How White is Social Work in Australia

Bibliographic Data

ID5843867
AuthorsM Walter (0000-0002-8028-5274, University of Tasmania), Sandra Taylor (0000-0002-8807-5554, University of Tasmania), Daphne Habibis (0000-0001-5491-2089, University of Tasmania)
Year2011
Volume64
Issue1
Pages6-19
Publication date2011-02-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAustralian Social Work (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0312-407X • E-ISSN: 1447-0748
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0312407x.2010.510892
OpenAlexW2010091333
LanguageEN
Citations received64
References cited29

How White is social work in Australia? This paper analyses this question, focusing on social work practice and education. In asking the question, the aim is to open space for debate about how the social work profession in Australia should progress practice with Indigenous people and issues. The paper combines Bourdieu's concept of the habitus with "Whiteness" theory to argue that the profession is socially, economically, culturally, and geographically separated from Indigenous people and that the consequences for how social workers engage with their Indigenous clients have yet to be fully explored. Decentring Whiteness requires recognition of epistemological and ontological assumptions so deeply embedded that they are invisible to those who carry them. This invisibility permits White privilege to exist unacknowledged and unchallenged within societal formations. In shifting the focus away from the "Other" to the "non Other", an examination of Whiteness asks social workers to examine their own racial location and the role of White privilege in their lives. It requires us to go beyond intellectual commitments to antiracism and antioppression, and to make racial issues personal as well as political

Critical race theory · Habitus · Invisibility · White (mutation · White privilege · Critical Race Theory in Education · Social Work Education and Practice · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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