Anti-racist perspectives: What are the gains for social work?

Abstract

Anti-racist and black perspectives signalled a signi® cant shift in the discourse on oppression in social work practice and education. However, the contributions of such perspectives have not been recognised and documented fully. This paper presents a review of the contributions of anti-racist and black perspectives to anti-discriminatory practice. It also offers a critique of the limitations of anti-racist ideas and suggests that the way forward is not to reinforce a`¯ight' from anti-racism, but to build on the gains of anti-racist ideas and struggles in social work practice towards developing a more integrated understanding of oppression. This paper is written from the perspective of a black man from African background.

Framing the experiences of BME social work students within a narrative of Educating for a Culturally Diverse Workforce

“…Two key narratives that are threaded through this literature are first, the need to re-examine how we conceptualise not just race but the broader concept of oppression. This requires interpreting oppression as complex and multi-layered, understanding that race is just one of many factors (including gender, disability, class, sexuality) that shape an individual's life experiences, their identity and their perceptions of oppression (Keating, 2000;hook, 1990). A second key narrative is how we construct and make sense of BME students' experiences without, as Jeffery (2005) argues, reproducing whiteness as the dominant way of 'knowing' and 'doing' social work.…”

Examining the terminology of race issues in assessments for international exchange students

“…Dominelli (2008: 4) criticizes key institutions such as the General Social Care Council in the UK for not having anti-racism as 'a separate requirement of assessment but one to be incorporated into values teaching'. The submergence of anti-racism in the broader terminology of values and the desire to use less controversial terminology (Keating, 2000) may not only undermine the development of students' analytical skills in relation to racism. A lack of analysis of the social processes and structures in which racism is embedded may also reflect a gap in knowledge of the way it intersects with other forms of oppression, such as sexism, classism, ageism and heterosexism.…”

“…The extent to which this remains the case is unclear. Keating (2000) believes less controversial terminology has been adopted in the UK in order to further marginalize an anti-racist perspective. More recently, Dominelli (2008: 4) believes that 'Today's climate for promoting anti-racist social work is bleak.'…”

Cultural centre points: emerging indigenous social work ontology

“…As well, it promotes awareness training, and organizational change through challenging employment practices (Dominelli, 1988). In the United States, anti-racist social work has resulted in positive conceptualizations of black perspectives, resulting in a moving away from theorizing about race in a pathological way; and the reclaiming of history and culture, including language traditions and religions of black people (Keating, 2000). Most importantly, anti-racist social work challenges the social worker to challenge racism on a personal and institutional level, and questions the Eurocentric foundations of social work discourse and the curriculum of social work.…”

“…It achieves this by placing primacy on the experience of oppressed groups such as Native Americans and black perspectives. (Keating, 2000) Similarly, for Gutierrez, Alvarez, Nemon, Lewis, and Lewis (1996) This increases the relevance of located knowledge and the validation of extant helpers from local or resident traditions and cultures, and the primacy of their helping approaches whose preeminence needs emphases. (Ungar, Mealy, Thomas, and Campbell, 2004;Godway and Finn 1994;Treat, 1996) Harvard professor Robert Putnam forwards the notion of social capital as a necessary aspect of community building.…”