Karen Bell
Biographic Data
| ID | 3731379 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Karen Bell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Karen |
| FAMILY NAME | Bell |
| SIGNATURE | BELL K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Charles Sturt University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0809-0680 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 46 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 122 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 46 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The role of reparations for a decolonized just transition: Perspectives from the Anglophone Caribbean
As a critical dimension of sustainability policy and practice, Just Transition (JT) offers a framework for equitably and inclusively managing the social, economic, and political implications of climate and sustainability action. Yet global JT discourse has largely been shaped by high-income countries, often marginalizing the historical and structural realities of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This article makes an original contributio…
Environmental racism and “the media-government complex: Failures of municipal waste collection for a racialised community in Bulgaria
This article reports on a discourse analysis of local and state media to demonstrate how environmental racism in a European context is reinforced and legitimised through the joint actions of media and government. Institutional discrimination in household waste collection is sustained through what we term here "the media-government complex”, which is pitted against marginalised communities through the reproduction of racism and antigypsyism. We di…
Toward a definition of professional identity for social work: Findings from a scoping review
Defining professional identity has long been a contested matter, even more so in social work with ongoing questions about our professional status. To address these questions, this article explores how professional identity is theorized, defined, and/or measured in peer-reviewed social work literature by reporting on a subset of findings from a scoping review. The search protocol produced a total dataset of ninety-one peer-reviewed articles, sixty…
Mechanisms that impact the experience and sustainability of the professional identity of social workers
This paper identifies mechanisms that impact the professional identity of qualified social workers. Professional identity has become a focal point in social work, especially considering contemporary neoliberal settings and pressing global concerns about workplace conditions affecting the status of the profession. On this basis, a scoping literature review was implemented with an aim to identify how professional identity is experienced, sustained,…
Embracing Cultural Identity in an Australian Regional Community: A Collaboration of Social Workers, Librarians, and Punjabi Indian Immigrants
Menstrual inequities and menstrual justice: A scoping review of social work literature
Against the backdrop of global commitments towards achieving gender equity as reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, this paper explores how social work engages with menstruation in peer-reviewed literature. A scoping review was conducted using systematic methods, producing a dataset of 25 papers. Data analysis revealed that menstrual experiences – despite being characterised by injustice – is an under-represented issue in…
International solidarity for a de-colonised Just Transition: Electric vehicles and lithium in Mexico and Europe
The term 'Just Transition' (JT) gained global prominence through the Silesia Declaration on Solidarity and Just Transition agreed at the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference (COP24). However, there has been a gap in both theory and practice regarding how to develop the global solidarity called for in this declaration. Some have even viewed JT as another form of neo-colonialism, benefitting the Global North through exploiting the Global South. This p…
Converting the United States and United Kingdom defence sector to civil production: The views of defence workers
There are many social, environmental, and economic reasons for converting from defence manufacturing to civil production. Importantly, such a transformation could support more peace in the world while still ensuring the secure jobs that the defence sector has historically provided. The views of defence workers on such a transition are important to understanding how this change could effectively and equitably occur. To capture some of these views,…
Disaster Preparedness in Social Work: Enhancing Policy in Australian Human Service Organisations
This article reports on a small study that aimed to enhance disaster preparedness policy in Australian human service organisations. Adopting a transformative ecosocial lens, the researchers collaborated with emergency services as part of action research (AR) to co-design a series of workshops. The objectives of the workshops were to progressively develop disaster preparedness policy relating to risk assessment, service continuity and recovery pla…
The necessity of a transformational approach to just transition: Defence Worker Views on Decarbonisation, Diversification and Sustainability
This paper highlights the perspectives of defence workers regarding a Just Transition of their industry, one of the most environmentally harmful sectors in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, pollution and use of non-renewable resources. It is based on (i) interviews with defence sector workers in the United States and the United Kingdom (n58); and (ii) focus groups with key representatives of national and international labour unions, defenc…
Which direction for sustainable development? A time series comparison of the impacts of redistributive versus market policies in Bolivia and South Korea
This article examines two major policy frameworks for achieving sustainable development: the market‐based ‘Green Economy’ approach (exemplified by South Korea), and the redistributive ‘Living Well’ approach (exemplified by Bolivia). We compare the two paradigms in qualitative terms using document analysis, and we assess quantitatively how they have fared in terms of delivering progress towards sustainable development in each country. Time series …
Short-term study abroad programmes in social work: A scoping review of the literature on learning outcomes
Study abroad programmes are an increasingly popular component of social work education worldwide and a range of claims have been made about the associated benefits of these programmes. To explore the nature and extent of current knowledge in relation to student learning outcomes, a scoping review of social work literature was undertaken. A comprehensive search of scholarly databases for peer-reviewed social work studies, which examined student le…
The fences of Chuschi: The impacts of land enclosure on an Andean indigenous community
The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Labour Studies
Beyond inclusion? Perceptions of the extent to which Extinction Rebellion speaks to, and for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (Bame) and working-class communities
There is a resurgent interest in, and debate about, inclusive environmentalism. Within this context, it has been alleged that Extinction Rebellion (XR) exclude Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and working-class people. To understand more about whether and how this occurs, and how it might be remedied, we interviewed 40 BAME and working-class people in England and Wales about their perceptions of, and opinions about, XR. We found that, whil…
International study abroad programmes: Exploring global south student perspectives, reciprocity and sustainability
This paper explores student experience, sustainability and the nature of reciprocity in the context of international student mobility programs. There is a considerable body of literature on various aspects of these programs such as educational outcomes, curriculum development, standards for practice and ethical issues. Much of the literature tends to focus on the experiences of the students and staff from the Global North and not on the experienc…
Disaster Preparedness in Social Work: A Scoping Review of Evidence for Further Research, Theory and Practice
The aim of this study was to understand the extent and nature of social work literature relating to preparedness in the context of natural disasters and to identify the implications for further research, theory and practice. A systematic scoping review explored scholarly databases pertaining to literature about social work and disaster preparedness, between 2000 and 2019; a total of thirty-nine articles met the inclusion criteria. Data were extra…
Working-Class Studies: Beyond the Heartlands, WCSA conference, University of Kent, Canterbury, 3–6 September 2019
No abstract available
Equality: An American Dilemma, 1866-1896
A compelling study of social movements in the thirty years following the Civil War, Equality provides scholars with a timely examination of how inequalities emerged during the first American Gilded Age. Charles Postel's analysis could not have come at a more significant moment, as the first decade of the twenty-first century has ushered in a second gilded age of tremendous inequalities. Postel examines how farmhands, women's rights activists, for…
Transforming Social Work for Environmental Justice: Theory, Practice, and Education
The articles by Boetto (2019) and Papadopoulos (2019) in this Issue of Australian Social Work reinforce some pertinent points about transformative social work and the importance of foregrounding ec
Internationalizing Social Work Education: Insights from Leading Figures Across the Globe
Internationalizing Social Work Education: Insights from Leading Figures Across the Globe." Australian Social Work, 72(1), pp. 124–125
The dawn of environmental justice?
Environmental justice embraces the concept and movement for a healthy and safe environment; equal access to environmental resources alongside avoidance of environmental harms; and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making. Central and South American citizens, more than those of any other continent, have increasingly elected left wing and socialist governments over the last twenty years. This chapter considers whether, under these …
Gender and the environment by Nicole Detraz
No abstract available
Endless Pressure: Life on a Low Income in Austere Times
Much has been written that details the decline in living standards following the ‘credit crunch’ in the UK. It remains that we understand to a lesser degree the lived reality of poverty through the Great Recession and into the era of austerity. This article draws on testimonies of 62 participants from low income households conducted in three different areas of the UK during 2012–13 to document the pressures that this period brought to bear on the…
Beyond Freedom's Reach: A Kidnapping in the Twilight of Slavery by Adam Rothman
"Beyond Freedom's Reach: A Kidnapping in the Twilight of Slavery by Adam Rothman." Canadian Journal of History, 52(3), pp. 613–614
Navigating the stigmatised identities of poverty in austere times: Resisting and responding to narratives of personal failure
Behavioural explanations of poverty and disadvantage have figured heavily in political rhetoric in the era of austerity, as a means to understand trajectories into poverty and subsequent relationships between benefit claimants and the state. These discourses are not restricted to political debate, as previous studies demonstrate they impact upon public consciousness and structure the ways that the general public think about poverty, as well as sh…
Exploring the Development of Professional Identity with Newly Qualified Social Workers
This paper discusses the experiences of newly qualified social workers as part of a research project exploring professional identity. Drawing on literature in this area and a subset of data from a larger study involving Australian practitioners, it is argued that while several studies explore experiences of identity, the phenomenon remains under-researched, especially in Australia. Seventeen people participated in three in-depth, semistructured i…
Constructions of “Infertility” and Some Lived Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness
This article draws on data from a feminist, qualitative social work research project on women’s experiences of involuntary childlessness in the context of assisted reproduction. It argues that the dominant construction of “infertility” is partial, biased, and inaccurate and that it serves to maintain infertility as a “woman’s problem” to be addressed ideally via biomedicine and individualized approaches to the delivery of services. With reference…
Help or hindrance? Outcomes of social work student placements
This paper discusses the findings of a pilot project exploring the benefits and costs of social work student placements to host agencies. In this qualitative study, 43 supervisors were interviewed about their experiences of the costs and benefits of having a student on placement. Overall, the benefits were assessed as outweighing the costs. The main benefit identified was the work undertaken by students, such as counselling, research projects, ev…
Towards a Post-Conventional Philosophical Base for Social Work
The need for social workers to use a range of theory to inform their practice is well established in contemporary critical social work literature. However, it is argued that the ontological base of the profession has not received enough attention, despite innovations in social work theory in recent years. In the absence of a clearly articulated ontological base, there is a risk that there will be a persistent over-reliance on conventional paradig…
Endless Pressure: Life on a Low Income in Austere Times
Much has been written that details the decline in living standards following the ‘credit crunch’ in the UK. It remains that we understand to a lesser degree the lived reality of poverty through the Great Recession and into the era of austerity. This article draws on testimonies of 62 participants from low income households conducted in three different areas of the UK during 2012–13 to document the pressures that this period brought to bear on the…
Climate Change Adaptation: Community Action, Disadvantaged Groups and Practice Implications for Social Work
This paper explores community-level action in relation to socially based climate change adaptations for vulnerable citizens—older people in particular. While awareness of risk and adaptation has increased in various institutions across Australia, the translation of awareness into action is limited, particularly in the area of socially based adaptive measures for the most vulnerable. Through content analysis of local government documents in two ma…
Transforming Social Work for Environmental Justice: Theory, Practice, and Education
The articles by Boetto (2019) and Papadopoulos (2019) in this Issue of Australian Social Work reinforce some pertinent points about transformative social work and the importance of foregrounding ec
Social work students’ reflections on gender, social justice and human rights during a short-term study programme to India
This article explores the impacts of a short-term international study programme on Australian social work students’ understanding of social justice and human rights issues, with particular emphasis on gender oppression. Using qualitative data from a reflective workshop plus written evaluations, students’ reflections on learning experiences during the programme are described and explored. Implications for social work study abroad programmes and th…
Environmental sustainability in social work education: An online initiative to encourage global citizenship
This article explores the impact of an online programme developed to educate Australian social work students about environmental sustainability. Drawing on Hawkins’ definition of global citizenship, online workshop activities are used to develop students’ knowledge, concern and action about environmental degradation in a global context. A qualitative approach is used to gauge the value of the programme, and outcomes indicate benefits to student l…
Exploring Epistemic Injustice Through Feminist Social Work Research
This article explores women’s experiences of assisted reproduction (AR) and epistemic injustice. Using feminist theory and qualitative data from a social work research project, I argue that the dominant discourse in AR is partial and inadequate and that these epistemological oversights are not accidental; the oversights are actively maintained to preserve power relationships and this constitutes epistemic injustice. Yet women are not completely s…
The necessity of a transformational approach to just transition: Defence Worker Views on Decarbonisation, Diversification and Sustainability
This paper highlights the perspectives of defence workers regarding a Just Transition of their industry, one of the most environmentally harmful sectors in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, pollution and use of non-renewable resources. It is based on (i) interviews with defence sector workers in the United States and the United Kingdom (n58); and (ii) focus groups with key representatives of national and international labour unions, defenc…
Equality: An American Dilemma, 1866-1896
A compelling study of social movements in the thirty years following the Civil War, Equality provides scholars with a timely examination of how inequalities emerged during the first American Gilded Age. Charles Postel's analysis could not have come at a more significant moment, as the first decade of the twenty-first century has ushered in a second gilded age of tremendous inequalities. Postel examines how farmhands, women's rights activists, for…
Doing qualitative fieldwork in Cuba: Social research in politically sensitive locations
Cuba, a country that is often portrayed as an isolated, secretive and bureaucratic dictatorship, would appear to present many challenges for a social researcher intent on eliciting the genuine opinions of the native population. However, in December 2008, I began just such an investigation, researching ‘environmental justice’ (i.e. the social and distributive impacts of environmental policy and practice) in the country, using a mixture of intervie…
International solidarity for a de-colonised Just Transition: Electric vehicles and lithium in Mexico and Europe
The term 'Just Transition' (JT) gained global prominence through the Silesia Declaration on Solidarity and Just Transition agreed at the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference (COP24). However, there has been a gap in both theory and practice regarding how to develop the global solidarity called for in this declaration. Some have even viewed JT as another form of neo-colonialism, benefitting the Global North through exploiting the Global South. This p…
The fences of Chuschi: The impacts of land enclosure on an Andean indigenous community
Green Economy or Living Well? Assessing divergent paradigms for equitable eco-social transition in South Korea and Bolivia
'Green Economy' and 'Living Well ('Vivir Bien)' have emerged as contending macro-policies in the search for a future direction that meets human needs whilst respecting environmental limits. There are a number of different interpretations of each concept but the dominant discourses in relation to each are distinct. Green Economy is presented as a fundamentally technological, managerial and market-based approach, whilst Living Well is considered to…
Environmental justice in Cuba
‘Environmental justice’ refers to the human right to a healthy and safe environment, a fair share of natural resources, access to environmental information and participation in environmental decision-making. Some analysts have argued that environmental justice is undermined by the political economy of capitalism. This paper builds on this analysis by evaluating the environmental justice situation in Cuba, a country where there is little capitalis…
Mechanisms that impact the experience and sustainability of the professional identity of social workers
This paper identifies mechanisms that impact the professional identity of qualified social workers. Professional identity has become a focal point in social work, especially considering contemporary neoliberal settings and pressing global concerns about workplace conditions affecting the status of the profession. On this basis, a scoping literature review was implemented with an aim to identify how professional identity is experienced, sustained,…
Embracing Cultural Identity in an Australian Regional Community: A Collaboration of Social Workers, Librarians, and Punjabi Indian Immigrants
Which direction for sustainable development? A time series comparison of the impacts of redistributive versus market policies in Bolivia and South Korea
This article examines two major policy frameworks for achieving sustainable development: the market‐based ‘Green Economy’ approach (exemplified by South Korea), and the redistributive ‘Living Well’ approach (exemplified by Bolivia). We compare the two paradigms in qualitative terms using document analysis, and we assess quantitatively how they have fared in terms of delivering progress towards sustainable development in each country. Time series …
Self-Emancipating Women, Civil War, and the Union Army in Southern Louisiana and Lowcountry Georgia, 1861-1865
Developing public support for human rights in the United Kingdom: Reasserting the importance of socio-economic rights
Public support for human rights in the UK remains limited, partly as a result of misleading media coverage, as well as political hostility. The UK Human Rights Act, in particular, has been under sustained attack and is now threatened by the Conservative Party's drive to repeal it. We analyse recent quantitative and qualitative data on public attitudes in order to learn how to increase public support for human rights practice and principles. The c…
Plato: Protagoras
Psychometric Characteristics of the Atiitudes toward Mathematics and its Teaching (Atmat) Scale
This article reports on one aspect of a multifaceted inquiry into the attitudes and anxieties that prospective elmentary teachers may have toward teaching mathematics. At the beginning, midterm, and end of one semester, students were asked to respond to an Attitudes Towards Mathematics and its Teaching (ATMAT) scale. The students were from two sections taught by the same instructor. One important aspect of this attitude scale was that it was used…
Help or hindrance? Outcomes of social work student placements
This paper discusses the findings of a pilot project exploring the benefits and costs of social work student placements to host agencies. In this qualitative study, 43 supervisors were interviewed about their experiences of the costs and benefits of having a student on placement. Overall, the benefits were assessed as outweighing the costs. The main benefit identified was the work undertaken by students, such as counselling, research projects, ev…
Achieving Environmental Justice in the United Kingdom: A Case Study of Lockleaze, Bristol
Despite a number of seemingly progressive government initiatives, recent studies show environmental injustice continues to be a real and substantive problem in the United Kingdom. This case study focuses on one possible reason for this—the lack of inclusion of deprived communities in environmental decision-making. It uses a case study of Lockleaze, a deprived area of Bristol, drawing on findings from a literature review, participant observation, …
Hearing Voices: A Feminist Approach
Environmental justice in Cuba
‘Environmental justice’ refers to the human right to a healthy and safe environment, a fair share of natural resources, access to environmental information and participation in environmental decision-making. Some analysts have argued that environmental justice is undermined by the political economy of capitalism. This paper builds on this analysis by evaluating the environmental justice situation in Cuba, a country where there is little capitalis…
Doing qualitative fieldwork in Cuba: Social research in politically sensitive locations
Cuba, a country that is often portrayed as an isolated, secretive and bureaucratic dictatorship, would appear to present many challenges for a social researcher intent on eliciting the genuine opinions of the native population. However, in December 2008, I began just such an investigation, researching ‘environmental justice’ (i.e. the social and distributive impacts of environmental policy and practice) in the country, using a mixture of intervie…
Towards a Post-Conventional Philosophical Base for Social Work
The need for social workers to use a range of theory to inform their practice is well established in contemporary critical social work literature. However, it is argued that the ontological base of the profession has not received enough attention, despite innovations in social work theory in recent years. In the absence of a clearly articulated ontological base, there is a risk that there will be a persistent over-reliance on conventional paradig…
Constructions of “Infertility” and Some Lived Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness
This article draws on data from a feminist, qualitative social work research project on women’s experiences of involuntary childlessness in the context of assisted reproduction. It argues that the dominant construction of “infertility” is partial, biased, and inaccurate and that it serves to maintain infertility as a “woman’s problem” to be addressed ideally via biomedicine and individualized approaches to the delivery of services. With reference…
Achieving environmental justice: A cross-national analysis
Environmental justice aspires to a healthy environment for all, as well as fair and inclusive processes of environmental decision-making. In order to develop successful strategies to achieve this, it is important to understand the factors that shape environmental justice outcomes. This optimistic, accessible and wide-ranging book contributes to this understanding by assessing the extent of, and reasons for, environmental justice/injustice in seve…
Achieving Environmental Justice: A Cross-National Analysis
This optimistic and accessible book contributes to our understanding of the factors that shape environmental justice outcomes by assessing the extent of, and reasons for, environmental justice/injustice in seven diverse countries
Developing public support for human rights in the United Kingdom: Reasserting the importance of socio-economic rights
Public support for human rights in the UK remains limited, partly as a result of misleading media coverage, as well as political hostility. The UK Human Rights Act, in particular, has been under sustained attack and is now threatened by the Conservative Party's drive to repeal it. We analyse recent quantitative and qualitative data on public attitudes in order to learn how to increase public support for human rights practice and principles. The c…
Exploring Epistemic Injustice Through Feminist Social Work Research
This article explores women’s experiences of assisted reproduction (AR) and epistemic injustice. Using feminist theory and qualitative data from a social work research project, I argue that the dominant discourse in AR is partial and inadequate and that these epistemological oversights are not accidental; the oversights are actively maintained to preserve power relationships and this constitutes epistemic injustice. Yet women are not completely s…
Can the capitalist economic system deliver environmental justice
Can a healthy environment for all social groups be delivered through capitalism via market mechanisms? Or is it the capitalist system, itself, that has been at the root of the environmental and social crises we now face? This letter engages with this ongoing debate by drawing on material from a wider study, ‘Achieving Environmental Justice’, which examined the extent, form and causes of \nenvironmental justice and injustice in a range of countrie…
Climate Change Adaptation: Community Action, Disadvantaged Groups and Practice Implications for Social Work
This paper explores community-level action in relation to socially based climate change adaptations for vulnerable citizens—older people in particular. While awareness of risk and adaptation has increased in various institutions across Australia, the translation of awareness into action is limited, particularly in the area of socially based adaptive measures for the most vulnerable. Through content analysis of local government documents in two ma…
Social work students’ reflections on gender, social justice and human rights during a short-term study programme to India
This article explores the impacts of a short-term international study programme on Australian social work students’ understanding of social justice and human rights issues, with particular emphasis on gender oppression. Using qualitative data from a reflective workshop plus written evaluations, students’ reflections on learning experiences during the programme are described and explored. Implications for social work study abroad programmes and th…
Environmental sustainability in social work education: An online initiative to encourage global citizenship
This article explores the impact of an online programme developed to educate Australian social work students about environmental sustainability. Drawing on Hawkins’ definition of global citizenship, online workshop activities are used to develop students’ knowledge, concern and action about environmental degradation in a global context. A qualitative approach is used to gauge the value of the programme, and outcomes indicate benefits to student l…
Exploring the Development of Professional Identity with Newly Qualified Social Workers
This paper discusses the experiences of newly qualified social workers as part of a research project exploring professional identity. Drawing on literature in this area and a subset of data from a larger study involving Australian practitioners, it is argued that while several studies explore experiences of identity, the phenomenon remains under-researched, especially in Australia. Seventeen people participated in three in-depth, semistructured i…
Navigating the stigmatised identities of poverty in austere times: Resisting and responding to narratives of personal failure
Behavioural explanations of poverty and disadvantage have figured heavily in political rhetoric in the era of austerity, as a means to understand trajectories into poverty and subsequent relationships between benefit claimants and the state. These discourses are not restricted to political debate, as previous studies demonstrate they impact upon public consciousness and structure the ways that the general public think about poverty, as well as sh…
Green Economy or Living Well? Assessing divergent paradigms for equitable eco-social transition in South Korea and Bolivia
'Green Economy' and 'Living Well ('Vivir Bien)' have emerged as contending macro-policies in the search for a future direction that meets human needs whilst respecting environmental limits. There are a number of different interpretations of each concept but the dominant discourses in relation to each are distinct. Green Economy is presented as a fundamentally technological, managerial and market-based approach, whilst Living Well is considered to…
Self-Emancipating Women, Civil War, and the Union Army in Southern Louisiana and Lowcountry Georgia, 1861-1865
The dawn of environmental justice?
Environmental justice embraces the concept and movement for a healthy and safe environment; equal access to environmental resources alongside avoidance of environmental harms; and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making. Central and South American citizens, more than those of any other continent, have increasingly elected left wing and socialist governments over the last twenty years. This chapter considers whether, under these …
Gender and the environment by Nicole Detraz
No abstract available
Endless Pressure: Life on a Low Income in Austere Times
Much has been written that details the decline in living standards following the ‘credit crunch’ in the UK. It remains that we understand to a lesser degree the lived reality of poverty through the Great Recession and into the era of austerity. This article draws on testimonies of 62 participants from low income households conducted in three different areas of the UK during 2012–13 to document the pressures that this period brought to bear on the…
Beyond Freedom's Reach: A Kidnapping in the Twilight of Slavery by Adam Rothman
"Beyond Freedom's Reach: A Kidnapping in the Twilight of Slavery by Adam Rothman." Canadian Journal of History, 52(3), pp. 613–614
Political science (33 works) · Sociology (31 works) · Law (17 works) · Psychology (17 works) · Public relations (14 works) · Social Work (13 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (13 works) · Engineering (12 works) · Law (12 works) · Geography (11 works)