Use of Self as an Anti-Oppressive Tool for Pedagogy

ABSTRACT The Zeitgeist of our time calls on social workers and the social work profession to reconsider the ways in which we practice, teach, and learn. The COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 reawakening of the racial and social justice movements profoundly influence how social workers approach the directive from our accrediting body (CSWE) calling on us to intentionally integrate an anti-racist framework in our implicit and explicit curriculum. This paper re-introduces “use of self” as an anti-oppressive pedagogical tool that can build and hold brave spaces of transformation. Orienting ourselves to the use of self as a kind of pedagogy is one way to reengage with our social justice mission. Although we believe that pedagogy and practice are intricately connected, for the purposes of this paper, we focus on pedagogy.