Week 3: Settlerhood, Settler & Social Work - Introduction to Social Welfare in the North

[Intro to Social Welfare in the North] [Week 3: Settlerhood, settler & social work] Social welfare & social conditioning - Social welfare provision rooted in authoritarian relationships - Early traders & missionaries imposed Christianization & civilization conditions - Era came before...

[Intro to Social Welfare in the North] [Week 3: Settlerhood, settler & social work] Social welfare & social conditioning - Social welfare provision rooted in authoritarian relationships - Early traders & missionaries imposed Christianization & civilization conditions - Era came before mass migrations of white settler populations Technologies of dispossession - Core technology of settler mechanism - Promoted radical transformation of Indigenous communities\' production modes - Facilitated ongoing dispossession - Elizabethan Poor Laws - Creates Indigenous dependence on settler state\'s welfare - Prioritizes self-reliance as virtue of liberal capitalism - Leading social welfare practitioners, publications, associations perpetuated & defended social hierarchy - Assimilation program -- created by SWrs, under guise of helping Indigenous self-determination Social work\'s roles - Aiding in dispossession & extraction of Indigenous peoples - Supporting the reproduction of the settler state - Buffer zone - contain & pacify Indigenous communities facing crises due to resource extraction & dispossession practices - Facilitate assimilation & proletarianization (moving them to a lower class) - Delegitimize Indigenous practices of caring & social support - impose a professional class of social service providers to \"help\" communities \"adjust\" - Remove Indigenous children from families & communities - call it "humane" Social work as a reproduction technology - Fosters white civility within settler society - Mobilizes reconciliation to alleviate settler guilt - Absolves state/settler society of responsibility for transformative change - Upholds state\'s property claims thru saviour complex - Aims to maintain settler control over Indigenous peoples & communities - Promotes white civility -- assimilation & exclusion of non-white peoples (i.e. Black, Indigenous, POC) Social workers & cops in Indigenous communities - Collaborate with law enforcement to quell rebellion - Create \'social order\' for resource extraction - Target individuals, groups, communities asserting sovereignty Decolonization of social work - Radical transformation required - Must be led by Indigenous folks - Requires ongoing conversation between Indigenous & settler communities - Focus on one-on-one casework -- hides view of problems from collective trauma of settler colonialism lens - Deinstitutionalization - challenging non-profit industrial complex & settler colonial mindset, could assist in redefining social work\'s relationship w/ Indigenous peoples