Politics in Youth Work and Community Development

Description

This module aims to explore politics in youth community work and community development, viewing both disciplines as forms of praxis in broader struggles for social justice. The key framework will be the matrix of domination, using categories such as race, gender, age, religion, nationality and class to explore the key political ideas underpinning youth work and community development. This intersectional approach is rooted in a theory of justice which will be used to test ideas such as pluralism, tolerance and diversity. The module will include a brief overview of the historical development of youth work, community development and their connection with ideas of justice and development from the Enlightenment through the period of decolonisation and up to the present. Students will engage with key thinkers such as John Rawls, Antonio Gramsci, Paolo Freire, Stuart Hall, Henry Giroux and Kimberlé Crenshaw, among others. Through discussion and role play the students will learn to be adaptable and flexible when dealing with difference, and demonstrate an ability to exercise initiative and solve problems from a base of practical rationality.

Learning Outcomes

  1. critically evaluate the theory and concepts of social justice and human rights underpinning youth work and community development practice

  2. demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the role of political theory in the history of youth work and community development

  3. understand the theory, concept and methods of intersectionality as they relate to youth work and community development

  4. display an understanding of the concept, theory and methods of youth work and community development as forms of praxis

  5. express a comprehensive, internalised, personal world view, manifesting solidarity with others

Credits
05
% Coursework 100%