Social Work And Human Services Responsibilities In A Time Of Climate Change

This book provides an accessible, research-informed text for students, social workers and other social service workers and community development workers focused on practically linking climate change to social justice. The book is designed for: Those who want to embed an understanding of climate change and its social justice impacts in their everyday practice Those keen to explore the explicit but also often invisible ways we see injustice playing out and exacerbated by climate change Those interested in embarking on research and action which addresses climate change in an inclusive, creative and fair way Utilising existing and current research with organisations, government and communities, it examines key themes and contexts where work has been done and where more work is needed to design and implement inclusive and just action on climate change. With a core position revolving around the idea and practice of justice – for earth and everything that lives here, it draws on First Nations worldviews, critical analysis, community-led approaches and complexity theory, to outline some practical ways to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change as well as a strategy to reshape our life and work for the longer term. It will be required reading for all scholars, students and professionals of social work, social welfare, community development, international development, community health and environmental and community education.

This book argues that climate justice is an urgent and defining global challenge with long-term implications for poverty reduction, livelihoods, community well-being, and sustainable development. It provides a thorough overview of both fundamental and new directions of knowledge and policy directions in this less debated area within environmental social work. The chapters of this book offer both global and cross-country perspectives via case studies from India, Nepal, Ukraine, South Africa, and the USA, providing greater understanding, evidence, and strategies to achieve the resilience of vulnerable communities based on climate justice principles. It will be required reading for all scholars, students, and social work professionals as well as those working in sustainability and community development.

This book shows how social work can be an active agent for promoting revolutionary changes in order to counter the global neoliberal market fundamentalism which is destroying our planet and reinforcing socioeconomic inequalities, political instability, antidemocratic political ideologies and movements, small wars, conflicts, racism and other forms of oppression. Providing case-studies from South Africa, Chile, Iran, Europe, Australia and the USA written by leading critical and radical social work scholars, this book sheds light on consequences of the global neoliberal racial capitalism and postcolonial oppression. By presenting innovative ideas and suggestions for a revolutionary social work aimed at promoting systemic changes and eliminating the roots of social problems this book will be of interest to all scholars and students of social work, community development and social justice more broadly.

This groundbreaking book provides a comprehensive account of social work, social welfare, and social development in Nigeria from a postcolonial perspective. It examines the historical development of social work and social welfare and the colonial legacies affecting contemporary social welfare provision, development planning, social work practice, and social work education. Against this historical backdrop, it seeks to understand the position of social work within Nigeria’s minimalist structure of welfare provision and the reasons why social work struggles for legitimacy and recognition today. It covers contexts of social work practice, including child welfare, juvenile justice, disabilities, mental health, and ageing, as well as areas of development-related problems and humanitarian assistance as new areas of practice for social workers, including internally displaced and trafficked people, and their impact on women and children. It seeks to understand Nigeria’s ethnoreligious diversity and indigenous cultural heritage to inform culturally appropriate social work practice. This book offers a global audience insight into Nigeria’s developmental issues and problems and a local audience – social science and human service researchers, educators, practitioners, students, and policymakers - a glimpse of what’s possible when people work together toward a common goal. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of social work, development studies and social policy.

Based on ethnographic observations of encounters between social workers and people with whom they do not have a shared language, this book analyzes the impact of language discordance on the quality of professional service provision. Exploring how street-level bureaucrats navigate the landscape of these discretionary assessments of language discordance, language proficiency, and the need for interpreting, the book focuses on four main themes: the complexity of social work talk the issue of participation in language discordant meetings communicative interaction the issue of how clarification is requested when needed, and whether professionals and service users are able to reach clarity when something is unclear Based on the findings presented on these different aspects of language discordant talk, the consequences of language discordance for social work are presented and discussed, focusing primarily on issues at the intersection of language, communication, power, dominance and subordination, representation, linguicism, and ultimately, human rights and human dignity. It will be of interest to all social work students, academics and professionals as well as those working in public services and allied health more broadly.

This book shapes a situated body politics to re-think, re-write, and de-colonise social work as a post-anthropocentric discipline headed towards glocalisation, where human and non-human embodiments and agencies are entangled in glocal environmental worlds. It critically and creatively examines how social work can be theorised, practised, and written in renewed ways through dialogical and transdisciplinary practices. This book is composed of eight essayistic spaces, envisioning social work through embodied, glocal, and earthly entanglements. By drawing on research-based knowledge, autobiographical notes, stories, poetry, photographs, and an art exhibition in social work education, these essays provide readers with analysis and strategies that are useful for research, education, and practice as well as life-long learning. The book constitutes key literature for researchers, educators, practitioners, and activists in social work, sociology, architecture, art and creative writing, feminist and postcolonial studies, human geography, and post-anthropocentric philosophy. It offers the readers sustainable ways to re-think and re-write social work towards a glocal- and post-anthropocentric more-than-human worldview.

Globally, social work faces increasingly complex cultural, political, economic, legal, organisational, technological and professional conditions. Critically reflecting on the subject, this book heightens critical consciousness among social work researchers, educators, practitioners and students about the structural dimensions of social problems and human suffering; it highlights the inter-relationship between agency and structure and discusses strategies to challenge and change both individual and societal consciousness. Offering the reader an opportunity to gain in-depth understanding of how critical reflection is possible in contemporary social work research, practice and education, it will be required reading for all social work scholars, students and professionals.

Social arts are manifold and are initiated by multiple actors, spaces, and direction from many directions and intentions, but generally they aim to generate personal, familial, group, community or general social transformation which can maintain and enhance personal and community resilience, communication, negotiation, and transitions, as well as help with community building and rehabilitation, civic engagement, social inclusion, and cohesion. Occurring via community empowerment, institutions, arts in health, inter-ethnic conflict, and frames of lobbying for social change, social art can transform and disrupt power relations and hegemonic narratives, destigmatize marginalized groups, and humanize society through creating empathy for the other. This book provides a broad range of all of the above, with multiple international examples of projects (photo-voice, community theater, crafts groups for empowerment, creative place-making, arts in institutions, and arts-based participatory research) that is initiated by social practitioners and by artists – and in collaboration between the two. The aim of this book is to help to illustrate, explore, and demystify this interdisciplinary area of practice. With methods and theoretical orientation as the focus of each chapter, the book can be used both in academic settings and for training social and art practitioners, as well as for social practitioners and artists in the field.