Indigenous Social Work around the World (Contemporary Social Work Studies)

368 Pages·2008·1.16 MB·English

by  Mel Gray

INDIGENOUS SOCIAL WORK AROUND THE WORLD
Contemporary Social Work Studies
Series Editor:
Robin Lovelock, University of Southampton
Series Advisory Board:
Lena Dominelli, Durham University, UK
Jan Fook, University of Southampton, UK
Peter Ford, University of Southampton, UK
Lorraine Gutiérrez, University of Michigan, USA
Walter Lorenz, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
Karen Lyons, London Metropolitan University, UK
Colette McAuley, University of Southampton, UK
Joan Orme, University of Glasgow, UK
Jackie Powell, University of Southampton, UK
Contemporary Social Work Studies (CSWS) is a series disseminating high quality
new research and scholarship in the discipline and profession of social work. The
series promotes critical engagement with contemporary issues relevant across the
social work community and captures the diversity of interests currently evident at
national, international and local levels.
CSWS is located in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Southampton
and is a development from the successful series of books published by Ashgate in
association with CEDR (the Centre for Evaluative and Developmental Research)
from 1991.
Titles in this series include:
Globalization and International Social Work:
Postmodern Change and Challenge
Malcolm Payne and Gurid Aga Askeland
Revitalising Communities in a Globalising World
Edited by Lena Dominelli
Social Work in a Corporate Era:
Practices of Power and Resistance
Edited by Linda Davies and Peter Leonard
Forthcoming for 2008:
Social Work and Migration:
Immigrant and Refugee Settlement and Integration
Kathleen Valtonen
Indigenous Social Work
around the World
Towards Culturally Relevant Education and Practice
Edited by
MEL GRAY
University of Newcastle, Australia
JOHN COATES
St. Thomas University, Canada
MICHAEL YELLOW BIRD
University of Kansas, USA
© Mel Gray, John Coates and Michael Yellow Bird 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Mel Gray, John Coates and Michael Yellow Bird have asserted their moral right under the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Gower House Suite 420
Croft Road 101 Cherry Street
Aldershot Burlington, VT 05401-4405
Hampshire GU11 3HR USA
England
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Indigenous social work around the world : towards
culturally relevant education and practice. - (Contemporary
social work studies)
1. Social work with indigenous peoples - Cross-cultural
studies 2. Social work education - Cross-cultural studies
I. Gray, Mel II. Coates, John III. Bird, Michael Yellow
361.3'2'089

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Gray, Mel, 1951-
Indigenous social work around the world : towards culturally relevant education and
practice / by Mel Gray, John Coates and Michael Yellow Bird.
p. cm. -- (Contemporary social work studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7546-4838-3
1. Social work with indigenous peoples. 2. Social work with indigenous peoples--Study
and teaching. I. Coates, John, 1948- II. Yellow Bird, Michael. III. Title.
HV3176.G713 2008
362.84--dc22
2008015380
ISBN 978-0-7546-4838-3
Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Notes on Contributors xi
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxiii
Structure of the Book xxv
Introduction
Mel Gray, John Coates and Michael Yellow Bird 1
PART 1 ‘INDIGENIZATION’ AS AN OUTMODED CONCEPT
1 From ‘Indigenization’ to Cultural Relevance
Mel Gray and John Coates 13
2 Promoting Reciprocal International Social Work Exchanges:
Professional Imperialism Revisited
James Midgley 31
PART 2 INDIGENOUS SOCIAL WORK: A JUST CAUSE
3 Towards an Understanding of Indigenous Social Work
Mel Gray, Michael Yellow Bird and John Coates 49
4 Indigenous People and the Language of Social Work
Michael Yellow Bird and Mel Gray 59
5 Indigenous Social Work in the United States:
Reflections on Indian Tacos, Trojan Horses and
Canoes Filled with Indigenous Revolutionaries
Hilary N. Weaver 71
6 Decolonizing Social Work in Australia: Prospect or Illusion
Linda Briskman 83
vi Indigenous Social Work around the World
PART 3 TOWARDS CULTURALLY RELEVANT
SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE
7 The Development of Culturally Appropriate Social
Work Practice in Sarawak, Malaysia
Ling How Kee 97
8 The Past, the Present and the Future:
The New Zealand Indigenous Experience of Social Work
Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata 107
9 Tongan Social Work Practice
Tracie Mafile’o 117
10 Critical Reflections on an Aboriginal Approach to Helping
Michael Anthony Hart 129
11 Home-made Social Work: The Two-way Transfer of Social
Work Practice Knowledge between India and the USA
Jayashree Nimmagadda and Diane R. Martell 141
12 Localizing Social Work with Bedouin-Arab Communities
in Israel: Limitations and Possibilities
Alean Al-Krenawi and John R. Graham 153
PART 4 CULTURALLY RELEVANT SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION
13 Reconfiguring ‘Chineseness’ in the International
Discourse on Social Work in China
Rick Sin 165
14 A Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with One Step:
The Development of Culturally Relevant Social Work
Education and Fieldwork Practice in China
Angelina Yuen-Tsang and Ben Ku 177
15 Re-envisioning Indigenization: When Bentuhuade
and Bentude Social Work Intersect in China
Miu Chung Yan and A Ka Tat Tsang 191
16 Developing Culturally Relevant Social Work
Education in Africa: The Case of Botswana
Kwaku Osei-Hwedie and Morena J. Rankopo 203
Contents vii
17 Missing the ‘Flight from Responsibility’: Tales from a
Non-Indigenous Educator Pursuing Spaces for Social
Work Education Relevant to Indigenous Australians
Susan Gair 219
18 Picking Up What was Left by the Trail: The Emerging
Spirit of Aboriginal Education in Canada
Gord Bruyere 231
19 Indigenous Social Work Education: A Project for All of Us?
Erika Faith 245
20 Hearing Indigenous and Local Voices in Mainstream
Social Work
Mel Gray, John Coates and Tiani Hetherington 257
21 Conclusion
Mel Gray and John Coates 271
Postscript Terms of Endearment: A Brief Dictionary for
Decolonizing Social Work with Indigenous Peoples
Michael Yellow Bird 275
References 293
Index 329
The key issue for social work in the twenty-first century is finding culturally relevant ways
of knowing and helping.
Social work is best done by paying attention to particular persons in locally situated
cultural contexts.
Social work is one of the few professions in a position to promote and engage in a sustained
way with relationships at the level of local cultural practice. This is the ethical core of its
work and the place where it can best sustain an ethical defense of its professional identity
(Webb 2003: 202).
List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1 A framework for culturally relevant social work practice 209
Figure 2 Master-slave paradigm 276
Table 1 Parallel and related discourses in social work 9
Table 2 Definitions of ‘Indigenization’ in the social work literature 26