scholarly journals The Intrepid Elective

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 708-729
Author(s):  
Alexis Jemal ◽  
Jenna Frasier
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Critical Social Work ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Critical Social

The field of social work has a professional and ethical commitment to social justice. However, scholars have identified potential dangers that may threaten that commitment. To transform dangers into opportunities that strengthen social justice service, schools of social work could incorporate critical pedagogy within the Master of Social Work (MSW) curriculum. By training future social workers in critical social work practice, social work education becomes an advocate for marginalized populations. If not educated from an anti-oppressive framework, social workers have the potential to harm, oppress, and control rather than support and serve. The weight of this responsibility and firsthand social work education experiences led to the development and implementation of an elective course in critical social work informed by the Critical Transformative Potential Development (CTPD) Framework. The course follows a method that puts the CTPD theory into practice to bridge the micro-macro divide by engaging students in actively dismantling ideologies and practices of dominance. The course aims to produce anti-oppressive social workers who can better navigate social justice terrain. A student’s perspective on the course highlights strengths and areas for improvement. Future iterations of this class or similar courses of study could be adapted by and adopted for other social work education institutions. Because social work education is fertile ground to plant seeds that will grow social workers rooted in anti-racism and anti-White supremacy, there is the opportunity, with a radical education, to transform the field in a critical direction, better prepared to overcome the social justice challenges of the era.

Discrimination and injustice against older people in Uganda: Implications for social work practice

2019 ◽  
pp. 002087281985874
Author(s):  
Charles Kiiza Wamara ◽  
Maria Irene Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Older People ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Professional Regulation ◽  
Work Education

This article highlights how older people in Uganda experience discrimination and injustice. It discusses the legal framework for their protection, while acknowledging that not all professionals are aware of or have access to the legal mechanisms meant to safeguard older people’s interests. It also discusses the role social work can play in protecting older people’s rights. It further recommends that social workers work to increase solidarity between generations and bring about social justice and respect for diversity. It concludes by highlighting the need to bring anti-discriminatory social work into mainstream social work education and the professional regulation of social work.

scholarly journals Woke Disrupter

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 1045-1063
Author(s):  
Jessica Donohue-Dioh ◽  
Jacqueline Wilson ◽  
Stephani-Nicole Leota
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Moral Authority ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Practice Skills ◽  
White Social Workers

This article examines one of the most dangerous personifications of white supremacy, the Woke Vigilante - the “liberal do-gooder” and the social work profession’s role in their creation. White supremacy is frequently named to identify overt racism and discrimination by hate groups, ultra conservatives and increasingly throughout the government. There is another breed of white supremacy which lies beneath the surface and believes itself to be an ally, this is the Woke Vigilante. Unexamined social work education provides the right ingredients with the moral authority to turn white social workers into Woke Vigilantes. This conceptual article highlights the ways in which social work education currently addresses competencies of diversity and difference, as well as social justice. The authors then present a persuasive argument for white academic social workers to alter course and promote teaching and practice skills which incorporate social justice skills at all levels of practice, in other words social justice meta-practice skills. The danger of white supremacy when it is disguised as the Woke Vigilante may be best captured by Malcolm X when he spoke of the white liberals who disguise themselves as friends to the Black man only as a means to benefit their own self-interest without genuinely asking or listening to that which the Black community actually wants (X, 1963). Social work is all too familiar with the white liberal and must consider this a call to action, as well as a forewarning against further perpetuation of white hegemonic societal structures giving license to white do-gooders eager to go into Black communities and effect change. Authors present a resolve for white social workers to adopt the role of the Woke Disrupter.

scholarly journals Confronting Historical White Supremacy in Social Work Education and Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 636-653
Author(s):  
Zoila Del-Villar
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
White Women ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Formation ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Work Education

Oftentimes, social work education is in denial of its seductive and pervasive relationship with White Supremacy, as if it is exempt in power relations rooted in racial formation. The present paper investigates the historical legacy of racial formation within the United States context and its inception in the field of social work. This paper provides comprehensive definitions of the key terms used in teaching social work practice from an anti-racist social justice lens. Whiteness theory is used to highlight the way social work has perpetuated White Supremacy in the evolution of the profession and Black feminist standpoint is used to examine the experiences of non-White women as they interface with racist and oppressive social systems. I advocate for the use of a social justice pedagogy in social work education to help students think critically and reflectively about their future practice to better understand the oppressive power structures in many of today’s agencies, organizations, and institutions.  

Sexuality Social Justice and Social Work: Implications for Social Work Education

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayleen Galarza ◽  
Becky Anthony
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Future Practice

This article focuses on reviewing the existing peer- reviewed literature to offer a working definition of the term sexuality social justice and explore how sexuality social justice is currently understood and applied in social work education. The authors recommend that given the recent increased visibility and discussion of sexuality- related issues in society, it is imperative for social workers to apply a social justice lens when addressing sexuality issues in bachelor's- level programs and classrooms. Given the limited studies and literature that are focused specifically on the topic of sexuality social justice as applied to social work practice as well as on undergraduate social work education, implications for future practice and education are presented and elaborated on.

Critical Questions on Critical Social Work: Students’ Perspectives

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (8) ◽  
pp. 2130-2147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adi Barak
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Critical Questions ◽  
Critical Social Work ◽  
A Priority ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Critical Social

Abstract This research study explored the perspectives of social work students (n = 118) in the final semester of their studies regarding the implementation of critical social work in their future practices. Using performance ethnographies to collect data, students were asked to share their perspectives about implementing critical social work both in individual interventions and as a way to change the practice of mainstream social work organisations. Research ethnographies were analysed using a descriptive phenomenological approach, in an attempt to describe the shared essential experience of participants. Results demonstrated that students are influenced by several lines of thinking that come into direct conflict with one another: (i) they feel that critical social work is essential for individual interventions while also feeling that critical social work is not a priority for individual interventions and (ii) they feel that critical social work should and could change mainstream social work organisations while also feeling that critical social work should not and could not change mainstream social work organisations. These results contribute to a better understanding of the barriers in implementing critical social work, as well as the dilemmas and questions that should be addressed in social work education. Implications for social work education are outlined.

scholarly journals Liberation-based social work theory in progress: Time to practice what I teach

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 516-523
Author(s):  
Alexis Jemal
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Critical Action ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Critical Social

Social work education integrates theory and practice to bridge the micro-macro divide. The theoretical framework of intersecting identities reveals hidden inequities related to health consequences. The global pandemic, reflecting a colliding of personal and professional worlds, interrupted an elective social work course designed to: 1) develop transformative potential (i.e., critical consciousness of and critical action against white supremacy, anti-blackness, and racial oppression of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)); 2) model liberation-based social work education and practice; and 3) prepare students to be critical social workers in the field. The pandemic created an in-class opportunity for the professor, also the course’s designer, to practice what she teaches. This self-reflexive essay details the pandemic's impact on a teaching experience and follows the professor’s journey to more fully understand systems, inequity, and her own transformative potential. The transformative potential development process included many learning experiences in the areas of relationship and community building; transformative consciousness development; accountability and responsibility; efficacy; and, critical action. The unforeseen global pandemic presented the professor with opportunities for deep reflection about liberation-based social work education and practice. By bringing the reality of how macro processes create micro consequences into the classroom in real time, the professor’s responses were tested against oppressive norms, standards and values versus those that honor a person’s humanity. An important discovery is that a critical social work educator teaches in ways that spark radical imagination to disrupt the oppressive status quo camouflaged as personal choice and business as usual.

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