“Se menee erityisen kipeään paikkaan” – Sosiaalityöntekijöiden ammatillisia orientoitumisia valkoisuuteen ja rodullistaviin rakenteisiin

Authors

• Enni Mikkonen Lapin yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30668/janus.120825

Abstract

The intersections of normative whiteness and coloniality product hegemonic epistemology and practice for social work but only a little attention has been paid to them in social work research. In this article, I analyse orientations of social work towards the processes of producing, maintaining and deconstructing normative whiteness and racialised structures within the professional practice and contexts. Empirically, the study is based on qualitative data of open interviews with twelve social workers, which I analyse by thematic content analysis. The results describe silence that covers social work’s otherising structures and present how recognising them can be a painful process to social workers. Social workers often need to balance between unequal structures and their ethical-professional values. Recognising the contradictions that this balancing includes deconstucts the silence and hegemonic processes as well as aims at more pluralistic social work that scrutinises colonial and racialised processes critically.