The Colonial Mirror : Immigration, Inequality & Colonialism

Abstract

This book explores the history of social work with newcomers through the lens of coloniality, which articulates what has been intentionally silenced, missed and how exclusion has been reproduced. This is especially pertinent to move towards the decolonization of education. Given Social work’s implication in the reproduction of the colonial encounter, the profession is in a unique position to shift its discourse and praxis. The social work relationships are predicated on the “knower” and the “known”, similar to the rescuer or hero narratives. In the past, therapeutic spaces have been visibly white and over time, this whiteness has been embedded in these relations- so as faces change, we can remain beholden to history. Agency and resiliency is not discussed, outside of the helper/helpee relationship, meaning that social work spaces often mirror colonial relations. The goal of this book is to understand how families, as a whole and the individual members, negotiate their placement on the Colonial Grid through resettlement in Canada. This is achieved by traversing through the history of social work and migration, to engage with the complicity of the profession of producing and reinforcing the Other. Of key importance is how Canadians, including social workers have been conditioned to understand immigration as “moving up”, “the search for a better life” and Canada as “provider and safe haven”, but most importantly the implication in fostering assimilation.