Facilitating Through “Perfectly Logical Explanations”
Overview
The short document from the Commission for Social Justice Educators in this resource guide gives a concise description of strategies of multipartiality in discussion facilitation as a way to challenge dominant narratives that students have internalized and tend to reproduce in the classroom. Unlike impartial facilitation in which the instructor aims to be neutral towards all narratives, multipartial facilitation takes into account how dominant narratives already have significant weight and power in the classroom as the students have internalized the logic and assumptions of these narratives. A multipartial facilitator’s responsibility is to address the weight and power of dominant narratives by inviting participants to analyze the assumptions and limitations of their thinking and encourage the contribution of counternarratives. This is not to be confused with a partial approach where an instructor would advocate for particular perspectives.
Resource Goals:
- To address the prevalence of “perfectly logical explanations” that students often bring to re-establish dominant narratives.
- To challenge the notion that equal time is a measure of curricular fairness.
- To encourage the practice of multipartial strategies in classroom facilitation.
- To establish a more inclusive classroom by making space for counternarratives.
