Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T14:01:44.612Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Centring Aboriginal Worldviews in Social Work Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

Cyndy Baskin
Cyndy Baskin*
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5B 2K3, Canada
Get access

Abstract

As Aboriginal peoples gain more access to schools of social work, the academy needs to respond to their educational needs. This involves incorporating Aboriginal worldviews and research methodologies into social work education. This paper focuses on one definition of worldviews according to Aboriginal epistemology and implements an anti-colonial discursive framework in its analysis of education. It also critiques both the role of social work in the lives of Aboriginal peoples and the goals of social work education. Through the findings of a recent research project with Aboriginal social work students in Ontario, Canada, it raises key components that need to be addressed in the academy and provides ways in which this can be achieved. The overall theme flowing through this paper is that of decolonisation whereby reclamation of the belief that all peoples of the world have much to offer one another and life is a reciprocal process comes to the surface. In addition, the paper stresses the importance of this content being taught to all social work students and its relevance to all areas of Indigenous humanities.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 34 , 2005 , pp. 96 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Absolon, K. & (1997). Community action as a practice of freedom: A First Nations perspective. In Wharf, B. & Clague, M. (Eds.), Community organizing: Canadian experiences. (pp. 205–227). Toronto: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Alfred, T. (2004). Warrior scholarship: Seeing the university as a ground of contention. In Mihesuah, D.A. & Wilson, A.C. (Eds.), Indigenizing the academy: Transforming scholarship and empowering communities. (pp. 88–99). Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Battiste, M. & Henderson, J.Y. (2000). Protecting Indigenous knowledge and heritage: A global challenge. Saskatoon, SK: Purich.Google Scholar
Bhabha, H.K. (1994). The location of culture. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bishop, R. (1998). Freeing ourselves from neo–colonial domination in research: A Maori approach to creating knowledge. Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(2), 199–219.Google Scholar
Blaeser, K. (1996). Gerald Vizenor: Writing in the oral tradition, Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Brant Castellano, M. (2000). Updating Aboriginal traditions of knowledge. Dei, G.J.Hall, B.L. & Goldin Rosenberg, D. (Eds.), Indigenous knowledges in global contexts: Multiple readings of our world (pp. 21–36). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Bruyere, G. (1998). Living in another man’s house: Supporting Aboriginal learners in social work education. Canadian Social Work Review, 15(2), 169–176. Google Scholar
Cajete, G. (1994). Look to the mountain: An ecology of Indigenous education. Durando, CO: Kivaki Press.Google Scholar
Cesaire, A. (2000). Discourse on colonialism. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Churchill, W. (1993). Struggle for the land. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press.Google Scholar
Couture, J. (1991). Explorations in Native knowing. In Friesen, J.W. (Ed.), The cultural maze: Complex questions on Native destiny in western Canada (pp. 201–215). Calgary, AB: Detselig Enterprises.Google Scholar
Dei, G.J.S. & Asgharzadeh, A. (2000). The power of social theory: The anti-colonial discursive framework. Journal of Educational Thought, 35(3), 297–323.Google Scholar
Dei, G.J.S., James, I.M., Karumanchery, L.K., James-Wilson, S. & Zine, J. (2000). Removing the margins: The challenges and possibilities of inclusive schooling. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.Google Scholar
Dei, G.J.S., Karumanchery, L.L. & Karumanchery-Luik, N. (2004). Playing the race card: Exposing white power and privilege. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Deloria, V. Jr. , (1995). Red earth, white lies: Native Americans and the myth of scientific fact. New York: Scribner.Google Scholar
Ermine, W. (1995). Aboriginal epistemology. In Battiste, M. & Barman, J. (Eds.), First Nations education in Canada: The circle unfolds (pp. 101–112. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Fanon, F. (1967). The wretched of the earth. New York: Grove Press.Google Scholar
Fitznor, L. (1998). The circle of life: Affirming Aboriginal philosophies in everyday living. In McCane, D. (Ed.), Life ethics in world religions. (pp. 21–40. Winnipeg, MN: University of Manitoba.Google Scholar
Gunn Allen, P. (1986). The sacred hoop: Recovering the feminine in American Indian traditions. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Hall, S. (1994). Religion, myth and magic in Tangale. Koln, Germany: R. Kopfe.Google Scholar
Hampton, E.L. (1995). Memory comes before knowledge: Research may improve if researchers remember their motives. Canadian Journal of Native Education. 21 (supplement), 46–54.Google Scholar
Hurdle, D. (2002). Native Hawaiian traditional healing: Culturally based interventions for social work practice. Social Work, 47(2), 183–192.Google Scholar
Kanuha, V.K. (2000). “Being Native versus “Going Native”: Conducting social work research as an insider.” Social Work, 45(5), 439–447.Google Scholar
Kelley, R.D.G. (2000). A poetics of anticolonialism. In Cesaire, A. (Ed.), Discourse on colonialism (pp. 1–21. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Locust, C. (1988). Wounding the spirit: Discrimination and traditional American Indian belief systems. Harvard Educational Review, 58(3), 315–330.Google Scholar
Lynn, R. (2001). Learning from a “Wounding the spirit: Discrimination and traditional American Indian belief systems.” Harvard Educational Review 58(5), 315–330.Google Scholar
Lynn, R. (2001). Learning from a “Murri way.” British Journal of Social Work, 31, 903–916.Google Scholar
Mclsaac, E. (2000). Oral narratives as a site of resistance: Indigenous knowledge, colonialism, and western discourse. In Dei, G.J.S.Hall, B.L. & Rosenberg, D.G. (Eds.), Indigenous knowledges in global contexts: Multiple readings of our world (pp. 89–101). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Morrissette, V., McKenzie, B., & Morrissette, L. (1993). Towards an Aboriginal model of social work practice: Cultural knowledge and traditional practices. Canadian Social Work Review, 10(1), 91–108.Google Scholar
Shilling, R., (2002). Journey of our spirits: Challenges for adult Indigenous learners. In Sullivan, E.Y.O’Morrell, A. & Connor, M.A.O’ (Eds.), Expanding the boundaries of transformative learning: Essays on theory and practice. (pp. 151–158. Toronto: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Sunseri, L., (2000). Moving beyond the feminism versus nationalism dichotomy: An anti-colonial feminist perspective on Aboriginal liberation struggles. Canadian Woman Studies. 20(2), 143–148.Google Scholar
Walker, P. (2001). Journeys around the Medicine Wheel: A story of Indigenous research in a western university. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 29(2), 18–21.Google Scholar
Weaver, H. (1998). Indigenous people in a multicultural society: Unique issues for human services. Social Work, 43(3), 203–211.Google Scholar
Weaver, H. (2000). Culture and professional education: The experiences of Native American social workers. Journal of Social Work Education, 36(3), 415–428.Google Scholar
Wilson, S. (2001). What is indigenous research methodology? Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 175–178.Google Scholar