This presentation is based on the empirical data material from a comparative, qualitative study concerning social work in indigenous community in Norway, and Montana, USA. The main research question is how indigenous social workers conceptualize culture and how this is influencing the social work in indigenous communities. We used both focus group interviews and single interviews of indigenous social workers and stakeholders, and have generated a rich data material.
Indigenous people have been subject of oppression and colonization. Colonization has taken different forms, such as loss of land and language. Through child protection and social work services, colonization have resulted in tremendous effects on family life like compulsory attendance of boarding schools and child removal.
The indigenous people of Norway and USA have experienced similar discrimination at approximately the same time in history (Jacobs & Saus, 2012). There is a growing concern that children with background from a minority culture, enter the system more often and exit the system at a slower rate than children from the majority (Church Ii, Gross, & Baldwin, 2005; Sinha, Ellenbogen, & Trocmé, 2013). Indigenous children receive different types and greater amounts of treatment and interventions than children from the majority (Tilbury, 2009). The majorities have the power in construction of the narratives (Said, 2001), a power that also applies in the field of social work. This dominance has caused a maintenance of the systematic violation of the minority culture. To generate a culturally sensitive social service there is a need to challenge the western hegemony of philosophy within the field of social work (Morrissette, McKenzie, & Morrissette, 1993).
Through the analyses, we find that:
1) It is a Eurocentric hegemony in social work conceptualizations: Even though adjustment to local context, the professional language and the methods in use, states ground in hegemonic Eurocentric culture. However, we find a plurality in the conceptualization of culture in both Norway and Montana that challenges the dominance of Eurocentric conceptualizations. High lightening this discourses gives a possibility to facilitate that the indigenous narratives are included in outlining social work in indigenous communities.
2) Knowledge of the social system is important: In both the Norwegian and the Montana interviews knowledge of the social system is regarded as important. In Norwegian interviews, knowledge of the dynamic of the local community is highlighted. In the Montana interviews, knowing the tradition and the history of the tribe is regarded as important. They both addresses the significance of understanding the dynamic in the social system where you work. In order to outline cultural adequate social work, this local differences must be taken into account.
Literature
Church Ii, W. T., Gross, E. R., & Baldwin, J. (2005). Maybe ignorance is not always bliss: The disparate treatment of Hispanics within the child welfare system. Children and Youth Services Review, 27, 1279-1292. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2005.01.003
Jacobs, M. A., & Saus, M. (2012). Child Welfare Services for Indigenous Populations: A Comparison of Child Welfare Histories, Policies, Practices and Laws for American Indians and Norwegian Sámis. Child Care in Practice, 18(3), 271-290. doi: 10.1080/13575279.2012.683777
Morrissette, V., McKenzie, B., & Morrissette, L. (1993). TOWARDS AN ABORIGINAL MODEL OF SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE: Cultural Knowledge and Traditional Practices. Canadian Social Work Review / Revue canadienne de service social, 10, 91-108.
Said, E. W. (2001). Orientalismen [Orientalism]. Gjøvik: De norske bokklubbene.
Sinha, V., Ellenbogen, S., & Trocmé, N. (2013). Substantiating neglect of first nations and non-aboriginal children. Children and Youth Services Review, 35, 2080-2090. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.10.007
Tilbury, C. (2009). The over-representation of indigenous children in the Australian child welfare system. International Journal of Social Welfare, 18, 57-64. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2008.00577.x
Assessment and decision making in child welfare , Migration and minorities in child welfare
