scholarly journals Social Work Education in the Shadow of Confederate Statues and the Specter of White Supremacy

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 934-953
Author(s):  
Travis Albritton ◽  
Charity S. Watkins ◽  
Allison De Marco ◽  
JP Przewoznik ◽  
Andrew Heil
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
First Year ◽  
Inadequate Response ◽  
School Of Social Work ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Document Review

Driven by our code of ethics and our call to reckon with our embeddedness within a white supremacist institution in the US South, the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work re-visioned our approach to the MSW curriculum. Using case study methods, we trace our history and on-going work through interviews, document review, and community conversations, centering student voices. Students interviewed spoke about activism prompted by racist events on campus and nationally, and the inadequate response from the administration. Their efforts led to school-wide initiatives including curriculum shifts and accountability and action. The first-year generalist course, Confronting Oppression and Institutional Discrimination was restructured and resituated. Critical Race Theory was infused across the coursework. Two new working groups were created: The Anti-Racism Task Force and Reconciliation Standing Committee. Efforts to address racism and white supremacy in academic spaces require sustained activism to expose how racism is embedded within our institutions. While much work remains in the practice of becoming an antiracist institution, this model can serve as a prototype for others as they work to create programs that are site-specific and universally reflective of the institutional changes we need.

scholarly journals Moving From Multiculturalism to Critical Race Theory Within a School of Social Work

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 876-897
Author(s):  
Saanà A. Polk ◽  
Nicole Vazquez ◽  
Mimi E. Kim ◽  
Yolanda R. Green
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Transformational Change ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Race Theory ◽  
Personnel Practices ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
School Of Social Work

The continued presence of racism and white supremacy has risen to a crisis level as today’s global pandemic, police abuse targeting Black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC) communities, and mass urban uprisings rock the nation. This article presents a case study of a West Coast school of social work that has carried out a five-year systematic campaign to move all levels of the program beyond a multicultural orientation towards critical race theory. This study reveals the results of a self-organized cross-racial committee within a school of social work, motivated by an ambitious goal to implement a racial justice orientation throughout the school’s personnel, practices, policies, and curricula. The committee has been further characterized by its commitment to engage across the power-laden divisions of field faculty, tenure track faculty, and administrative staff. The article offers documented stages of development, narratives from across differences of identity and professional role, and thick descriptions of strategies that led to the adoption and infusion of an intersectional critical race analysis throughout the school’s curricula. The organic development of the campaign and the leveraging of opportunities throughout the campus and across campuses offer important lessons for other schools of social work undergoing transformational change.

scholarly journals Wrestling the Elephant

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 545-565
Author(s):  
Carolyn Mak ◽  
Mandeep Kaur Mucina ◽  
Renée Nichole Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
Race Theory ◽  
Institutional Policies ◽  
Classroom Dynamics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Whiteness As Property

White supremacist ideology is the elephant in the social work classroom, negatively impacting educators’ abilities to facilitate discussion and learning. One of the most effective ways to dismantle and organize against white supremacy is to politicize the seemingly benign moments that occur in the classroom that can create discomfort for students and instructors. Politicization includes identifying and addressing both the racial (micro-) aggressions that occur in the classroom and the processes and institutional policies that create complacency and lull us to sleep. In this conceptual piece, we use a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework to understand how white supremacy perpetuates itself in the classroom, with a particular focus on whiteness as property. As well, we explore what it means to decolonize the classroom. Using a vignette based on our teaching experiences, we use these two frameworks to analyze classroom dynamics and interactions, and discuss how implications for social work education include waking from the metaphorical sleep to recognize the pernicious effects of whiteness and white supremacy. Included are practical individual teaching, relational, and systemic suggestions to enact change.

scholarly journals Spring 2021 Editorial

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. i-iii
Author(s):  
Margaret E. Adamek
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Indiana University ◽  
School Of Social Work ◽  
Work Education

Given our commitment to highlighting current issues, challenges, and responses within social work practice and education globally, the Spring 2021 issue of Advances in Social Work is pleased to present 11 full-length papers written by 40 authors from across the U.S. and Canada. We begin with four papers calling for greater involvement of social work educators and practitioners in arenas including information literacy, dyslexia, digital equity, and independent living. These papers are followed by reports on seven empirical studies in areas of practice as diverse as kinship care, legal representation, collaboration in a dental clinic, and dance and mindfulness. We hope you find these selections on emerging areas of social work practice and education to be informative and inspiring. Each contribution to this issue is introduced below. Sprecial Issue Alert: Just a heads up that our next special issue, Dismantling White Supremacy in Social Work Education, will be released in late summer 2021. With over 100 abstracts submitted, this special issue has garnered incredible interest. We are looking forward to bringing you 34+ original papers (our largest issue to date!) addressing ways that social work education can move forward positively and intentionally in ways that acknowledge the damage wrought by white privilege, promote racial justice and anti-racist practice, and embrace new ways of knowing, teaching, and learning. The Indiana University School of Social Work, through publishing Advances in Social Work as an open access scholarly journal, is grateful to play a role in knowledge production and dissemination in social work. We are continually amazed at the dedication and hard work of our social work colleagues globally who work tirelessly to advance social and economic justice. Marshall on, colleagues! Tribute to Retiring Board Members: Before closing, I would like to take this opportunity to express sincere appreciation to three outgoing AISW Board members who recently retired from the Indiana University School of Social Work: Dr. Karen Allen, Dr. Larry Bennett, and Dr. Bob Vernon. Your contributions to not only Advances in Social Work but to the IU School of Social Work and to the social work profession at large are very much appreciated. Special accolades to Dr. Vernon who has served on the AISW Editorial Board since its inception in 1999. Best wishes to each of you in your next adventures!

scholarly journals Uprooting (Our) Whiteness

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 954-977
Author(s):  
William Frey ◽  
Noelia Mann ◽  
Alex Boling ◽  
Parker Jordan ◽  
Karma Lowe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
White Students ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
First Year ◽  
Msw Student ◽  
Work Education

Social work education reinforces hegemonic Whiteness through pedagogies and practices that rely on an entitlement to and harvesting of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color’s lived experiences for the purpose of its tacit audience: White students. Despite this exploitative and harmful reliance on objectified lived experiences, White students continue to lack critical understanding of their racial positionality and connections to racism. Uprooting Whiteness requires sitting with what it means for White people to be “a White problem.” Drawing on the work of Yancy, we (group co-facilitators; our dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion; and three MSW student participants) describe the creation, organization, facilitation, and experiences of the first year of the Space for Uprooting Whiteness—a biweekly space where White social work students examine and uproot their relationship to White supremacy and domination. We argue for White social workers to take collective responsibility for racism in and beyond our institutions—requiring interrogation of our everyday practices and their (inter)dependence with and on systems of domination. This paper ends with three experiential narratives from student participants in the space and implications of critical intragroup dialogic pedagogy among White students in social work education and beyond.

scholarly journals Dismantling White Supremacy in Social Work Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. i-vii
Author(s):  
Charla Yearwood ◽  
Rosemary A. Barbera ◽  
Amy K. Fisher ◽  
Carol Hostetter
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Special Edition ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Work Education

We are excited to share this special edition of Advances in Social Work with you. When we distributed a call for abstracts, we were inundated – in a good way – with proposals. The need for social workers to discuss the role that white supremacy occupies within our history, education, and practice was obvious. Because of the number of abstracts received, we made the decision to publish a double edition so that the important information contained in these articles can be widely shared. The submissions fell into three general themes--historical, instructional, and institutional examinations. Each set of articles offers much for us to reflect and act upon moving forward. There is a reckoning happening and we are thrilled that this special edition is part of that reckoning. In all, we hope that this special issue will help advance our conversations in social work education around white supremacy and how it influences our practice, research, and education. Recognizing that our Code of Ethics calls us to “pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups”, we believe it is important for social work as a profession to consistently evaluate its own institutions for ways we can practice what we preach. As social work educators, we have the ethical and moral responsibility to learn, grow, and challenge ourselves. We can do better. We must do better.

scholarly journals Interracial Team Teaching in Social Work Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 730-749
Author(s):  
Luis O. Curiel
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Team Teaching ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Work Education

This article aims to explore anti-racist social work education through interracial team teaching, where one instructor is White, and the other is Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color (BIPOC). This pedagogical approach is presented as an emerging conceptual model to consider in anti-racist social work education. As an anti-racist approach to teaching, this model aims to engage students and faculty in a more active and accountable role in dismantling systemic racism and White supremacy through social work education. A close examination of published articles on interracial team teaching revealed an absence of theoretical frameworks to guide this teaching method. Critical Race Theory (CRT) emerged as a compatible theoretical framework for teaching anti-racism within an interracial team-taught model. Five CRT tenets from Sólorzano et al. (2005) align with previous studies to support this emerging pedagogical approach as a viable option. Findings suggest that anti-racist education requires explicitly naming terms like White supremacy, racism, and colonization within the social work curriculum. Interracial team teaching necessitates shared power and authority between instructors and calls for White educators to examine their White identity and resist performing allyship. Academic institution hiring practices need a greater representation of BIPOC faculty to reduce overburdening faculty of color.

scholarly journals Decentering Whiteness in Social Work Curriculum

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 801-820
Author(s):  
Stephanie Odera ◽  
M. Alex Wagaman ◽  
Ashley Staton ◽  
Aaron Kemmerer
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Racial Identities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Education

The social work profession has historically been dominated by the presence and perspectives of whiteness. The centering of whiteness in social work education is reflected in course offerings, course content, assignment construction, and inherent racialized assumptions about who clients and social workers will be in practice spaces. Critical race theory (CRT) and liberation theory provide a framework for considering how to make visible the ways in which white supremacy is embedded in social work education, and to identify strategies for disrupting its presence by decentering whiteness. The purpose of this project is to foster critical thought about ways to dismantle racism and white supremacy in social work educational spaces. Using the reflexive methodology of collaborative autoethnography, the four authors - two course instructors and two students - with varying racial identities and positionalities, reflected on the experiences of coming to, being in, and transitioning out of the course. Areas of convergence and divergence in the autoethnographic reflections revealed strategies such as embracing vulnerability, promoting authentic relationships, and normalizing emotional as well as cognitive engagement for decentering whiteness in social work education. Implications and recommendations for social work educators and students committed to engaging in anti-racist practice are also discussed

The 5-Year BSW–MSW Program: A New Curricular Option

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-82
Author(s):  
Shirley Simon ◽  
Edward Gumz ◽  
Susan Grossman ◽  
James Marley ◽  
Yolanda Golden
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Admission Process ◽  
Msw Students ◽  
School Of Social Work ◽  
Work Education

This article describes and analyzes the development and implementation of a 5-year BSW–MSW program at a Midwestern school of social work. Key pedagogical and programmatic considerations in the development of such programs are identified. Specific information about the admission process and curricular pathway is provided. Five-year and traditional MSW students are compared on their performance in foundation-level MSW courses. The results of evaluative surveys of faculty members and 5-year students are also presented. The potential role of 5-year programs in social work education is discussed.

Finding Grace

2020 ◽  
pp. 134-145
Author(s):  
Aeriel A. Ashlee
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Asian American ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Model Minority ◽  
Racial Microaggressions ◽  
First Year ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Model Minority Myth ◽  
Race Theory

This chapter features a critical race counterstory from an Asian American womxn of color about her doctoral education and graduate school socialization. Framed within critical race theory, the author chronicles racial microaggressions she endured as a first-year higher education doctoral student. The author describes the ways in which the model minority myth is wielded as a tool of white supremacy and how the pervasive stereotype overlaps with the imposter syndrome to manifest in a unique oppression targeting Asian American graduate students. The author draws inspiration from Asian American activist Grace Lee Boggs, which helps her resist the intersectional oppression of white supremacy and patriarchy present within academia. The chapter concludes with recommendations to support womxn of color graduate students.

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