Indigenous Social Work around the World: Towards Culturally Relevant Education and Practice

John Coates

May 2016 · Routledge

About this ebook

How can mainstream Western social work learn from and in turn help advance indigenous practice? This volume brings together prominent international scholars involved in both Western and indigenous social work across the globe - including James Midgley, Linda Briskman, Alean Al-Krenawi and John R. Graham - to discuss some of the most significant global trends and issues relating to indigenous and cross-cultural social work. The contributors identify ways in which indigenization is shaping professional social work practice and education, and examine how social work can better address diversity in international exchanges and cross-cultural issues within and between countries. Key theoretical, methodological and service issues and challenges in the indigenization of social work are reviewed, including the way in which adaptation can lead to more effective practices within indigenous communities and emerging economies, and how adaptation can provide greater insight into cross-cultural understanding and practice.

About the author

Mel Gray is Professor of Social Work, Research Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (RISIW), The University of Newcastle. John Coates is Professor of Social Work at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Michael Yellow Bird is Professor of Social Work at Humboldt State University, Arcata, California and is the Founder and previous Director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples' Critical and Intuitive Thinking at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA