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The Routledge Handbook of Postcolonial Social Work reflects on and dissects the challenging issues confronting social work practice and education globally in the post-colonial era. By analysing how countries in the so-called developing and developed world have navigated some of the inherited systems from the colonial era, it shows how they have used them to provide relevant social work methods which are also responsive to the needs of a postcolonial setting.
This is an analytical and reflexive handbook that brings together different scholars from various parts of the world – both North and South – so as to distill ideas from scholars relating to ways that can advance social work of the South and critique social work of the North in so far as it is used as a template for social work approaches in postcolonial settings. It determines whether and how approaches, knowledge-bases, and methods of social work have been indigenised and localised in the Global South in the postcolonial era.
This handbook provides the reader with multiple new theoretical approaches and empirical experiences and creates a space of action for the most marginalised communities worldwide. It will be of interest to researchers and practitioners, as well as those in social work education.
This book is a novel contribution to academic discourses on the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis and how it has impacted societies globally. It proffers an overview on the social development and political measures, from both the Global North and Global South, to prevent COVID-19's spread. It illuminates major social, political and economic challenges that already existed in different contexts and which are also currently being amplified by COVID-19. Curiously, this global pandemic has opened spaces for different actors, across the globe, to begin to fundamentally question and challenge the hegemony of the Global North, which sometimes is evident in social work. Linked to the foregoing and while reflecting beyond the pandemic and into the future, the book proposes that social work must become more political at all levels, and strive to transform societies, global social development efforts, and economic and health systems.
This contributed volume of 38 chapters discusses and analyses ethical, social, sociological, social work and social development issues that complement and enrich available literature in the socio-political, economics, public health, medical ethics and political science. It provides various case studies which should enable readers to gain insights into how countries have responded to the pandemic and learn how COVID-19 negatively impacted countries in different parts of the world. This book also provides a platform for the articulation of neglected and marginalized voices, such as those of indigenous populations, the poor, or oppressed. The chapters are grouped according to three main themes as they relate to research on the COVID-19 pandemic and social work in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America:
- Analysis: Social Issues and the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Strategies and Responses in Social Work: Globally and Locally
- Outlook: Looking Ahead Beyond the Pandemic
Intended to engage a global, diverse and interdisciplinary audience, The Coronavirus Crisis and Challenges to Social Development is a timely and relevant resource for academics, students and researchers in inter alia Social Work, Philosophy, Sociology, Economics, and Development Studies.
This review summarises and chronicles inputs from several speakers who attended a conference titled: Will the Welcome ever Run Dry?: Interrogating the Hierarchy of Human Categories – The Case of Ukrainian Refugees in Europe. The conference interrogated the refugee crisis which had been precipitated by Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine. It was organised by Tanja Kleibl, Melinda Madew, Minenhle Matela, Ronald Lutz and Ndangwa Noyoo and held at the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt on 17 March 2022. The conference participants were social work academics, practitioners, students and activists, and it was delivered in a blended mode. Crucially, it was meant to be a call to action to the social work profession around the world, especially in Europe. Also, the organisers wanted to cast a sharp light on the refugee crisis from a social work perspective and highlight the discrimination which was associated with this phenomenon. Indeed, media reports and other accounts had identified this disturbing trend, whereby African and non-European students from developing countries, who were equally fleeing the war zone with Ukrainians, were ill-treated and discriminated against by Ukrainian and Polish security forces. These officials allegedly allowed only Ukrainians and European-looking people to cross the border (Chebil, 2022; Pronczuk et al., 2022).
The history of Social Work and the modern Western university paradoxically represents both the high point and low point of human progress. Conceived in an epoch of immense human discovery, it is important to understand this period as characterised by white Western Imperialist and Colonial projects and the rise of capitalist accumulation. In combination, these processes, not confined to the geo-political points of origin, continue to have devastating impacts across the world, characterised by the exploitation, displacement, and destruction of human beings as well as natural ecosystems. Hegemonic colonial structures and practices created and reproduced global racialised hierarchies with the dominance of the Global North and the 'Othering' of knowledge forms and ways of life emerging from the Global South. Struggles for decolonisation and anti-racism come from an ongoing refusal by the victims of capitalism and imperialism to accept defeat and to continue to struggle for life, liberty and dignity. In the current moment, especially following the brutal public execution of George Floyd in the US and the Black Lives Matter movement, especially amongst youth, we have witnessed a global response, incorporating gestures of solidarity, through the ‘taking of the knee’ through to direct action to remove statues and monuments celebrating various characters associated with Empire, slavery and colonial exploitation. Again, the current discriminatory practices against non-European and non-White refugees from Ukraine highlights the coloniality of human rights. As Social Work scientific community and practitioners, we stand united with all people of good will working for peace and justice across national borders. In times where many forces try to divide and polarize this world, as Social Workers we seek to overcome ”Oppression Olympics“ (Walby et al., 2012: 234) and to foster solidarity as a collective strategy of resistance. In this regard, this panel contribution focusses specifically on the relevance of postcolonial perspectives to challenge contemporary EU migration regimes and developing anticolonial approaches in Social Work. In trying to sketch out how Social Work research, education and practice are often entangled in (re)producing hegemonic discourse, the panel will critically discuss the inherent ambivalences and ambiguities of decolonisation processes in the face of a vast range of epistemic violence, which is also referred to as Epistemicide (de Sousa-Santos, 2014; Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2018). Some concluding remarks will be made by highlighting the relevance of epistemic disobedience in challenging coloniality of knowledge in Social Work.
This review summarises and chronicles inputs from several speakers who attended a conference titled: Will the Welcome ever Run Dry?: Interrogating the Hierarchy of Human Categories – The Case of Ukrainian Refugees in Europe. The conference interrogated the refugee crisis which had been precipitated by Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine. It was organised by Tanja Kleibl, Melinda Madew, Minenhle Matela, Ronald Lutz and Ndangwa Noyoo and held at the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt on 17 March 2022. The conference participants were social work academics, practitioners, students and activists, and it was delivered in a blended mode. Crucially, it was meant to be a call to action to the social work profession around the world, especially in Europe. Also, the organisers wanted to cast a sharp light on the refugee crisis from a social work perspective and highlight the discrimination which was associated with this phenomenon. Indeed, media reports and other accounts had identified this disturbing trend, whereby African and non-European students from developing countries, who were equally fleeing the war zone with Ukrainians, were ill-treated and discriminated against by Ukrainian and Polish security forces. These officials allegedly allowed only Ukrainians and European- looking people to cross the border (Chebil, 2022; Pronczuk et al., 2022).
This chapter explores how the notion of human rights and the practice of social care could further be embedded in an African way of life. Even though there appears to be a broad acceptance of social work as a human rights profession in many African societies, social work seems to be in dissonance with the deeply rooted cultural practice of kinship care and collective responsibility on the continent. It is noteworthy that cultural practices in kinship care and community responsibility in Africa are congruent to social work principles; however, there still remains a yawning gap between this reality in regard to social work education and practice. This chapter calls for the decolonization of human rights and social work discourses in Africa. We argue that wide-ranging culturally embedded values and collective practices should find expression in human rights and social work endeavors in Africa. This will lend itself to a deeper understanding of non-Western-oriented notions of human rights and social work, which are underpinned by community responsibility, and the principle of self-determination as a collective right.
This chapter serves as the conclusion to the whole book, which covers different regions around the globe. In this regard, it proffers global perspectives to social development’s responses to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and how the world was impacted by this virus. In essence, it examines a multiplicity of issues pertaining to COVID-19. It must be noted that the issues raised in this book’s chapters are not exhaustive. Nevertheless, they encompass the following: social issues, social work strategies and responses at the local and global level, responses of social work educators and students, and a focus on a post-pandemic global scenario. In arriving at the book’s conclusion, the editors also reflect on their personal journeys, which they had embarked upon when they started writing this book, in dire and perilous circumstances.
Epilogue - coronavirus book
(2022)