Political and Philosophical Foundations of Social Work

This course will ask the regularly unasked 'meta' questions which often challenge the underlying assumptions of our profession. These include, e.g., to what extent is the profession's origin and longevity rooted in oppressive ideologies such as racism, classism, heteronormativity and Western notions of knowledge, profit and power? To what extent might our own social work practice serve to reinstantiate such ways of being, and how might our practice constitute complicity therein? How might our work thus contribute to ourselves suffering from moral injury, secondary trauma, and/or burnout? What role does the Western construct of mental illness and the 'science' of mental health practice play in the history and practice of social work? What alternative approaches to such thinking might inform our own philosophies of individual and societal change? Through the lens of such thinkers as Michel Foucault, Franz Fanon, Judith Butler and Martin Buber, we will attempt to answer these questions in this seminar style course.