Going Public: Civic and Community Engagement

Cross-Cultural Community Engagement, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s Model of Death and Dying, and Racial Identity Development

163 Cross-Cultural Community Engagement, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s Model of Death and Dying, and Racial Identity Development Michelle R. Dunlap Scholars have proposed that Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s model of death and dying can be applied to any change that requires loss or, vice versa, to any loss that requires change (Goldsworthy, 2005). The community engagement process is one that involves significant change, negotiation, adaptation, and even loss. Within the community engagement process, constituents are challenged to try to understand one another, to work in partnership, and to evolve. Many times partners are traversing socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, sexual orientation, and/or religious differences. For those who grew up in relatively homogenous environments, the community engagement process can provide major challenges and adjustments (Dunlap, 2000; Dunlap & Webster, 2009; Evans, Taylor, Dunlap, & Miller, 2009). One of the greatest challenges that those engaged in the multicultural community engagement process must navigate is that of coming to terms with the injustice that they find in communities that are different from their own (Dunlap, 1998; Dunlap, Scoggin, Green, & Davi, 2007). Engagers also may enter the community engagement process at different levels of awareness of, and preparedness for, talking about the role and impact of race, culture, discrimination, oppression, and so forth, on their and others’ experiences. Students exposed to diversity, regardless of their own race, ethnicity, or other identifying factors might feel more comfortable in diverse settings. But because factors such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomics , and so forth influence our access to diverse experiences, they then also can play a role in how we respond to such experiences. But it depends on what kind of experiences, how in-depth, how frequent and consistent, how stereotypical or varied, those experiences are throughout our development (Dunlap, 2000). Thus, engagers—both because of, and regardless of, race and other differences and backgrounds—may come to the community M I C H E L L E R . D U N L A P 164 engagement process at different levels of preparedness for observing, discussing, and otherwise appropriately responding to the diversity that they may encounter (Dunlap et al., 2007; Tatum, 1992). All of this may prompt a loss of what feels normal to many involved in the cross-cultural engagement process. The Kübler-Ross model of death and dying offers five stages through which a person negotiates when coming to terms with death or other major trauma: denial, anger, bargaining , depression, and acceptance. This chapter will present this five-stage model and will propose it as a useful model for helping community engagers understand the processes that they may experience when participating in cross-cultural community engagement. Parallels will be proposed between Kübler-Ross’s model and experiences that those participating in cross-cultural community engagement may have. The usefulness of Kübler-Ross’s model for thinking about community engagement and the diversity learning process also will be explored in light of racial identity development models. Stage 1: Denial Elizabeth Kübler-Ross described denial as “a healthy way of dealing with a painful situation” with which a person has to cope for a relatively significant period of time (1997, p. 52). She said that it serves as a “buffer” that allows us to “collect” ourselves, “mobilize others,” and keep from overreacting (p. 52). As with any of her stages, a person can move in and out of, and backward and forward within, denial, which can blend with the other stages; a person can even skip denial altogether and later return to it (Goldsworthy, 2005; Kübler-Ross, 1997). Connecting the concept of denial to the experience of community engagement, and to service learning specifically, some student engagers have never had to think critically about racism and other forms of oppression, while others have had to grapple with such issues on a regular basis. Therefore, when high school or college students go into the community to engage in service either as volunteers or as part of service learning or other curriculum-based learning programs, they may be at different levels of preparedness for encountering the diversity and multicultural issues that they may face (Dunlap, 2000 & 1998). For example, a European American (or white) student from a very privileged environment—and especially if it’s one lacking a diverse educational or experiential curriculum—may not anticipate the similarities and differences that they may observe among community partners and environments (Dunlap et al., 2007). They may expect very negative and inaccurately stereotypical behavior and simple...