Challenging Social Work through Global Climate Change perspectives
As Climate Change can be understood as one of the major factors impacting on peoples´ living conditions and possibilities to access basic rights, both globally and locally, Social Work practice and research meets a huge challenge in integrating new environmental perspectives as well as responding to the human and social consequences of climate change, affecting individuals and societies. Additionally, continuing imperialism, global neo-liberal and marked-oriented developments pose a risk for essentializing discourses (Sewpaul 2016, 2013) within Social work, individualizing, medicalizing, culturizing and depoliticizing social problems (Morley 2016), neglecting the “social question” (Lorenz 2016) and interlinkage of the global and the local, and by that otherizing it.
The general idea of this PhD project is to challenge boarders and boundaries found around and within the profession and research field of social work through extending the understanding how climate change in a profound way is connected to social work and the challenges and responsibilities as a human right profession to work for social & ecological justice as well as attending to the (climate-change related) causes of social problems.
Using critical, glocal and post-colonial perspectives, the identification of social work as a purely social science-oriented profession and research area is challenged (a challenge which also could be argued from the Global Agenda (2012) as well as the Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles (2018; IASSW). This could implicate that Social work practice, policy and research should confront dividing forces instead of withdrawing itself from both the political and other public arenas.
This PhD-project focuses on different aspects of the climate change-social work relationship, investigating different approaches used today, giving an overview on the relevant theoretical perspectives and practical implications for social work as well as lining out central developments (Mason, Shires, Arwood & Borst 2017; Gray, Coates & Hetherington 2013).
A second article aims to examine if and in which way Swedish local politicians in responsible positions for social work issues understand their own role concerning awareness and preparedness with respect to different perspectives. In which ways is e.g. the issue of climate change as a threat for basic human, social and ecological rights targeted? What measurements are taken in order to prevent or to minimize negative impacts of climate change for different groups in society? One area of study will focus on how politicians reason around climate change directly and indirectly affecting the Swedish society and population (e.g. through fires, droughts, sea level rising, floods or climate refugees, changed patterns of global trade) and what implications these challenges might have on social work practice. The second area of study focuses on ethics and personal/professional choices through patterns of consumption, use of resources, financing etc.
A third article intends in a similar way to focus on social work practitioners’ preventative and interventive work on local level in relation to the above mentioned climate change issues. Focus will be put on local social workers involved with either migration related issues or being in a high profile position as heads of departments.
The fourth and last article will discuss innovative ways how to work with Climate Change and Social Work using arts-based methods (Huss & Bos 2018), following a Music project touring through Sweden, performing as well as creating spaces for reflection and discussion in the point of intersection between Climate Change, Globalization and Social Work.
2019.