Teaching About Privilege: A Model Combining Intergroup Dialogue and Single Identity Caucusing

Numerous challenges in educating about issues of privilege have been documented in the academic literature. To address many of those challenges, this paper outlines a pedagogical model that combines a modified form of intergroup dialogue, called cross-privilege dialogue, with single identity caucusing to engage participants in exploring their personal embodiment of privilege and their barriers to engaging in ally behavior. The paper identifies specific issues that arose in implementing the pedagogy and theorizes a process from resistance to praxis that combines critical self-awareness with action to assist students in understanding the importance of both.2 While the academic community has focused increasing attention on issues of privilege in the last couple of decades (Manglitz, 2003; Ore, 2006), most of the writing has focused on defining various forms of privilege and how those forms function to maintain inequality (Goodman, 2001