Intergroup Dialogue Program
IGD 150 is no longer offered at Muhlenberg and the formal "program" has folded. But check out the many ways the spirit of Intergroup Dialogue continues throughout our DEI and Community Engagement opportunities.
What is Intergroup Dialogue (IGD)?
Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) is a social justice education pedogogy that takes seriously the presence of inequality and unfairness in the way our society is organized.
Dialogue is rare compared to the more typical ways people converse about social issues. For example, debate is focused on convincing the other party that your perspective or idea is correct. Discussion is focused on encouraging everyone to share and critique one another’s intellectual ideas. Both are valuable tools, but neither build the trust, shared understanding, and collaborative relationships possible with intergroup dialogue. IGD requires people to engage in active listening, share their own lived experiences, learn facts and complex theories on societal structures and development, and - perhaps most importantly - use conflict productively. Rather than avoiding conflict or disagreement, IGD teaches students how to use conflicts as important entry ways into deeper understandings of people and social issues.
