Disrupting Whiteness in Social Work

<p>Focussing on the epistemic – the way in which knowledge is understood</p><p></p><p>constructed</p><p></p><p>transmitted and used – this book shows the way social work</p><p></p><p>knowledge has been constructed from within a white western paradigm and</p><p></p><p>the need for a critique of whiteness within social work at this epistemic level.</p><p></p><p>Social work emerging from the western Enlightenment world has privileged</p><p></p><p>white western knowledge in ways that have been until recently largely unexamined</p><p></p><p>within its professional discourse. This imposition of white western</p><p></p><p>ways of knowing has led to a corresponding marginalisation of other forms</p><p></p><p>of knowledge. Drawing on views from social workers from Asia the Pacific</p><p></p><p>region Africa Australia and Latin America this book also includes a glossary</p><p></p><p>of over 40 commonly used social work terms which are listed with their epistemological</p><p></p><p>assumptions identified. Opening up a debate about the received</p><p></p><p>wisdom of much social work language as well as challenging the epistemological</p><p></p><p>assumptions behind conventional social work practice this book will be</p><p></p><p>of interest to all scholars and students of social work as well as practitioners</p><p></p><p>seeking</p><p></p><p>to develop genuinely decolonised forms of practice.</p>