Misa Kayama

Ethnography in social work practice and policy

Ethnography affords social workers a powerful and unique vehicle for obtaining an in-depth, contextualized understanding of clients’ perspectives and experiences necessary for effective social work practice and advocacy. It also carries relatively unique risks. Unlike other forms of social inquiry such as surveys, interviews and analysis of administrative databases, a hallmark of ethnographic research is sustained engagement in participants’ lives. Unlike ethnographic inquiry in other disciplines, for example, in developmental psychology or anthropology, social work research has a strong social justice component. Hence, participants in social work ethnographies often are from vulnerable, marginalized or stigmatized groups and may have little exposure to research. We use several studies conducted in the US and globally as illustrative cases of both the opportunities and challenges of ethnography in social work. The first case highlights the understanding gained through ethnographic inquiry necessary for designing culturally-sensitive interventions, as well as the risks these in-depth, engaged methods may pose to traumatized and marginalized participants. The second case illustrates the valuable interplay of insider and outsider perspectives in ethnography for international social work, as well as the challenges of communicating with participants, many of whom have significant unmet needs about complex and unfamiliar role boundaries. The third case illustrates the importance to social work practice of cross-cultural conversations, as well as the ethical challenges of entering into the lives of stigmatized individuals. Strategies for maximizing the opportunities and minimizing the risks of ethnography in social work research are discussed.

The experiences of Japanese elementary-school children living with ‘developmental disabilities’: Navigating peer relationships

This article focuses on children’s experiences of the evolving Japanese special education system. Relatively little disability research has focused on non-Western children, which restricts our understanding of the extent to which and how cultures vary in their responses to disability, and the impact of those differences on the developing child. ‘Developmental disabilities’ is a term used by Japanese educators to refer to various neurologically-based conditions which cause ‘milder’ difficulties with school functioning, for example, learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD), and Asperger’s Syndrome. Public schools in Japan recently implemented formal special education services for children with developmental disabilities. Our previous ethnographic research at Greenleaf Elementary School described how educators and parents balanced new requirements to provide formal individualized services with traditional Japanese practices of educating and socializing children within peer groups, in part, through practices that encourage supportive peer relationships. Using a longitudinal, multiple case study design, we describe how three children with developmental disabilities experienced these socialization practices, focusing on their active, individual efforts to connect with peers. Prior to their involvement in special education, all three children struggled with peer relationships. Over time, they used opportunities provided by educators to connect with peers and find their Ibasho, a place where they felt comfortable and accepted, within their peer groups. Children developed relationships with peers through self-regulating contact with them, and through their specialized interests and play. Understanding the experiences and creative responses of children from diverse cultural and subcultural groups provides a unique perspective from which to view our own disability policies and practices.

Jim Crow’s Daughters Different Social Class-Different Experience With Racism

African American women share the common ground of surviving in a racially stratified society. Nonetheless, the diversity of their experiences emerges. This article contrasts the lived experiences of two elderly African American daughters of the Jim Crow South. Commonly shared social markers (race, gender, and historical and regional contexts) are held in contrast to their notably different social classes. Salient features of their diverse experiences corroborate the supposition that although all African American women encounter racism, social-class differences influence how racism is experienced. Family racial socialization pathways are conceptualized as reliance on personal resources versus reliance on personal defiance.

Disability, Culture, and Identity in India and USA

In 1963, Erving Goffman was one of the first scholars in the world to identify the concept of identity as it relates to disability. In his Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, Goffman theorized that persons with disability often have “spoiled” identity formation related to the construction of disability stigma and the negative social impact of overt physical, sensory, and cognitive differences. He focuses on the relationship between an individual who has potentially stigmatizing conditions and the agents of social control, such as people in the community, who define stigma in their context. Friedson (1965) expanded Goffman’s stigma theory, specifically in terms of the field of rehabilitation. Research on disability and identity has since considered a wider range of possibilities. Rosalyn Benjamin Darling published her 2013 book, Disability and Identity: Negotiating Self in a Changing Society. In conducting research for this book, Darling found that there is a taxonomy of identities that may exist among persons with disabilities, including: (a) Resignation (passive focus on the challenges that are brought about by disability); (b) Normative typicality (a desire to hide disability and “pass” in the non-disabled world); (c) Personal activism (acceptance or pride for disability and orientation toward struggling for personal rights); (d) Affirmative activism (acceptance and pride for disability and orientation toward societal change and reform related to disability); and (e) Affirmative typicality (an acceptance of disability but the desire to live and work in mainstream environments).

Corrigendum to Ethnography in social work practice and policy (10.1177/1473325013507303)

The Editorial of the special issue ‘Ethnography’ published in Qualitative Social Work volume 13, Number 1, January 2014, pp. 3--7, DOI 10.1177/1473325013510985, incorrectly attributed the authorship of two articles included in the same issue. ‘Social work and netnography: The case of Spain and generic drugs’ doi: 10.1177/1473325013507736 was in fact co-authored between Miguel del Fresno García and Antonio López Peláez. ‘Ethnography in social work practice and policy’ doi: 10.1177/1473325013507303 was in fact co-authored by Wendy Haight, Misa Kayama and Rose Korang-Okrah.