Yochay Nadan

What Can We Learn from Rethinking ‘Multiculturalism’ in Social Work Education?

In recent decades, social work has become increasingly engaged with issues related to multiculturalism on theoretical, practical and pedagogical levels. However, discussions regarding the ways in which discourses of multiculturalism are constructed have received little professional attention. In this paper, we present findings from a research project that examines prevalent discourses of multiculturalism in social work education within institutions of higher education in Israel. In-depth interviews were conducted with 33 social work educators, and 30 academic course outlines dealing with multicultural social work were analysed. Data analysis indicated that social work educators conceptualize ‘multiculturalism’ as containing three distinct attributes: descriptive, practical and socio-political. We discuss the construction of ‘multiculturalism’ as evolving in two opposite directions: from theory and from reality, and we conclude with practical implications for multicultural social work education.

Couples Therapy with Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors (CSA) and their Partners: Establishing a Context for Witnessing

This article proposes a clinical practice for therapy with couples in which one partner suffered sexual abuse in childhood. Such couples often encounter unique difficulties with physical contact, intimacy, sexuality, communication, and trust, and their relationship dynamic may be marked by reenactments of past traumatic relational patterns. This clinical practice is founded on the assumption that establishing the witnessing lacking during the traumatic event in childhood can break the traumatic reenactments in adulthood, and spur recovery. The suggested practice may facilitate twofold witnessing: the couples therapist witnesses the reenactments of the trauma in the couples relationship; and the survivors partner witnesses the traumas effect on the survivors personal life and relationship. Twofold witnessing can help break the cycle of traumatic reenactment and help the survivor integrate the events of her life into a more coherent, continuous narrative. The partners presence also facilitates acknowledgement of what happened to the survivor, and helps the survivor elaborate on her stories of resistance, survival, and strength. Finally, each of the partners is able to appear more wholly and fully, and together to tell the preferred stories of their life as a couple, replete with the multiple relational patterns they wish to live, which may contradict the characteristics of the original trauma.

Rethinking ‘cultural competence’ in international social work:

Cultural competence is today a prominent concept and aspiration in all aspects of international social work. In this article, I argue that the common understanding of ‘cultural competence’ from the so-called essentialist perspective is inadequate, and even risky, when working in an international context. Drawing on examples, I suggest that a more constructive and reflective view of cultural competence be adopted in order to meet the challenges of international social work in the contemporary world, and to better equip ourselves as ethical and anti-oppressive practitioners and educators.

The political dimension of multicultural social work education

Summary This article explores the forces altering the political dimension of social work in one specific sphere – multicultural social work education. Politics in social work is those relationships and activities that reflect power and value differences, and which influence critical decisions about the distribution of resources, rights, access, opportunities and status (Reisch & Jani, 2012). We present and discuss the findings of a qualitative study of in-depth interviews with 25 Israeli social work educators. Findings Data analysis indicated three processes in which the political dimension is excluded from professional discourse: giving precedence to a micro perspective over a macro approach; excluding the ‘other’ while gaining knowledge about him; and placing conflictual relations between groups outside the boundaries of discourse. Applications Silencing ‘the political’ does not challenge social gaps and keeps social workers and their clients controlled by a wide range of oppressive and reductive forces. Examining these processes of silencing may facilitate a moral and ethical connection between knowledge and professional action. Multicultural social work education can be a rich and accessible framework for dealing with ‘the political’, relying on reflective pedagogical practices that are anti-oppressive and critical. Such practices enable problematization and politicization of multicultural discourse.

It takes three to dialogue: considering a triadic intergroup encounter

Purpose – This paper aims to present findings from a research project that examined the contribution of a third partner in an encounter among three groups: Palestinian/Arab–Israelis, Jewish–Israelis and Germans. In recent decades, planned intergroup encounters have played an important role in conflict management, reconciliation and peace-building. Nearly all models use a dyadic structure, based on an encounter between two rival groups mediated by a third party. Design/methodology/approach – The study was based on a year-long academic collaboration and two encounters between social work students from Israel and Germany (15 each). The central issues addressed were personal and collective identity; personal, familial and collective memory; and multicultural social work practice that were present in the encounter with the “other”. Participants were heterogeneous in terms of gender, ethnic background and religion, inviting exploration of personal and professional meanings. Using 15 in-depth interviews with Isr...

Perspectives of ultra-Orthodox children in Israel on risk and protection: The intersection of culture, religion, spirituality, and socio-political context:

This article explores subjective perceptions and constructions of “risk” and “protection” among ultra-Orthodox Jewish children aged 10–16 in Israel. Eight focus groups were conducted, with a total of 30 ultra-Orthodox children (boys and girls). Our analysis indicates that the children’s subjective perceptions of “risk” and “protection” coincided with four fundamental domains: the physical, the emotional, the political, and the spiritual. The findings highlight that—from the perspective of children—culture, religion, spirituality, and other macro socio-political contexts, in addition to gender and age, are factors that function simultaneously to shape the way in which “risk” and “protection” are constructed.