Decolonizing Social Work in Indigenous Contexts

Extract

[...] In this posture, the social worker is in a position of learning cultural and social codes and learns to take actions in accordance with the populations with whom they intervene. 2. Reflection This chapter seems essential to me to question oneself as a social worker in Indigenous environments. The knowledge we receive in the context of social work is generally questioned quite little about the oppressions that certain populations may live through our interventions. This population has suffered greatly from injustices in its history, having been exterminated and colonized by American and Canadian colonizers. [...]

[...] There is a form of symbolic violence, in the fact of being the indigenous people and seeing Western peoples govern and impose their norms on the entire society. As indicated in the text, the social worker intervenes within a functionalist postulate, in which each person must be able to respond to a function within the framework of society while respecting the norm. This norm is not that which corresponds to the traditions and customs of indigenous peoples. This is why the decolonizing posture proves to be a much more respectful approach to the rights of these populations. [...]

[...] A decolonizing approach rather promotes the construction of a reciprocal relationship between the social worker and Indigenous families. This ultimately allows for a more complex view of the situation, taking into account the fact that social work is based on a functionalist approach in which the social worker must intervene to bring deviant individuals back to the norm. Now, the situation of Indigenous peoples is quite complex since it is dependent on a socio-historical context (where Canada was a colonizer and exterminator of a part of these populations), social where these populations are marked by oppression with stereotypes conveyed about them (alcohol and drugs), legal (the nuclear conception of the family does not apply well enough to the context of Indigenous populations who consider the extended family), a socio-political context, in which these populations claim political measures and finally an institutional context of practice (the application of evaluation measures in this context would prove counterproductive because the context of evolution of these populations is quite particular). [...]

[...] It minimizes the power of the social worker on these populations and leads them to adopt a posture of humility. I think this posture is essential for any intervention in these environments, as it avoids reproducing domination between the social worker and the indigenous population, it also avoids misunderstandings between social workers and the populations they intervene with. It allows for the promotion of a co-construction approach that is much healthier. In this, the decolonizing approach proves to be an essential approach that may possibly extend to other marginalized populations (such as people from racial or ethnic minorities, foreign people, LGBTQIA+ people, or economically disadvantaged people). [...]

[...] Summary of the text The text discusses how to approach social work in Canada in Indigenous communities. Starting from the fact that the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the UN affirms the recognition of their rights to self-determination, possession and control of their territories and resources, as well as the preservation of their cultures, the article asks how to make this principle come alive in the field of social work and particularly in the protection of youth. [...]