Embracing the Village and Tribe: Critical Thinking for Social Workers From an African-Centered Approach

ABSTRACT

The social work department at a small historically Black college implemented an African-centered approach to the course Critical Thinking for Social Workers for freshmen students who declared social work as their major. We firmly believe that knowing and understanding the history and legacy of people of African descent is extremely important in educating African American students. Various pedagogical techniques, assignments, and intentional lecture topics were used in the implementation of this unique teaching style. This article reports the findings from using the African-centered approach in pedagogy and offers implications for social work education in the 21st century for historically Black colleges and universities and other programs with minority student populations.

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Notes on contributors

Yarneccia D. Dyson

Yarneccia D. Dyson, Ph.D., MSW is an Assistant Professor and Tanya Smith Brice, Ph.D., MSW is an Associate Professor and Dean of the School of Health and Human Services at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina.

Tanya Smith Brice

Yarneccia D. Dyson, Ph.D., MSW is an Assistant Professor and Tanya Smith Brice, Ph.D., MSW is an Associate Professor and Dean of the School of Health and Human Services at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina.