Writing diversity: ethnicity and race in Australian Social Work, 1947-1997

Abstract

In 1997, Australian Social Work celebrated 50 years of publication. This paper provides a content and discourse analysis of 50 years of articles on Indigenous and immigrant Australians in the journal and its predecessors. The analysis critically evaluates the published accounts of cross‐cultural social work research, policy and practice and identifies the meanings these articles convey of race and ethnicity in Australian professional identity and practice. The analysis found little published analysis of social work practice with Indigenous Australians and that articles written about Indigenous Australians are either more negative or more positive than the generally approving tone of articles about immigrants. Only one or two articles in either category proposed a structural or community development approach to practice.

Interrogating social work: Australian Social Work and the Stolen Generations

“…This period was chosen for its significance to what were then an emerging profession and an established practice. Publication of the journal began in 1947 (McMahon, 2002) and, according to most accounts, the state-sanctioned removal of Indigenous children, for the most part, ended in 1969 although the practice continued in some places well into the 1970s (HREOC, 1997). Thus, the first two decades of the journal’s publication roughly coincided with the last two decades of what was then a century-old practice.…”

The history of social work in Australia: A critical literature review

“…There has also been some discussion of the historical involvement of social workers with indigenous Australians, and particularly the collaboration of social workers with what has become known as the Stolen Generation of Aboriginal children (Gilbert 2001; McMahon 2002; Briskman 2003). The AASW has formally apologised for the actions of ‘social workers and unqualified workers known as social workers who were actively involved in the removal of Aboriginal children from their families even up to relatively recent times .…”

Multicultural Social Work and Ethnic Identity Positioning

“…However, a content analysis of Australian social work from 1948 to 1997 by McMahon (2002) shows that there have been only 15 articles that focused on social work practices with immigrants, and most of these articles focus on working or lower class immigrants such as refugees. He also claimed that these articles assumed that social workers were mainstream Australians assisting non-mainstream immigrants with cultural sensitivity.…”