Social Welfare & Indigenous Dispossession

Social Welfare & Social Conditioning

• Social welfare provision in the North is rooted in power imbalances and authoritarian relationships, often imposed by traders and missionaries.
• Early attempts to impose European values and "civilization" preceded large-scale settler migration.
• These early practices were precursors to the later systems of social welfare that would be implemented by settler states.

Technologies of Dispossession

• These technologies were designed to radically transform Indigenous production modes and facilitate dispossession.
• Examples include the Elizabethan Poor Laws, which were used to create Indigenous dependence on the settler state's welfare system.
• This dependence was framed as a virtue of liberal capitalism, promoting self-reliance while concealing the underlying power dynamics.
• Leading social welfare practitioners, publications, and associations actively upheld and defended this social hierarchy.

Assimilation Programs

• Social work practitioners were heavily involved in crafting assimilation programs, under the guise of helping Indigenous people achieve self-determination.
• These programs aimed to erase Indigenous cultures and identities.

The Roles of Social Work

• Social work became a tool for aiding in the dispossession and extraction of Indigenous peoples.
• It served as a buffer zone, containing and pacifying Indigenous communities struggling with the consequences of resource extraction and dispossession.
• These practices furthered assimilation, proletarianization (moving Indigenous people towards lower-class status), and the delegitimization of Indigenous forms of caring and social support.
• This imposed a professional class of social service providers to "help" communities "adjust" to settler society.

Social Work and the Removal of Children

• Social work actively participated in the removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities, often presenting it as a "humane" act.
• This practice was used to break down family structures and cultural transmission.

Social Work as a Reproduction Technology

• Social work fostered white civility within settler society.
• It mobilized reconciliation efforts to alleviate settler guilt.
• This absolved the state and settler society from responsibility for transformative change.
• Reconciliation initiatives were used to uphold the state's property claims, leveraging a savior complex.
• These tactics aimed to maintain settler control over Indigenous peoples and communities.
• Social work, along with other institutions, promoted white civility through processes of assimilation and exclusion of non-white peoples.

Explore the intersections of social welfare, power imbalances, and Indigenous experiences in colonial contexts. This quiz examines early European welfare practices, technologies of dispossession, and assimilation programs that shaped Indigenous relations with settler states. Delve into the complexities of social conditioning and its impact on Indigenous societies.