Understanding International Social Work
Also by Richard Hugman
Power in Caring Professions*
Ageing and the Care of Older People in Europe*
Ethical Issues in Social Work (edited with David Smith)
Concepts of Care (edited with Moira Peelo & Keith Soothill)
Social Welfare & Social Value*
New Approaches in Ethics for the Caring Professions*
* also published by Palgrave Macmillan
Richard Hugman 2010
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Preface
As the impact of globalization becomes more and more apparent in our daily lives, social workers increasingly are recognizing that our profession is international. That it has always been so may not always be noticed in the day-to-day demands of professional life. Yet, the shape of social work in all the different countries around the world where it is now practised would not be the same without exchanges of ideas and the movement of people, both social workers and services users, between countries. Even those issues and problems that are regarded as local are now very likely to be impacted by global trends and forces. Not only can social workers pursue careers by moving between countries to an extent not previously seen, but at the same time there are increasing demands for social work services for people who also have crossed borders, either as migrants or as refugees. In such a world social workers, including those who are in training and those who teach or do research, cannot afford to ignore the field of international social work.
A study of international social work must be seen as more than knowing about other countries. Although knowledge of the profession, our colleagues and service users in other places is valuable, it is vital that questions are asked about the way in which social work has developed in different places. How has it developed? What is the influence of different parts of the world on each other? What sort of problems and issues can be seen as crossing national borders? Is social work a unified profession around the world, or should it be seen as different in different places? How should social workers be educated and trained should there be one model or many? Are social work values and ethics the same everywhere or are they different in different places?
This book seeks to answer these questions through a critical analysis of international social work in relation to areas of practice, relationships within the profession between different global regions, and key issues for the work of the international professional organizations. Ultimately, it considers the way in which such an analysis informs an understanding of social work as a whole.
As in any part of our work, our own identity is reflected in the views that we hold and the questions that we ask. The origins of this book lie in my own experience of being (or becoming) an international social worker: as a migrant moving to live and work in another country; as someone actively involved in the international professional organizations and working with colleagues from different parts of the world; and as a practitioner working with an international agency in the role of a consultant. Each of these experiences provides the challenge to discover more of the richness in the diversity of the profession around the world, to learn more about my own identity, including the experience of myself as a global Northerner and through that as other, and to encounter in a very tangible way the questions identified above. (See the glossary for an explanation of why the terms global North and South have been favoured over other ways of dividing the world in this analysis.) In noting this I am not claiming a privileged viewpoint to fend off debate (although I am aware that as someone from a European background and as male I can be privileged in all sorts of ways) but rather positioning myself as a means of reflecting on the types of questions that I have identified and giving the reader the opportunity to grasp some of what I bring personally to this analysis.
Inevitably, a study of this kind had benefitted from the support of many others. My colleagues at the University of New South Wales provide a dynamic context in which to teach and write. They covered my absence on a sabbatical in which much of the ground work for this book was undertaken, during which I was welcomed by other colleagues at Massey University, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Durham. For conversations and debates in these and other places that have contributed to my development of this particular analysis I would like to thank Eileen Baldry, Sarah Banks, Linda Bartolomei, Vivienne Bozalek, Helen Charnley, Elaine Congress, Bob Chazin, Lena Dominelli, Doug Durst, Gracy Fernandes, Mel Gray, Sue Green, Arne Groenningsaeter, Lynne Healy, Siobhan King, Tracie Mafileo, Duncan McDui-Ra, James Midgley, Mehmoona Moosa-Mitha, Otrude Moyo, Robyn Munford, Mary Nash, Kieran ODonoghue, Joan Orme, Leila Patel, Eileen Pittaway, Vishanthie Sewpaul, Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata and Angie Yuen-Tsang. Research assistance and many challenging questions were provided by Ivana Codarini and Mim Fox. Anonymous reviewers also contributed greatly by forcing me to focus on my arguments. Most especially, I would like to acknowledge the inspiration of friends and colleagues in Vietnam in their dedication to the creation of an authentic social work for their country and to thank them for all that I have learned from their insights and questions Nguy
