Issue 26(2)
Developing
Social Justice Allies
(New Directions for Student
Services #110). (2005). Robert D.
Reason, Ellen M. Broido, Tracy L Davis, & Nancy J. Evans (Eds).San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 89 pp., Price: $27.00. ISBN # 0-7879-8077-3.
Review
by: Roger
A.E. Callanan
Division of Undergraduate Academic
Programs
North
Carolina State
University
This latest
addition to the New Directions for Student Services series is
a challenge to educators - both inside and alongside the classroom
- to recognize our opportunities and responsibilities to participate
in student formation concerning issues of social justice. Although
focused primarily on the work of Student Affairs professionals
- administrators, faculty and advisors would be wise to take to
heart this book's charge that we all can - and ought to - impact
the status quo by intentionally and purposefully influencing social
systems of power and access.
The
authors have created an excellent resource that serves a variety
of functions. It is a primer on issues of diversity, multiculturalism,
multiple identity, and social justice; it reviews current research
relative to identity development, cognitive development, and student
learning; it presents models for the creation of ally development
experiences; and it educates majority groups regarding the realities
of membership in groups with limited independent access to power
or voice. Individual chapters target men, heterosexuals, whites,
and the (temporarily) "abled" as sources for alliances. Each chapter
also includes thorough summaries of relevant theories, as well
as barriers and strategies. This is a "how to" book with a strong
academic "soul."
Although
direct utility for the traditional academic advisor is not initially
obvious, this volume could easily suffice as the primary text
for a fascinating and demanding social justice course that would
be part of an advisor's development. As institutions increasingly
come to accept "advising" as "teaching," then it also becomes
increasingly important for advisors to prepare themselves to recognize
and embrace the differences in our students, and influence them
to embrace differences in their peers and in their world. This
text's focus on majority group allies does not just deliver an
inspiring "feel-good" message; it repeatedly emphasizes the vital
work of translating attitude into action - for our students, but
also for ourselves as professionals within the academy.
This text is
definitely not an easy read. Each paragraph - each sentence -
is honed into succinct, efficiently rich language. It is on a
mission to instruct, inform, and then to charge each of us to
use majority group privilege to correct the lack of access to
social systems by those with historically and currently devalued
group identities. It leads the discussion of what, then why, then
how. It nourishes a conversation of how to use unearned privilege
to make a difference, as well as how to dismantle that privilege.
Thoughtful, careful readers will certainly become better informed
- about social justice issues, the work of developing allies,
and about themselves.
