Facilitating Conversations on Race

Strategies for Leading Group Discourse

Caprice Hollins, Ilsa Govan

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9798216379386
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Leadership in Education

Facilitating Conversations on Race: Strategies for Leading Group Discourse will equip facilitators and organizational leaders with the necessary tools and strategies for dealing with stumbling blocks that often arise when people are brought together to talk about some of the most difficult issues facing our country today-racism, power, and privilege. Hollins and Govan share stories and strategies they have practiced in their more than forty years of combined experience facilitating, while reminding the reader the power of bringing your authentic self.

This comprehensive guide begins with the personal work leaders need to do to build their confidence, identify their style, and recognize their triggers. From there readers will learn facilitation foundations, from structuring a workshop using best practices in adult learning, to skillfully interrupting someone, to asking questions that encourage deeper reflection. The book supports increasingly advanced skill development, including naming and addressing the dynamics of whiteness as it plays out in a meeting and utilizing multiple strategies for moving through tension.
This comprehensive guide begins with the personal work leaders need to do to build their confidence, identify their style, and recognize their triggers. From there readers will learn facilitation foundations, from structuring a workshop using best practices in adult learning, to skillfully interrupting someone, to asking questions that encourage deeper reflection. The book supports increasingly advanced skill development, including naming and addressing the dynamics of whiteness as it plays out in a meeting and utilizing multiple strategies for moving through tension.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Dedication Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Before You Do, Know Who
• 2 Setting Yourself Up for Success
• 3 Planning and Pivoting
• 4 Getting Grounded
• 5 Your Race Matters
• 6 Confidence and Credibility
• 7 Welcome! We’ve Been Waiting for You
• 8 Building Relationships
• 9 Knowing Your Style and Working in Partnership
• 10 Knowing What Activates You
• 11 Leading When You’re Activated
• 12 Foundations for Effective Content Delivery and Group Management
• 13 Engaging Resistance
• 14 When You Disagree
• 15 Asking Questions with Genuine Curiosity
• 16 Facilitation Essentials for Group Discourse
• 17 Countering Expressions of White Privilege
• 18 Persisting When the Unexpected Happens
• 19 Diving into the Tension
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Appendix C
• Appendix D
• Appendix E
• Bibliography
• Imprint