Overview
- Interrogates shared history of social work and human rights practice within the framework of global humanitarian crises
- Brings rarely included voices and experiences from the Global South to the center of human rights debate
- Demonstrates how decolonized social work reinterprets human rights as contextualized in cultural and political settings
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Table of contents (16 chapters)
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Social Work and the Decolonization Project
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History of Social Work as a Human Rights Profession
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Human Rights Mandate in Social Work
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Situating Human Rights in the Global North-South Divide
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Decolonized Approaches in Human Rights Advocacy
Keywords
- decolonizing social work education
- social work and human rights
- social justice
- anti-oppressive global social work
- international social work
- decolonial studies
- decolonizing approaches in community development
- indigenous peoples' ecological world view
- competence in human rights advocacy skills
- critical social work in international context
- anti-racist social work
- postcolonial present and decolonized future
- social work in the global south
- global north-south divide and human rights
- abolitionist social work
- State Authoritarianism, Racism and Xenophobia and human rights
- lessons from social movements
About this book
Despite committed effort to integrate postcolonial theory and decolonizing practices in human rights education in social work, there is scant literature offering a more balanced global perspective. This book addresses that need. Included here are discursive voices contributed by social work colleagues whose work is impacted by postcolonial realities. The task of decolonizing social work as a human rights profession calls for the inclusion of contesting perspectives from social work activists, human rights advocates and educators whose critical standpoints are drawn from the historical context of Global North-South relations. This book is essential given the many manifestations of global injustice, wars and climate catastrophes. The critical involvement of social workers in decolonized human rights advocacy is at no period in history, more urgent than now.
The book:
- Engages readers in reflective discourse over the contentious manner human rights principles are referenced by social work practitioners within the context of contemporary North-South geopolitics
- Explores dilemmas, conflicts, challenges and limitations experienced by social workers worldwide while upholding human rights principles
- Uses critical case studies that expose how the vestiges of colonialism continue to impact communities
- Identifies areas of human rights advocacy where social work succeeds, and where it is confronted by limiting challenges
- Emphasizes the importance of human rights education and practice in the context of global inequalities
Decolonized Approaches to Human Rights and Social Work provides models of good practice the world over in human rights advocacy. It is timely and essential reading for faculty who teach courses in social work, social development, community organization, human rights and social justice, as well as for students in social work, law, sociology, global studies and human rights. The book should draw readers who work in non-governmental organizations, international development agencies, advocacy groups, and community-based and grassroots organizations. International research centers, law clinics and organizations serving migrants and refugees would find it a useful resource.
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Melinda Madew is Professor in International Social Work at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Ludwigsburg, Germany and a Research Associate of the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She serves as Board Member of the European Social Work Research Association. Her teaching and research are in the areas of gender politics, postcolonial social work and indigenous knowledge and practice in community organizing. She has served as education and research consultant for international development organizations. She conceptualized and implemented international projects under the auspices of European Union educational programs for North-South university collaboration.
Marcin Boryczko is an associate professor at the University of Gdańsk, Poland, where he teaches Social Work on bachelors and masters levels. He serves in the board of several international and national associations such as the Polish Federation of Social Workers and Social Service Employees Unions (Polska Federacja Związków Zawodowych Pracowników Socjalnych i Pomocy Społecznej), the European Social Work Research Association, the International Advisory Board of the European Social Work Research Journal, and Polish representative in the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW). His main research interests include social work education, critical social work theory, human rights, decolonization, neoliberal governmentality, and populism in Central Europe.
Mark Lusk is a faculty member in the School of Social Work at New Mexico State University. Professor Lusk was Senior Fulbright Scholar at the Catholic University of Peru in Lima and also a Fulbright Research Scholar at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. He currently works with forced migrants and refugees from Central America and Mexico and related human rights issues. Dr. Lusk was founding director of the School of Social Work at Boise State University (Idaho) and has served as Associate Provost at the University of Georgia.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Decolonized Approaches to Human Rights and Social Work
Editors: Melinda Madew, Marcin Boryczko, Mark Lusk
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33030-8
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-33029-2Published: 13 July 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-33032-2Due: 30 September 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-33030-8Published: 12 July 2023
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVIII, 294
Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations
Topics: Ethics and Values in Social Work, Human Rights, Social Justice, Equality and Human Rights, Social Work and Community Development, Social Policy