This dissertation uses a combination of modern and postmodern interpretative approaches to identify, describe, and analyze the narratives presented within ERACE, an organization which uses the emergent method of dialogue to promote interracial communication. The analysis of the narratives revealed information about the participants' understanding of both the organization and of racism. Based on concepts of narrative thinking and organizational representation, a 'meta-story' was postulated. This 'meta-story' serves as a model for showing relationships between the individual narratives, and for demonstrating the fluidity and constant evolvement of the organization. In doing so, the model moves the interpretation of the findings from a static, functionalist approach to partially achieving what Jeffcut (1993) calls a 'polyphonic, open-ended, creative dialogue,' as an interpretation and representation of the organization. Weick's (1995) concept of sensemaking, Bateson's (1972) Four Orders of Learning, and the theory of social constructivism are presented as ways of understanding the process of this research as well as the experience of dialogue within the organization. Some implications for social work education and future research point to continued emphasis on narrative, the addition of the concept of dialogue as a mechanism of social learning in organizations, and further exploration of the growing phenomena of interracial dialogue organizations / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_24002 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Contributors | Padgett, Julianna Dorothy (Author), Hayden, Robert G (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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