Rethinking ‘cultural competence’ in international social work

Abstract

Cultural competence is today a prominent concept and aspiration in all aspects of international social work. In this article, I argue that the common understanding of 'cultural competence' from the so-called essentialist perspective is inadequate, and even risky, when working in an international context. Drawing on examples, I suggest that a more constructive and reflective view of cultural competence be adopted in order to meet the challenges of international social work in the contemporary world, and to better equip ourselves as ethical and anti-oppressive practitioners and educators.Social work practitioners, students and educators who are involved in international social work practice are experiencing frequent and sometimes overwhelming encounters with 'strangers' or the 'other'. The concept of cultural competence, which originated in multicultural social work and addresses cross-cultural encounters and practice, has since been imported into international social work. However, in an international context, the encounters between people who belong to different countries and continents are not merely cross-cultural, but often place them in positions of unequal power differentials, based on their histories as well as on current global divides (such as the NorthSouth division). Thus, the operationalizing of cultural competence in an international context is not an easy task for professionals and educators.The present article is organized in four parts. First, the meanings and centrality of cultural competence are demonstrated within the domain of international social work. Second, the way in which each of the two contrasting theoretical perspectives (essentialism and constructivism) conceptualizes and operationalizes cultural competence is discussed, in order to broaden and deepen our understanding. Third, three challenges for the more common essentialist approach to cultural competence within international social work are examined. Finally, a more constructivist approach to

Hospitals and cultural diversity: social worker experiences and reflections

“…Founded in shared experiences, culture is maintained in continuous form (Nadan, 2014;Williams, 2006). Difference is seen in the context of systemic discrimination and the practitioner's cultural discriminatory blindspots remain uncharted and unchallenged.…”

“…Providing the specificity required of the postpositivism paradigm, indicators privilege measurable knowledge, skills and values that demonstrate cultural competency (Institute for Culture Ethnicity and Policy(ICEPA), Nadan, 2014).…”

“…Juxtaposed against the postpositivist lens of cultural competency, a practitioner committed to cultural humility suspends her/his assumptions, expertise and knowledge about the culturally other and enters into a power sharing and exchange with the client. This means being open to the other and befriending the difference while working consciously to deconstruct the mechanisms of exclusion (Nadan, 2014).…”

“…As Williams (2006) and Nadan (2014) write, these exchanges and explorations become the emancipatory co-creation of multiple meanings and new relationships. The worker is not the expert.…”

Reflective Learning and Teaching in Social Work Field Education in International Contexts

“…Smith (2004) asserts that social work students and new graduates themselves can contribute towards building the social work knowledge base. There has therefore been an increase in the number of relevant publications in the past decade, such as books by Gilchrist et al (2009), Lager et al (2010 and Cox and Pawar (2013), and several articles (Barlow, 2007;Cleak et al, 2014;Crabtree et al, 2014;Das and Anand, 2014;Gilin and Young, 2009;Hawkins and Knox, 2014;Heron, 2005;Heron and Pilkington, 2009;Jung and Tripodi, 2007;Kreitzer et al, 2012;Lalyants et al, 2015;Lam et al, 2007;Lindsey, 2005;Loakimidis, 2011;Nadan, 2014;Nuttman-Shwartz and Ranz, 2014;Pawar et al, 2004;Pettys et al, 2005;Wehbi, 2009).…”