Shaping Identities: How Social Work Education Made Me White

Abstract

During my Bachelor of Social Work studies, I noticed I was changing to fit the mould of a "social worker." As I questioned what that meant, I recognized that the whiteness of the institution was also teaching me to embody whiteness. This is a complex issue as all social work students, regardless of race, acquire the power and privilege of a social worker upon graduation, yet these aspects are transient, as explored further in this thesis. This thesis explores how social work education contributes to and resists reproducing whiteness. Grounded in critical race theory and operating from the understanding that whiteness does not equate to white people, meaning that anyone can embody whiteness, this study asks whether participating in social work education can make you white. Guided by grounded theory, this study examines the influence of whiteness on the identities, self-perception and academic experiences of individuals engaged in social work education, encompassing both teaching and learning. This exploration was conducted through in-depth interviews with five individuals representing diverse levels of teaching experience within Canadian schools of social work. It concludes with methods used to resist and challenge whiteness within education. The findings of this study suggest that the power dynamics within social work schools, relationships with knowledge, program structures and cultures contribute to enforcing the reproduction of whiteness and that participating in it can make you white. However, participants identified methods for resistance such as community building, diverse learning approaches, and curriculum decolonization. The reproduction of whiteness is not confined to schools of social work, it is embedded in many parts of higher education. Many of the methods of resistance identified within this thesis can be applied to other parts of the academy.