Sustained Interracial Dialogue as an Antiracist Intervention: A Preliminary Qualitative Evaluation of a Nonformal Learning Program

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Nine
  In Roundtable Session: Cultivating Change and Antiracist Interventions Across Learning Settings (Table 2)

Abstract

Racialized and white supremacist society has organized the social lives of many modern-day Americans to prevent integrated social networks. Given the structural forces encouraging the segregated status quo, what happens when individuals seek out opportunities for ‘intentional integration’? This qualitative study interviewed racially diverse participants (n=30) in a sustained and strategic interracial dialogue program. The program, called Touchy Topics Tuesdays, is an antiracist nonformal learning program located in St. Louis, Missouri. This proposal highlights findings from the qualitative interview data about the participants’ perceived growth due to the program. This proposal previews the intellectual, relational, and emotional benefits that the participants reported from the TTT model. Implications for racially explicit dialogic learning models are included.

Authors

• Olivia Marcucci, Johns Hopkins University
  Presenting Author

• Tiffany Robertson, Touchy Topics Tuesday
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Lazarus, Johns Hopkins University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lisa Mitchell, Johns Hopkins University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Don Morgan
  Non-Presenting Author