You Have To Be Carefully Taught
An Analysis of Whiteness in Social Work Introductory Textbooks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18060/28668Keywords:
Whiteness, social work, race, textbooks, teachingAbstract
Social work as a profession stresses the importance of social justice, including racial justice. The Council on Social Work Education (2022) includes specific outcome requirements for student competency including integration of anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice. Five introductory social work texts were evaluated to understand how race was discussed as part of the history of the profession. Modeling Alemán’s (2014) approach to analyzing race talk in communications curriculum, I applied the themes of normalization, individualism, negation and distorted racism to an analysis of the texts. Results indicate the presence of all four themes. If the profession aims to prepare students to engage in antiracist practices, it needs to utilize curriculum that includes accurate and inclusive historical accounting of the profession. This should include histories of the profession that utilize critical Whiteness studies to guide the deconstruction of White centered ideals.
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