Transcultural Perspective

At San José State University, our Transcultural Perspective (TCP) provides context to understand our mission and its relationship to the BASW and MSW competencies, behaviors, dimensions, and curriculum. 

Students are encouraged to consider the Transcultural Perspective through their work at their internship agencies. Faculty Field Liaisons incorporate the elements of the TCP in seminar discussions and assignments. Agency Internship Coordinators and Field Instructors are provided with an opportunity to learn about the TCP during FI Orientation and occasional additional training made available by the School of Social Work and Field Office.

The TCP has five components which can be defined distinctly, but work in tandem to provide a lens to critically examine diversity:

  1. Cultural Knowledge: pursuit of information that enhances understanding about culture and cultural groups
  2. Cultural competency (now referred to as cultural sensitivity or cultural humility): process of an appreciation, honoring, and navigation through culture, especially in its diversity and complexity, knowing that we will never reach full competency
  3. Power, Privilege, and Oppression: understanding power, its sources, and how those with unearned status have and can use power to uplift or diminish others
  4. Positionality and Self-reflexivity: social location based on identity (including intersectionality), and how awareness of oneself translates to our values, attitudes, and actions
  5. Respectful Partnerships: collaboration, cooperation, and mutual appreciation expressed in honoring cultural diversity.

To learn more, please see our Transcultural Perspective Video.