual/religious orientations)? What has been your own experience in relating to others who are different from you?
(d) What have you come to appreciate in the ethnic heritage of your own family? What have you found challenging? What would you like to be different or find yourself attracted to in other family styles or cultural traditions?
(e) How do you feel your ethnic heritage will impact your work in therapy and/or ministry?
Grading will be based on the following (100 points possible): (a) Quality of insight and cultural self-understanding (90 points), (b) Writing quality (style, grammar, spelling, punctuation, references, etc.) (10 points).
3. Peaceable Integration Paper (Approximately 1,250 words; Due Nov 5): In their book A Peaceable Psychology, Dueck and Reimer (2009) offer an integrative approach to the connections of Christian psychology, theology, and therapy in multicultural contexts. First, please respond to this book by identifying some key points of learning for you. These could reflect points of agreement and/or disagreement with the authors. Second, describe implications you see for your own present and/or future integrative and culturally-sensitive work in providing therapy and/or pastoral care. In other words, how do cultural and other diversity issues factor into your own integrative understanding of ministry or therapy at this point? You are welcome to integrate insights from other course readings or class discussions in addition to Dueck & Reimer if you like.
Grading will be based on the following (100 points possible): (a) Quality of analysis
(90 points), and (b) Writing quality (style, grammar, spelling, punctuation, references, etc.) (10 points).
5. Attendance and Respectful Participation: Your attendance and respectful participation is valued as part of the learning dialogue of this course. Helpful participation involves both a willingness to enter into the class dialogue and to help make a place for others in the dialogue (100 points).
GRADING: Grades will be determined on the following basis:
Attendance and respectful participation 100 points
Fieldwork Report 200 points
Ethnic Heritage Paper 100 points
Peaceable Integration Paper 100 points
Total 500 points
Final grades will be assigned as follows:
A / 95-100 / B+ / 87-90 / C+ / 77-79 / D+ / 67-69A- / 91-94 / B / 83-86 / C / 73-76 / D / 63-66
B- / 80-82 / C- / 70-72 / F / 62 or less
Late Policy: A one day grace period without penalty will be offered for assignments to allow for inconveniences like computer failures or minor illnesses. You need not contact me if you are utilizing the grace day but simply turn in your paper to my office or mail box. A 5% penalty will be assessed for each day after 4:00pm on the grace day for an assignment that is turned in late. Incompletes will only be given in extreme circumstances.
GENERAL COURSE EXPECTATIONS:
1. Written assignments should represent the student's own work, conform to principles of academic integrity, reflect graduate-level thinking and writing skills, and be in accordance with the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual (6th ed.). You may obtain a brief summary of the major style requirements of the APA manual from the faculty secretaries. This summary also indicates the deviations from the manual that are acceptable for Bethel projects.
2. Any course which involves exploring our personal experiences and assumptions about the world can be difficult and unsettling. Our ability to learn and grow wiser through such a course depends on several things, which I also consider necessary for successful ministry and therapy: our ability to tolerate ambiguity; our willingness to dialogue honestly and respectfully with fellow students; our willingness to consider alternative views and interpretations; our willingness to acknowledge the limits of our own understanding; our ongoing effort to integrate new information with our worldview. If you find you are having personal difficulty in this course, please check with me or the Office of Student Life about a referral for consultation or counseling.
3. Academic Course Policies. Please familiarize yourself with the catalog requirements as specified in Academic Course Policies document found on the Syllabus page in Moodle. You are responsible for this information, and any academic violations, such as plagiarism, will not be tolerated.
CLASS SCHEDULE
SEPT 24 / Overview of course and Integration of Diversity Competence &
Christian Spiritual Formation
OCT 1 / Families and Culture
Guest Speaker: Michelle Beilby
Intercultural Consultation & Ministry / McGoldrick et al. (2005) - Chs. 1, 5, 36; McGoldrick & Hardy (2008) – Ch. 1; Canning et al. (2000); Sandage & Harden (2011)
OCT 8 / Families and Culture (cont.)
Guest Speaker: Dr. Jason Li
Chinese Culture & Families / Edgell & Tranby (2010); McGoldrick et al. (2005) – Chs. 6, 11, 20, 22; Tan (1999)
OCT 15 / Families and Culture (cont.)
Guest Speaker: Dr. Edna Geddes
African American Families & Spirituality / Helms (1995); McGoldrick et al. (2005) – Chs. 31, 48, 52;
Ethnic Heritage Paper Due
OCT 22 / NO CLASS – Reading & Research
OCT 29 / NO CLASS – Reading & Research
NOV 5 / Intercultural Integration of Theology & Social Science / Dueck & Reimer (2009)
Peaceable Integration Paper Due
NOV 12 / Views on Gender & Families / Hyde (2005); McGoldrick & Hardy (2008) - Chs. 8, 25
NOV 19 / Healthy & Unhealthy Gender Relations / Jensen, Sanders, & Sandage (2010); McGoldrick & Hardy (2008) - Chs. 21
NOV 26 / Families, Social Class, & Social Justice
Guest Speaker: Dr. Ruben Rivera
Hispanic Culture & Theology / Pozzi & Preussler (2002);
McGoldrick et al. (2005) – Chs. 2, 3; McGoldrick & Hardy (2008) - Chs. 3, 4, 27, 33
DEC 10 / Fieldwork Reports Due*
*Not a regular class session