scholarly journals The Cost of Being Black in Social Work Practicum

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 331-353
Author(s):  
Nia Johnson ◽  
Paul Archibald ◽  
Anthony Estreet ◽  
Amanda Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Black Students ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
The Social

The social work profession is not exempt from fueling institutional racism, which affects the provision of social work practicum education for Black social work students. This article highlights how the historical and current social cost of being Black in the United States presents itself within social work education’s signature pedagogy. Social workers who hold bachelor’s degrees in social work (BSW) are more likely to be Black than those holding master’s degrees in social work (MSW; Salsberg et al., 2017). It takes Black students longer to earn an MSW degree though they are more likely to hold a BSW while also having work experience related to the social work profession; this is indicative of a flawed system. The implications of this are explored by highlighting social work’s historical context and the role privilege holds within a profession charged with working towards social justice. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is utilized to unearth how the current state of social work practicum upholds a culture of white supremacy through covertly racist requirements and practices. Case examples are utilized to demonstrate the challenges Black students face as social work practicum mimics oppressive practices and perpetuates disparities in the social work landscape. Additionally, this article explores oppression’s role in treating vulnerable social work students and how that treatment is reflected in the workforce, ultimately informing service delivery.

Racism

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selena T. Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Social

Racism is pervasive, endemic, and historically rooted in systematic assumptions inherent in superiority based on race and requires the critical attention of all social workers. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) has made strides in tackling racism as demonstrated by the social worker and civil rights activist Whitney Young Jr. (1921–1971), other pioneers, and more recently, the NASW zero-tolerance racism policy. Undergirded in empirical discussion, this article leads with the etymology of race(ism), followed by a discussion of Racial Formation Theory and Critical Race Theory. The article gives a historical sketch of racism, followed by examples of its contemporary indicators—throughout social institutions—in the United States. Racism is pervasive and impinges on micro-level and macro-level systems. It is, therefore, beyond the scope of this article to address how racism impacts each group in America. Social work scholars and other experts have provided extensive empirical documentation about the historical trauma and sufferings of other racial groups (e.g., Native Americans/Native peoples/American Indians, Mexican Americans) discussed elsewhere. Specifically, the racism endured by blacks in America is the emphasis of this article. Themes of “colorism” and historical trauma are provided to contextualize advances in national reform and encourage a broader conversation about the racism that blacks experience globally. In addition, this article highlights strides by the social work profession to eradicate racism. Implications for social work are discussed.

Indigenizing Social Work: Andragogical Strategies for Incorporating Native Knowledge in Curricula

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 221-230
Author(s):  
Brittany Hunt ◽  
Sonyia Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Diverse Populations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Competence Training ◽  
American Indian People ◽  
Critical Portion

Though there are more than 5 million American Indian people living in the United States, and they are disproportionately represented among social workers’ clientele, social work curriculum rarely centers Indigenous history and knowledge. Therefore, the cultural competence training that social work students receive is incomprehensive because it often erases a critical portion of the population. This work focuses on the unique knowledge that one Indigenous social work instructor brings to her classroom, as well as the perspective of the BSW director who recruited her to the position. It is critical that the social work profession begin to move toward being representative of the diverse populations that we serve, not only in the field but also in the classroom. This work will provide examples of cultural competence training as well as Indigenous knowledge that can be incorporated into classrooms to indigenize those spaces and decolonize curricula. This article was written jointly by an Indigenous social work professor and an administrator and professor in a BSW program.

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.

CONCEPTION OF LEARNING AMONG SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS

1997 ◽  
Vol 31 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 63-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
NAI-MING TSANG
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Significant Others ◽  
Second Order ◽  
The Social

The responses of 723 students and graduates from the social work course in the Department of Applied Social Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to 30 statements on the conception of learning were examined. A factor analysis reveals five underlying dimensions: learning as perception, learning as a dynamic process that transcends time and space; the significant others in learning, the instrumental functions of learning; and learning as a rational and emotive process. Non-parametric tests reveal significant differences between i) those with and without social work experience and ii) the diploma and non-diploma holders. Second-order tests of significance were carried out and their findings are discussed. 七百二十三位香港理工大学的社会工作课程学生和毕业生，在一份有三十条命题上的问卷上作答，表示他们的〔学习理念〕。〔因子分析〕显示出五个维度：学习被看为理解；学习不受时间空间所限；影响学习的重要人物；学习的工具性；学习的理性和感性。〔非参数分析〕及〔次度分析〕进一步显出不同类别的回答者之间的〔显著差异〕。

scholarly journals Whitewashing of Social Work History

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 274-297
Author(s):  
Kelechi C. Wright ◽  
Kortney Angela Carr ◽  
Becci A. Akkin
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Racially Diverse ◽  
Work History ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Work History ◽  
Diverse Perspective

Severe racial inequity has characterized the incorporation of ethnic minorities’ contributions to U.S. history and advancements (Sandoval et al., 2016). These disparities are inextricably connected to White Supremacist ideologies and practices, and are perpetuated in higher education through textbooks, pedagogy, and research. Social work, like many disciplines, teaches about its early roots with a whitewashed historical lens. Indeed, review of the social work literature reveals the scarcity of attributions to Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC). Without a more racially diverse perspective on social work’s history, social work scholars promote and sustain White Supremacy. The implications of this are crucial since social work education is predominantly populated by privileged White students who adopt this mentality, unaware of Black, Brown, Latino, Asian, Native or Other ethnic “Jane Addams” who have massively promoted the social welfare of communities for decades without historical recognition or the privileged positions of Addams and Richmond. Historical distortions also potentially discourage BIPOC social work students’ self-efficacy and future efforts to contribute and excel in the discipline. To properly address this issue, social work history must be refaced with a more equitable and just lens. This review seeks to address the gap in the literature pertaining to the need for a greater integration and infusion of racially diverse social work historical contributions in several ways. Recommendations will be made for future research in this area to dismantle racist perspectives in social work history, and strategies will be offered to help social work educators and researchers address this critical issue.

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 imperative and promise of neo-abolitionism in social work

2020 ◽  
pp. 146801732095204
Author(s):  
Joshua R Gregory
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Oppression ◽  
The Social ◽  
Construction Of Whiteness ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
White Hegemony

Summary Neo-abolitionism, the social movement to abolish whiteness, contends that whiteness—not white people—possesses no humane or redeemable quality, in and of itself, but functions solely as the keystone of racialization and systemic racial oppression. Neo-abolitionism has not garnered legitimacy or secured broad commitment from any profession or discipline in the United States. This is unsurprising given the existential anathema, to a society founded upon white supremacy, of such a direct ideological affront and material challenge to the reigning social and institutional order. Practically speaking, though, neo-abolitionism has failed to translate theoretical philosophy to a viable sociopolitical agenda comprised of actionable routes toward social change that might subvert the hegemony of whiteness and erode the social construction of race. As whiteness increasingly inflicts harm and sows division in the contemporary historical moment, social work faces the imperative to seriously consider the merits of neo-abolitionism. Findings Where neo-abolitionism has stalled in attempts to move beyond theorization and academic debate in disciplines such as history and sociology, the organizing capacity, praxis techniques, and advocacy expertise of social work—as much a profession as a discipline—offer means of real progress toward abolishing the ideological and material supports of the social construction of whiteness at large, which proliferates racial injustice and undergirds myriad inequities beyond race. Applications Neo-abolitionism addresses the imperative faced by social work, in research, practice, and pedagogy, to move beyond mediation and toward elimination of the structural injustices and manifest inhumanities in lived experience propagated by white hegemony.

White Supremacy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy Whitaker ◽  
Lauren Alfrey ◽  
Alice B. Gates ◽  
Anita Gooding
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Macro Social Work

The concept of White supremacy is introduced and its impact on society and the social work profession is examined. The ideological and historical foundations of Whiteness in the United States are summarized, and an overview is provided of the legal supports that codified White supremacist ideas into structural racism. White supremacy’s influence on social work is discussed, with an emphasis on language and concepts, history, pedagogy, and organizations. Critical theory and practice frameworks are explored as responses to White supremacy. The limitations of social work’s responses and specific implications for macro social work are discussed.

Dismantling White Privilege: The Black Lives Matter Movement and Environmental Justice in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Teelucksingh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conceptual Tool ◽  
Public Monuments ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Jim Crow Era

On August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, alt-right/White supremacy groups and Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporters came face-to-face regarding what to do about public monuments that celebrate key figures from slavery and the Jim Crow era. White supremacists and White nationalists did not hide their racist ideologies as they demanded that their privileged place in history not be erased. The BLM movement, which challenges state-sanctioned anti-Black racism, was ready to confront themes of White discontent and reverse racism, critiques of political correctness, and the assumption that racialized people should know their place and be content to be the subordinate other.It is easy to frame the events in Charlottesville as indicative of US-specific race problems. However, a sense that White spaces should prevail and an ongoing history of anti-Black racism are not unique to the United States. The rise of Canadian activism under the BLM banner also signals a movement to change Canadian forms of institutional racism in policing, education, and the labor market. This article responds to perceptions that the BLM movement has given insufficient attention to environmental concerns (Pellow 2016; Halpern 2017). Drawing on critical race theory as a conceptual tool, this article focuses on the Canadian context as part of the author’s argument in favor of greater collaboration between BLM and the environmental justice (EJ) movement in Canada. This article also engages with the common stereotype that Blacks in Canada have it better than Blacks in the United States.

Naming White Supremacy in the Social Work Curriculum

Affilia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-398
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Beck
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
The Social
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