Reflecting on practice: negotiating challenges to ways of working

Sonn, Christopher

doi:10.1002/casp.779

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…They are also encouraged to reflect on their own actions and interactions as 'learners'. This allows them to have their own assumptions and subjective understandings challenged, for example on 'race' issues (Friere, 1973;Hooks, 1994;Sonn, 2004). In my experience, some students clearly do take up critical ideas and demonstrate ways of resisting and challenging dominant ideas about 'race' in psychology.…”

Section: Towards Anti-racist Teaching Practicementioning

confidence: 89%

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Teaching critical psychology of ‘race’ issues: problems in promoting anti‐racist practice

Ahmed

2007

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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The aim of this paper is to illustrate the difficulties faced by teachers of issues related to 'race' and racism in psychology when trying to develop anti-racist practice in their teaching. I argue that the promotion of anti-racist practice can be impeded by the institutionalised cultures of some psychology departments and that such cultures have developed out of an over-reliance on positivist ideas. Positivism obscures the fact that knowledge is constructed from positions of power and privilege, which in turn obscures the social and ideological construction of 'race'. This is clearly a problem when trying to develop anti-racist practice in teaching. It also leads to fixed ideas about what should be included in teaching content and what can be considered as good pedagogical practice, where notions of 'balance' and 'neutrality' are advocated, effectively overriding arguments for understanding the dynamics of knowledge production. It also obscures the power and privilege associated with workings of 'whiteness'. I illustrate this by presenting examples from my own experiences of teaching 'race' issues on undergraduate degree courses. I conclude with suggestions for developing anti-racist teaching by proposing a collective reflexive approach to changing institutional cultures that are currently at odds with anti-racist practice. I also invite further discussion and suggestions on how best to achieve such collective conscientisation.

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Section: Towards Anti-racist Teaching Practicementioning

confidence: 89%

“…again there is no interrogation of 'whiteness' that seriously challenges taken-for-granted privileged knowledge (Sonn, 2004).…”

Section: Universities and Anti-racist Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching critical psychology of ‘race’ issues: problems in promoting anti‐racist practice

Ahmed

2007

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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“…This is not to say that non-Indigenous people must uncritically accept Indigenous knowledges (Cowlishaw, 2004), but to recognise that it has powerful roles to play in critiquing whiteness. Sonn (2004) has argued that using indigenous writing in university curricula in psychology can serve to disrupt the dominance and taken for granted centrality of Western ways of knowing. Although there is resistance reflected in discomfort, many respond by interrogating dominance and privilege as part of the process of engaging across racialised boundaries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining discourses of whiteness and the potential for Reconciliation

Green

Sonn

2005

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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The aim of this article is to explore how examining discourses of whiteness can contribute to an anti‐racism that does not only focus on those affected by racism, thereby locating the issue with the ‘other’, but also attends to the privilege and dominance that is central to unequal and unfair distributions of power. Based on the discourse analysis (see Henriques, Hollway, Urwin, Venn, & Walkerdine, 1998; Parker, 1992) of interviews and focus groups with white Australians about their involvement in Reconciliation we discuss how by examining discursive negotiations at the micro level we are able to critique dominance and privilege at the macro level. In particular, we identify spaces for the examination and critique of whiteness within white Australians' discursive negotiations of Reconciliation. We also discuss how engagement with Indigenous knowledges is a necessary part of the critique of whiteness. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…As much as we would like to assert that our decisions were based on a systematic process of ethical decision‐making and contemplation, our ultimate decision to remain silent was largely a default response heavily influenced by our awkward positioning within the project and our dependence on the economic resources tied to it. Sonn () describes how as researchers we often have to balance professional, personal, and community demands and how these are often at odds. Dokecki () notes that there are always ethical tensions facing professionals as they secure the external economic resources required to sustain their practice (goods external) while being steadfast in pursuing the human development and community goods (goods internal) “that are the reason for and sine qua non of the practice in the first place” (p. 21).…”

Section: Lessons Learned From Freedom Hillmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fight, Flight, or Remain Silent? Juggling Multiple Accountabilities throughout the Formative Stage of a Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative

Kesten

Perez

Marques

et al. 2017

American J of Comm Psychol

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This paper describes the experiences of a research team as they navigated uncertain ethical and political terrain throughout the formative stage of a public housing redevelopment project. Specifically, we discuss the challenges related to balancing multiple accountabilities and the tensions among the various roles and responsibilities that emanated from different accountabilities. Due to contractual obligations to our funding source, established relations with community partners, and an ethical imperative to align with those holding the least power, we grappled with embodying multiple and often conflicting roles. Without oversight provided by our university institutional review board or a clear ethical framework for community psychology research and action, our team was left to negotiate the challenges that emerged through critical reflection and financial considerations. Throughout the case example presented in this paper, we highlight our difficulty in ethical decision-making with respect to the principles of obligation, disclosure, consent, commitment, and professionalism. Community psychologists often straddle the realms of academia, community partnerships, and conscious engagement with little guidance in navigating often conflicting roles and value systems. We present our narrative to highlight the complexity of scholar-activism in the context of community psychology and the necessity for developing ethical standards and guidelines tailored to meet the unique needs of community psychologists.

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Reflecting on practice: negotiating challenges to ways of working

Cited by 17 publications

References 27 publications

Teaching critical psychology of ‘race’ issues: problems in promoting anti‐racist practice

Teaching critical psychology of ‘race’ issues: problems in promoting anti‐racist practice

Examining discourses of whiteness and the potential for Reconciliation

Fight, Flight, or Remain Silent? Juggling Multiple Accountabilities throughout the Formative Stage of a Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative

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