Contradictory Tensions in Anti-Oppression Practice in Feminist Social Services

Abstract

The implementation of an anti-oppression approach in feminist agencies must deal with contradictory tensions within the model. Feminists imagine anti-oppression as a model of practice that deals with all structures of oppression. At the same time, feminist members of marginalized communities perceive that their particular form of oppression is not attended to in the model. The authors contend that one must understand anti-oppression practice within the historical and social conditions that create inequity and offer implications for practice. C ommunity-based social service agencies in Toronto have been affected by calls to integrate an anti-oppressive practice model that deals with the multiple oppressions experienced by women who have been marginalized. The demand for organizational change has come from practitioners, as well as from community members and agency funders (Barnoff, 2002). As a result, many social work agencies are engaging in some form of anti-oppressive practice. At the same time, agency personnel struggle to determine the precise nature of anti-oppression practice and how to integrate an anti-oppressive approach systemically within organizational systems (Barnoff, 2002).This article is based on research that investigated the processes that are associated with introducing anti-oppression models in organizational structures. Specifically, the study explored how practitioners in feminist social work agencies in Toronto have worked to implement anti-oppression frameworks in their organizational practices. A major goal of the project was to explore concrete organizational experiences to learn more about how to implement an anti-oppressive model effectively. The research also focused on the critical factors that help and hinder the introduction of anti-oppression frameworks into practice.In this article, we argue that the implementation of an anti-oppression approach that is focused on multiple oppressions in feminist agencies must deal with a contradictory tension within the model. Whereas feminists imagine anti-oppression in its ideal form as a model of practice that deals with all structures of oppression, members of marginalized communities perceive that their particular form of oppression is not attended to. Instead, these women view the introduction of an anti-oppression form of practice as a replication of the invisibility they have experienced in the past. In the first section of this article, we discuss the literature on anti-oppression practice. In the second section, we outline the

Using Persona Dolls as an Anti-Oppressive Technique in the South African Social Work Curriculum

“…It clearly illustrates that Barnoff and Moffat's (2007), and Sakamoto and Pitner's (2005) concerns about the lack of practical application of anti-oppressive social work can be addressed through the use of such approaches as the PDA. Furthermore, the case study demonstrates that the PDA is not only applicable to children and youths, but can be used successfully with adults facing various forms of discrimination and trauma.…”

“…Barnoff and Moffat (2007) observe that although the literature on anti-oppressive practice has proliferated in recent years, it has remained at an abstract theoretical level with little indication of how to practically implement this at an organisational or agency level. Sakamoto and Pitner (2005) concur with this perspective, arguing that anti-oppressive practice is too scholarly and ideologically driven and that it is difficult to actually translate into practice.…”

“…In an attempt to address the critiques raised by Barnoff and Moffat (2007), and Sakamoto and Pitner (2005) the Persona Doll Approach (PDA) provides an example of the practical implementation of anti-oppressive practice in the form of a particular technique that can be used in social work practice with individuals and groups to examine and address issues of identity, oppression and privilege.…”

“…Anti-oppressive/anti-discriminatory practice which has its precedents in radical, structural, feminist and anti-racist theoretical approaches has become the prevailing model in social work in the United Kingdom (Dalrymple & Burke, 1995;Dominelli, 2002;Pollack, 2004;Thompson, 2003Thompson, , 2006; Canada (Barnoff & Moffat, 2007;Carniol, 1992;Coates, 1992;Mullaly, 2002;Razack, 2002); Australia and New Zealand (Fook, 1993;Healy, 2005;Pease & Fook, 1999;Pease, 2002;Waldegrave, Tamases, Tuhaka, & Campbell, 2003) and the USA (Finn & Jacobson, 2003a, 2003bSwigonski, 1996). The goal of anti-oppressive and antidiscriminatory practice is to promote social justice, transformation, equity and inclusivity by challenging various forms of oppression experienced by people who are differentially positioned.…”

Immediate Response: Addressing Anti-Native and Anti-Black Racism in Child Welfare

“…As Williams (1999, p. 214) notes: "Single standpoint politics have the potential to create hierarchies of oppressions in which groups eschew their points of commonality for open competition and thus become unproductive to the achievement of equality" (see also Barnoff & Moffatt, 2007). McLaughlin (2005) asserts that proponents of anti-racism such as Lena Dominelli (1988; shifted from anti-racism to anti-oppression to avoid any appearance of ranking oppressions.…”