Social Work Professors and narrative therapists Harjeet Badwall & David Rock Nylund discuss white normativity within the profession and how to account for the history of racist structures and experience in Social Work Practice and Education.
An excerpt from Harjeet’s paper we will be discussing:
Theoretically, my research was anchored in race theory (critical race scholarship, post-colonial studies), post-structural feminism, and critical race scholars who utilize Foucauldian concepts of discourse, power, subject-formation, and governmentality. These theoretical entry points enabled me to examine the racial foundations upon which social work as a profession is produced (Jeffery, 2002), in addition to exploring the experiences of social workers of colour as they negotiate both a racist profession and racist environments. My central aim was to trace the ongoing mechanisms of whiteness in social work in order to reveal the ways in which racialized bodies are regulated through discourses that re-centre whiteness within the profession. Through the use of race scholarship I examined how racism is integral to modernity and the liberal project, the formation of the state, and white dominance in social work (Goldberg, 1993, Hesse, 2004; Jeffery, 2002).
Harjeet Badwall is an Associate Professor at York University’s School of Social Work in Toronto, Canada and training faculty member with the Vancouver School for Narrative Therapy. Her primary areas of research focus on Race, Racism and Whiteness in Social Work, racialized and gender-based violence, the connection between narrative therapy practice and theory, interlocking analysis…
Event Date: November 6, 2020 at 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Event Date: November 27, 2020 at 9:00 am - 10:00 am
This series of conversations with Harjeet has been really enjoyable and given me a lot to reflect about. Thank you to all for having these conversations.