The SAGE Handbook of International Social Work

Karen H Lyons · Terry Hokenstad · Manohar Pawar · Nathalie Huegler · Nigel Hall

May 2012 · SAGE

About this ebook

Social work is a profession that is increasingly involved with issues which have a global dimension. This Handbook tackles the global/local aspect of social work in its various forms and interrogates the key concerns that societies are facing through an international lens. The contributors show that, with an appreciation of commonalities and differences, local practices and appropriate forms of international activity can be better developed.

Areas covered include:

- Analysis of ′International social work′

- Globalisation and indigenisation

- Social justice and human rights

- Poverty and livelihoods

- Ecological issues

- Migration

- Education, theory, research and practice

- Social work in different settings

- Religion and spirituality

- Responses to disasters and conflicts

- Life course perspectives

- Regional perspectives

- Future directions

With a truly international range of contributions, the Handbook incorporates perspectives from Asia, Africa, Europe, Australasia, the Middle East and the Americas.

It will be an invaluable resource for undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers and academics working in the fields of social work, social welfare, human services, and community development worldwide, as well as service providers and policy makers in the international arena.

About the author

Manohar Pawar, PhD, is professor of social work at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University (NSW, Australia) and is also the President of the Asia-Pacific branch of the International Consortium for Social Development. Earlier, he has taught at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and La Trobe University, Melbourne. He has more than 30 years of experience in social work education, research and practice in Australia and India. Professor Pawar has received a number of awards, including the ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship located at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi (1986–1988); the Citation Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2008, from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council); and Quality of Life Award (2001, from the Association of Commonwealth Universities). His current areas of interest include international social work, development and social policy practice, social consequences of cli¬mate change and water, social work education, virtues and social work practice, informal care and ageing, NGOs and community devel¬opment. He is the lead chief investigator of research funded by the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Project that focuses on virtues and social work practice. His publications include Social Work Practice Methods: Reflections on Thinking, Doing and Being (2015); Water and Social Policy (2014); International Social Work: Issues, Strategies and Programs (2013); The SAGE Handbook of International Social Work (2012); Social Development: Critical Themes and Perspectives (2010); and Community Development in Asia and the Pacific (2010).

Nathalie Huegler trained as a social worker in Germany and has since worked with young refugees in different settings, currently as a senior social worker supporting child torture survivors in a charity in London. After an M.A. in International Social Work and Refugee Studies from the University of East London (in 2004), she is now studying towards a PhD at London Metropolitan University, focussing on social work with separated children and human rights, from a cross-national comparative perspective. Other activities include editorial assistance work for the journal International Social Work, and part-time teaching at London Metropolitan University.