Decolonizing Social Work Education and Practice with Students and Community Stakeholders: A Case Example from University of Calgary

Social work education in Canada has struggled to identify and disrupt systems of oppression and marginalization, rooted in a history of colonialism and slavery, that continues to reverberate through neocolonial policies, pedagogy, and practice. Universities and social work programs remain white spac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSmith College studies in social work Vol. 93; no. 2-4; pp. 207 - 229
Main Authors King, Régine Uwibereyeho, Lorenzetti, Liza, Halvorsen, Jeff, Khan, Maimuna S., Haile, Lemlem
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Norhampton Routledge 02.10.2023
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
academic-community partnership
anti-colonialism
Anti-racism
College faculty
College students
Colonialism
Community
critical pedagogy
Decolonization
Education
Killing
Marginality
Neocolonialism
Oppression
Pandemics
praxis
Professional practice
Professional training
racial caucusing
Racism
Slavery
Social programs
Social work
Social work education
Teachers
Teaching
White supremacy
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Summary:Social work education in Canada has struggled to identify and disrupt systems of oppression and marginalization, rooted in a history of colonialism and slavery, that continues to reverberate through neocolonial policies, pedagogy, and practice. Universities and social work programs remain white spaces that uphold white supremacy, while actively excluding nonwhite members and their ways of knowing and being in the world. It wasn't until the deepened retrenchment of anti-Black racism during the pandemic, punctuated by the killing of George Floyd, that a group of educators seized an opening to teach an anti-racist and anti-colonial praxis course for the Bachelor of Social Work students in spring of 2021, the first one of its kind in our faculty. Students were encouraged to engage with Indigenous and racialized community youth to imagine and integrate anti-racist and reconciliatory actions as part of their assignments. This paper shares our experiences co-designing and co-teaching this course together with community partners. We emphasize lessons from the applied pedagogical approaches as well as its implications for social work education and social work practice.
ISSN:0037-7317
1553-0426
DOI:10.1080/00377317.2023.2261550