Caught in between Cultures

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011

Abstract

This project has been based upon a qualitative research of the social work with young

Aboriginal peoples in Canada. It is an insight in the challenges that the Aboriginal peoples have been facing through a long period of colonialism, and the struggles this population group continues to have in order to integrate into mainstream society.

Our research illuminates how cultural differences are still a subject difficult to grasp for both individuals and professionals. Through interviews with Canadian social workers we explore the methods and perceptions which have been shaped and developed specifically for the work with the Aboriginal youth in Canada and further seek to identify transferable ideas to improve the practical social work with ethnic minority youth in Denmark.

This project will emphasize a need for cultural awareness in practical social work and seek to explore possibilities for diverse ethnic groups to be able to live together despite differences.

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Contents:

Preface ........................................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 6

Thesis statement ............................................................................................................................ 8

No Conception without Preconception ......................................................................................... 8

The Structure of the Project .......................................................................................................... 9

Distribution of Written Sections ................................................................................................. 10

Context Setting ............................................................................................................................ 11

Method and Research Design ...................................................................................................... 15

Scientific Theory ..................................................................................................................... 15

The Hermeneutic Tradition ................................................................................................. 15

Critical Theory .................................................................................................................... 16

The Abductive Research Strategy ....................................................................................... 17

Empirical Data ........................................................................................................................ 17

Presentations of Organizations ............................................................................................ 18

The qualitative research interview ...................................................................................... 20

Interview guide .................................................................................................................... 21

Data Processing ................................................................................................................... 21

Reflections upon Interviews ................................................................................................ 22

Introduction of Theories and Perspectives .................................................................................. 23

The Theory of Guldager .......................................................................................................... 24

Cultural psychological perspective ......................................................................................... 25

Culture and Identity ............................................................................................................. 25

Acculturation Strategies ...................................................................................................... 27

The Structural Perspective ...................................................................................................... 28

Stereotyping ........................................................................................................................ 29

Anti-oppressive and Strength-based Perspectives ................................................................... 29

Research Question 1.1 ................................................................................................................. 30

Cultural Psychological Perspective on Identity ....................................................................... 31

Structural Perspective on Acculturation Processes ................................................................. 35

Anti-oppressive and Strength-based Approaches in the Organizations .................................. 39

Summarize............................................................................................................................... 42


The Impact of the Aboriginal Worldview on the Practical Social Work Methods ................. 44

2


Change of Philosophy in CASO .............................................................................................. 52

Structural Difficulties and Ways to Move Forward ................................................................ 60

Summarize............................................................................................................................... 69


Comparable Challenges for Minority Youth ........................................................................... 71

Political Attitude towards Ethnic Minorities in Denmark ....................................................... 76

Cultural Social Work in Denmark ........................................................................................... 80

Ethical Reflection and Instructions for Actions ...................................................................... 85

Conclusion................................................................................................................................... 90

Suggestions for Further Research ............................................................................................... 93

Critical Reflection ....................................................................................................................... 95

Glossary....................................................................................................................................... 97

References ................................................................................................................................... 99

Appendix outline ....................................................................................................................... 106

Appendix 1: Approval of Thesis Statement .......................................................................... 107

Appendix 2: Original Thesis Statement ................................................................................ 109

Appendix 3: Interview Guide Odawa .................................................................................... 116

Appendix 4: Extract of Interview with Odawa ..................................................................... 119

Appendix 5: Interview Guide CASO 1 ................................................................................. 122

Appendix 6: Extract from Interview with CASO 1 ............................................................... 124

Appendix 7: Meeting at CACE 25 th of October 2011 ........................................................... 127

Appendix 8: Circle of Courage ............................................................................................. 128

Appendix 9: Touchstones of Hope ........................................................................................ 129

Appendix 10: Executive Summary ....................................................................................... 130

Appendix 11: Healing Continuum Wheel ............................................................................. 134

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Preface

This is the result of a bachelor project written in Ottawa, Canada in the Autumn of 2011 as the final project for the School of Social Work in Aarhus, Denmark. Our research for the project was carried out over a three month period where we lived and conducted the research in Ottawa.

Our inspiration for the project came out of an interest in indigenous populations around the world. Two of us did our practical placement at the fourth semester in Australia and one of us in Ecuador where we all had experiences with social work and indigenous populations. We found during our placements that the Aboriginal population in

Australia often experiences a comparatively high level of social challenges in comparison to the non-Aboriginal population in Australia, and this is linked to the consequences of European colonization. In the same way indigenous populations in

South America have been exposed to colonization and continue to struggle with the differences between their traditional culture and the modern world. In the initial research before travelling to Canada we realized that this situation is also present in

Canada. The country also has an Aboriginal population that suffers from high levels of social challenges related to colonization and continuing intercultural opposites. We wondered why these circumstances exist in a society that from our understanding claims to be multicultural, and has a population that since the foundation of Canada has been consisting of various different cultures. We therefore thought it would be interesting to look into how intercultural relations affect the social work practice.

We could not have conducted the research without the help of Hugh Shewell, the director of the School of Social Work at Carleton University in Ottawa. He was a great help to us by helping us attain access to the Carleton University library from where we obtained most of our literature for the bachelor project. He also got us in contact with people within the social work field that helped us in our research. One of these people were Michael Mulroney from Children Aid’s Society in Ottawa to whom we are ever grateful for his kindness, positive spirit and for all the effort he made to be of help to us.

We would also very much like to thank the social workers we interviewed from the

Children’s Aid Society and Odawa Native Friendship Centre, who in spite of having a very busy schedule were willing to take the time to help us gain knowledge about the

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 practical social work. Likewise we would like to thank Dr. Paula du Hamel Yellow

Horn for sharing some of her expert knowledge with us.

We also need to thank Henning Nielsen who was so kind to share his house with the three of us for our three month stay in Canada. He made sure we got an insight into the

Canadian culture, and that we had some breaks from the at times very demanding and intense work on the project.

Furthermore a big thanks to our supervisors in Denmark, who all had to install Skype to be able to guide us during the three months. Especially thanks to Maria Bülow who has been there for us in moments of frustration and uncertainty.

Last but not least we would like to thank family and friends for the support they have given us throughout our trip to Canada.

Tak!

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Introduction

Our interest for this project is founded in a shared interest in intercultural relations and how these affect the social work. We find it important to have an awareness of cultures in social work not only when working abroad but also in a Danish context.

The social work in Canada has as a result of many years with a multicultural

1 population been forced to look into different ways to practice social work. The hope for this project is that their experiences can work as an inspiration for Danish social workers to think more about alternative ways to work with other ethnic groups. The

Danish population has become more multicultural in recent years, and this brings new challenges to the social work profession 2 .

Prior to our research in Canada we discovered that the Aboriginal peoples 3 in Canada are a very exposed population group. A large part of the Aboriginal population suffers from a range of different social challenges such as unemployment, crime, family violence, drug abuse and a high suicide rate. We found it interesting to examine further how these challenges are being met in the practical social work.

The history of the colonization period in Canada has had long lasting effects on the

Aboriginal peoples, and it is necessary to examine the past in order to understand the current situation for the Aboriginal peoples in Canada today. During the colonization the Aboriginal peoples experienced being driven away from their lands, taken away their rights and having their culture denied

4

.

The current situation in Canada is that many Aboriginal peoples have a harder time finding jobs and to achieve an education than other Canadians

5

. Along with social problems many of the Aboriginal communities also suffer from a severe poverty which influences the opportunities for the young Aboriginal peoples. The poverty is especially noticeable in the reserves

6

, and the young Aboriginal peoples are forced to move to the

1 View glossary no. 7

2 (Kærgård, 2010 p. 470)


4 (Paige, 2011 p. 218)

5 (Heather, 2011 pp. 126-128)


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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 cities in order to find better education and employment opportunities

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. However often the youth experience difficulties with finding connections between their heritage culture and the life in the city, and thereby end up being caught in between cultures.

Canada’s Aboriginal population today is younger and faster growing than its non-

Aboriginal

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one. In 2006, the median age for Aboriginal peoples was 27 years, compared with 40 years for non-Aboriginal people

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. Without the right social initiatives

Canada might risk losing a very important generation. We decided to have the young

Aboriginal peoples as our target group since we believe it is important to take actions in an early age and thereby prevent that social challenges continue through the generations.

We found it essential to look at the Aboriginal youth in an urban context since it is in the cities the intercultural meeting becomes especially pronounced. In the project we will argue that the Aboriginal youth becomes ethnic minorities

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in the urban society, which can lead to the development of social challenges. We will therefore explore if a comparison to young ethnic minorities in Denmark is possible since we find that they struggle with some of the same social challenges. In order to do this we have decided not to focus on a single social problem, but instead to have a broader focus upon how the practical social work helps to improve the situation for the youth. We hope this can help to broaden our understanding of social work with ethnic minorities in general and enable us to contribute with new knowledge for the practical social work in this area.

We will therefore examine if the social work with ethnic minorities hold specific challenges that needs to be considered in order to address cultural differences. The main question of the thesis statement is based on Guldager’s theory about perceptions of social challenges

11

. This argues that it is necessary to have consciousness about own perception of the social challenges in order to implement the right methods in the practical social work

12

. In line with this we will explore how the perceptions of the

Canadian social worker’s influence on the development of practical methods when

7 (Browne, 2009 p. 10)


9 (Statistics Canada)



12 (Guldager, 2000 p. 336)

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 working with Aboriginal youth. We will look into if some of these findings are transferable to the practical social work in Denmark.

Thesis statement

Main question

How do Canadian social workers’ perceptions of social challenges for Aboriginal youth influence the social work methods applied with this group, and can we use these perceptions and methods to get a broader understanding of the practical social work with ethnic minority youth in Denmark?

Research questions:

1.1

Which perceptions do the Canadian social workers have of the social challenges of the Aboriginal youth?

1.2

How does the Canadian social workers’ perception of the social challenges affect the development of methods for the practical social work with the Aboriginal youth?

1.3 Which perceptions and methods in the practical social work with Aboriginal youth in Canada are transferable to the practical social work with young ethnic minorities in Denmark?

No Conception without Preconception

In the execution of the project we considered it necessary for us to clarify our own preconception before conducting the interviews and collecting the empirical data. A preconception is the conditions on which every individual founds their understanding of a specific subject. Gadamer explains it as a set of spectacles or glasses through which we see the world and find meaning and understanding about the things we experience. It

8

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 is therefore not possible to have a conception of things without having a preconception

13

.

Prior to our initiation of the project we found that many of the Aboriginal youth, who live in urban contexts have difficulties combining the Aboriginal culture and the non-

Aboriginal culture. They are feeling caught in between two cultures and therefore find it difficult to fully participate in the urban Canadian society

14

.

Our preconception is that in order for the Aboriginal youth to gain a place of belonging they need to get in touch with own cultural roots and traditions. We believe that it is necessary for the youth to find a way to integrate

15

into the mainstream society. The integration process becomes easier if they are able to juggle both the Aboriginal culture and the non-Aboriginal culture in the daily life.

It is important to be aware of the consequences different view’s upon the human being and society have on how one views social challenges. Different positions include a particular understanding of how social challenges arise 16 . Our preconception has a voluntary view upon the individual where we believe that the individual has opportunity to make choices in order to change own life. However we do recognize that the dominant norms set by mainstream society have a deterministic effect on the individual’s ability to make free choices for their lives 17

. This position affects the way we understand social challenges as also determined by dominant structures and norms in society. This is in line with a constructivist perspective on social challenges where it is not until an awareness of a specific issue is articulated that it becomes considered as a social challenge by society

18

.

The Structure of the Project

The purpose of this part is to give the reader an over view of the structure of the project.

13 (Aadland, 2004 p. 184)

14 (Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1995 p. 30)


16 (Meuwisse, 2004 p. 100)

17 (Meuwisse, 2004 pp. 93-96)

18 (Meuwisse, 2004 p. 101)

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The first sections of the project initiates with a context setting which we decided to make fairly comprehensive in the believe that it is necessary for the reader to fully get an understanding of the past history and politics as well as the current situation in

Canadian society today.

This is followed by a description of the scientific theory behind the project, and a description of the research design used for collecting and analyzing the empirical data.

Included in these sections are relevant reflections and considerations that we have had about our choice of method. This is followed by an introduction to the theories we have chosen to draw upon in the analysis.

In our analysis we have based the three analysis parts on the three research questions from our thesis statement. We have divided the first and second analysis part into three sections and both of them finish with summarizes and further reflections. The third part is an analysis and discussion divided into four sections where the last is our ethical reflections and instructions for actions.

Our final conclusion will answer our main question in the thesis statement. Finally we will make suggestions for further research and reflections about methods and sources used.

Distribution of Written Sections

Name: Analysis section:

Lene Boe Kjeldsen Cultural Psychological Perspective on

Identity p. 31-35

Structural Difficulties and Ways to Move

Forward p. 61-69

Cultural Social Work in Denmark p. 80-85

Maiken Them Simonsen Anti-oppressive and Strength-based

Perspectives in the Organizations p. 39-42

Change of Philosophy in CASO p. 52-81

Political Attitude towards Ethnic Minorities in Denmark p. 76-80

Christine Kjeldgaard Pejstrup Structural Perspective on Acculturation

Processes p. 35-39

The Impact of the Aboriginal Worldview on the Practical Social Work Methods p. 44-52

Comparable Challenges for Minority Youth p. 72-76

In total:

36.217

33.859

35.172

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Context Setting

To gain a holistic understanding of the situation for the Aboriginal peoples it is necessary to look at previous and present structures and politics led towards the population group. As mentioned it is essential to look into the past in order to understand the present. During the colonization the Aboriginal peoples were placed in reserves that were separated from the rest of the Canadian society

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. Furthermore the government led an assimilation politic which included initiatives like Indian Residential

Schools, the Sixties Scoop and the Indian Act.

The Indian Act

The Canadian federal legislation first passed in 1876 that sets out certain federal government obligations, and regulates the management of Indian reserve lands. The

Indian act is a legislation act under which the Aboriginal peoples should be governed 20 .

Originally it was a general assumption that Aboriginal peoples were like children and should be treated as such

21

. The policies were paternalistic and authoritarian from the time of this first Indian Act. All though it has been regulated since then, the Indian Act still exists today and continues to create tensions between the Aboriginal peoples and non-Aboriginal peoples.

Indian Residential Schools

The Indian Residential Schools were run as boarding schools in corporation with the

Catholic Church, and in the time they were run around 150.000 children were taken away to boarding school

22

.

The idea behind the schools was to offer the Aboriginal population an education and to teach them about Christianity. The way this was executed was by taking them far away from their families and communities and by forbidding them to use their native tong.

The objective was to make them forget their own culture and to get the children

‘civilised’ into the rest of the Canadian society. This has also been referred to as ‘killing the Indian in the child’ 23

. Many of these boarding schools had terrible living conditions

19 (Browne, 2009 p. 10)

20 (Miller & Rodger, 1991 p. 109)

21 (Miller & Rodger 1991 p. 191)

22 (Paige, 2011 p. 223)

23 (Milloy, 1999 p. 37)

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 under which the children were exposed to malnutrition, sexual abuse, physical abuse and diseases. A large number of children did not survive the schools, and the legacy today is extensive. The residential schools did not just affect the lives of the children, but also the families and communities they came from. As the primary aim of the residential schools was to extinguish the Aboriginal language and culture with explicit and intended intergenerational effects such harms are clearly identifiable as a major and lasting component of the legacy of the Indian Residential School system

24

. This legacy will take many generations to heal

25

.

The Sixties Scoop

The Sixties Scoop is a period in Canada from late 1950s to early 1980s when large numbers of Aboriginal children were apprehended and placed for adoption, primarily into non-Aboriginal homes

26

. The term Sixties Scoop was applied when it was observed in the statistics that adoption as the mechanism to address problematic child welfare issues had resulted in obvious increases in Aboriginal child apprehensions in the decade of the 1960s. The adoption of Aboriginal children was unlike the regular adoption process, and in some cases covert, illegal and without the consent of families 27 .

Intergenerational Trauma 28

Research has shown that Indian Residential School survivors often suffer from drug and alcohol addictions, depression, higher rates of suicide, and poor relationship and parenting skills. Many are not only victims, but also perpetrators of sexual and physical abuse. The children and other family members of residential school survivors suffer the continuing effects of their parent’s experiences in the schools. They also suffer because the parents are unable to transmit their own language, culture and moral framework to their children. It is to some extent the children of the residential schools survivors and children of parents adopted away in the Sixties Scoop who have inherited the real longterm impact of the assimilations strategies in shape of the loss of culture and language, substance abuse and family violence

29

.

24 (Paige, 2011 p. 228)

25 (Hick, 2010 p. 225)

26 Sinclair, 2007 pp. 24-26)

27 (Sinclair, 2007 pp. 24-26)


29 (Paige, 2011 p. 228)

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Current Politics

The current politics led toward the Aboriginal peoples are characterised by transitional justice measures. Transitional justice measures consist of apologies, truth commissions and reparations.

30

The injustices of the Indian Residential Schools system reached mainstream, political and legal significance in the late 1980’s. In 1989-90 prosecutions against former residential school staff began and by 1992 most churches had apologized for their role.

After this the government initiated reconciliation and economic compensations to the victims of residential schools

31

.

On 11 of June 2008 the Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Steven Harper stood before the House of Commons and issued a statement of apology to the victims of the residential school system

32

. Harper acknowledged the impact of the residential school on the Aboriginal communities and the content was of responsibility and regret 33 .

For the government transitional justice measures are a way to be able to draw a line between the past and future. To show that they take responsibility for government abuses that is nevertheless in the past. The idea is that the government can no longer be held accountable for past wrongs and that it can now be forgotten 34 . The Aboriginal peoples continue to struggle with the impacts of the colonialism and they feel a need for time to heal which is in conflict with the government’s wish to move forward 35

.

In the last fifteen years there have been some major government initiatives that proposed serious and wide ranging transformation of Canada-Aboriginal people relations one of these is the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

36

. The Royal

Commission on Aboriginal peoples was established to study the evolution of the relationship between Aboriginal peoples, the government of Canada and Canadian society as a whole. In order to do this they researched areas of governance, land and economy, social and cultural issues. The findings have been published into a five-

30 (Paige, 2011 pp. 217-218)

31 (Paige, 2011 p. 225)

32 (Paige, 2011 p. 234)

33 (Paige, 2011 p. 236)

34 (Paige, 2011 p. 231)


36 (The Canadian Cyclopedia)

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 volume report released in 1996, the main conclusion of the reports where that there was a need for a complete restructuring of the relationship between Aboriginal and non-

Aboriginal peoples in Canada

37

. Federal and provincial governments currently endorse practical initiatives to address Aboriginal social and economic issues included in the

Royal commission report. However there appears to be little government interest or motivation for any further constitutional discussions in issues affecting Aboriginal peoples and communities

38

.

One could argue that in relation to the current politics the Aboriginal peoples have reason to be wary of the present government’s intentions. Additionally Harper’s closest advisor is the much discussed Tom Flanagan. Flanagan has written the controversial book called: ,,First Nations? Second Thoughts’’, in which he argues that Aboriginal peoples are immigrants who should be assimilated 39 .

It can therefore be said that the political agenda today is still somewhat influenced by old believes that Aboriginal peoples and their culture should adjust and alter according to mainstream society and culture.

Aboriginal Peoples in the Cities

Considering the dark history of Aboriginal peoples one could imagine resentment to the modern life in the cities and a wish to isolate oneself in the reserves close to their families, culture and community. Statistics however are showing the opposite. A growing population of Aboriginal peoples is migrating to the cities. The reasons for moving into the city are diverse, grasping from the escape from oppression and abuse to health related issues and housing. One of the most important reasons for the urbanization is the access to school and employment, because of the poor quality of the education on the reserves and a pronounced unemployment rate. The young

Aboriginals, is moving to the cities, looking for ‘the good life’ in the hope to turn their lives around

40

.



39 (Paige, 2011 p. 222)

40 (Martin, 2001 p. 96)

14


Unfortunately ‘the good life’ often stays an illusion and they face difficulties in shaping new identities in the city, away from supporting family, community and their cultural roots.

We are aware that the tension between Aboriginal peoples and non-Aboriginal people is a very complex issue and we don’t have the opportunity to cover all the aspects in our project. Our understanding is that the legacies from the Indian residential schools and the Sixties Scoop are the most relevant for us to examine further since the intergenerational impacts affects the young Aboriginal peoples’ identity development.

Method and Research Design

We have carried out a research project in order to answer our thesis statement. Our research is based on qualitative interviews with Canadian social workers working with

Aboriginal youth. We sought to gain knowledge about how the perception of the social workers influenced on the methods used. We have chosen not to make an evaluation about whether or not the methods are in consensus with the perceptions since we didn’t find this relevant for our objective for the project. Our intention was rather to gain knowledge that could be transferrable to a Danish social work context.

Scientific Theory

The Hermeneutic Tradition

We have based the analysis of our empirical data upon the hermeneutic tradition in order to interpret the deeper meaning of the content of the interviews. The hermeneutic tradition is about interpreting people’s actions and opinions, which are not always obvious without looking deeper into the person’s view on things. To really understand the meaning one therefore has to consider the context and setting for the observed.

Looking not only on the examined, but also the interpretation of the examined gives a deeper description of the intensions and thoughts behind the person’s statements. This is what Geertz explains as a ‘thick’ description, which differs from a ‘thin’ description because it not only represents the observed, but additionally gives an interpretation of the thoughts and ideas behind the action 41 .

41 (Thagaard, 2004 p. 39)

15


Our interviews with different social workers were interpreted to gain an understanding of the perception behind the social worker’s statements. Gadamer talks about the hermeneutical circle and how you as an interpreter often start with a vague and intuitive understanding of the interview text as a whole. The different parts of the interview are interpreted and out of these interpretations the parts are again related to the whole in a final interpretation

42

.

The hermeneutical tradition of interview interpretation, discuss that the ideal of an unprejudiced interpretation is misleading, since any interpretations assumes that we already have theories and expectations about the phenomenon we try to understand.

This scientific tradition argues that it is not about avoiding prejudices, since the researcher will never be able to understand something without their history and preconceptions. The viewpoint highlights that the interviewee’s statements is created in the context the interview takes place. The statements develop in the relation arising between researcher and interviewee

43

.

Critical Theory

To seek and find the understanding behind a given intervention one has to be aware that other factors play a part in the possibilities and options available for the workers and the organization. Using the critical theory helps one to keep in mind that everything is a part of s bigger picture where dominant discourses affect every given solution. In what

Alvesson and Sköldberg calls the critical theory’s triple hermeneutics, the researcher has to be aware of how the structures of society have an impact in the interpretation of the object both for the researcher and the interviewed. There is a focus upon the processes that contribute to the fact that certain interests are being highlighted at others expense. The critical theory’s triple hermeneutics has a critical view upon the established institutions and interests in society

44

.

Politics and dominant discourses in society plays a role in the social work profession and therefore influence on the perception of the social worker, and can be unconsciously integrated in mind of the worker. Examples could be racism, stereotyping and discrimination within society and the institutions which can have negative impacts on

42 (Kvale, 2007 p. 210)

43 (Olsen, 2008 p. 161)

44 (Thagaard, 2004 p. 42)

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 the social workers perceptions, and lead to negative consequences for the practical social work.

The Abductive Research Strategy

Our research project is carried out by an Abductive research strategy. We believe that the inductive strategy is too narrow for this particular project because we are interested in the interpretations of the observed according to the hermeneutic tradition. Where induction is based upon the empirical data and the deductive relies on the theoretical base, the Abductive strategy is a mixture of the two, and contributes with a dialectic relationship between theory and empirical data 45 . The established theory constitutes the starting-point of the research, while the analysis of the data makes the foundation for new theoretical perspectives 46 . The Abductive strategy has its roots in the hermeneutic tradition and is used in the interpretive sociology and approaches as for example the critical theory

47

.

With the use of our collected empirical data in dialectic collaboration with our theoretical basis we have explored the perceptions of the social workers, and use these in an interpretation of how methods and perceptions tally with each other in the social work. We therefore found it important to let the empirical data guide the way and not be too strongly attached to any theory.

Empirical Data

The empirical data of the project aims to examine the practical social work with the young Aboriginal peoples. We have in line with Guldager’s theory examined the social worker’s perceptions, and how these influence on the methods in order to answer our main question. In accordance with the hermeneutical tradition we have been aware of our preconception when collecting the empirical data so the answers of the interviewees remain unaffected. By doing interviews with social workers from different organizations we have been able to renew our own preconception about the social challenges for the young Aboriginal peoples.

45 (Thagaard, 2004 p. 181)

46 (Thagaard, 2004 p. 184)

47 (Blaikie, 1993 p. 176)

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We made a decision to stay in Canada for three months to ensure that we had enough time to do our fieldwork. Before we travelled to Canada we managed to get in touch with the director of the School of Social Work in Ottawa, who was able to set us up with different contacts in the social work field. The director explained to us that there is a strained relationship between the non-Aboriginals and the Aboriginal peoples in light of the colonization, and the assimilation politics led by the Canadian government. It would therefore take a long time for outsiders to get connections in the Aboriginal community

48

in order to conduct the field study there. This was part of the reason why we decided to have a main question that focuses on the social worker’s perceptions of the young Aboriginal people’s challenges, instead of attempting to conduct interviews with the target group itself. Beyond that we decided that three months would give us the time to gain connections in Canada and experience both the mainstream and the

Aboriginal culture first hand.

Our empirical data will be collected through qualitative research interviews. The interviews will be conducted with five social workers and one expert. They all have knowledge about young Aboriginal peoples, their social challenges and the methods employed in the practical social work. Two of the interviews were conducted with two social workers at the same time. We decided to interview two social workers together since it gives a more dynamic discussion and diversity in the viewpoints.

Additionally we have used extern empirical data as inspiration and foundation for our fieldwork. The major part of our literature have been collected in Canada since it is not possible to find literature about the Canadian Aboriginal peoples outside Canada, not to mention up to date research and statistics on this subject. This is another reason why we chose to stay in Canada for the whole three months. Statistical data were found on

Statistics Canada which is a webpage that contains recent statistical data. We also used data from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples which was mentioned in the context setting.


18


Presentations of Organizations

Odawa Native Friendship Centre (Odawa)

Odawa is one of the many Aboriginal Friendship Centers that were founded to provide services for Aboriginal peoples living in urban context around the country. There was a need for connecting the Aboriginal peoples in the cities and to create communities were they could go to receive support and be connected to the Aboriginal culture

49

. Odawa has different projects working with Aboriginal peoples living in Ottawa. We interviewed two social workers from Odawa one of them works in the program, called the Akwe:Go Program meaning ‘All of us’ in Mohawk. The program is preventive in that it works with urban Aboriginal children in the ages of 7-12 that are at-risk, and the program gives support to improve the quality of life and delivers cultural appropriate services

50

.

The other interviewee worked in the Wasa-Nabin Youth Program meaning to ‘look forward, to look beyond’ in Ojibway. The program is about giving support to

Aboriginal youth in the age between 13-18 who needs guidance in their social lives in relation to for example cultural needs and educational goals 51 .

Children’s Aid Society Ottawa (CASO)

CASO is a nonprofit governmental organization that is committed to protect children and youth from all forms of abuse and neglect to keep them safe and secure. The families, children and youth involved with the organization are both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal

52

. Again we conducted an interview with two social workers working in the Aboriginal team in the organization. We furthermore interviewed a social worker who has been involved in developing the relationship between the organization and the

Aboriginal community.

Professor in Native Social Work

We decided to interview Dr. Paula du Hamel Yellow Horn who teaches at the Schools of Social Work in Ottawa. We thought it would be useful for us to gain more knowledge

49 Interview Odawa d. 24 of October 2011

50 (Odawa Native Friendship Centre)


52 (Children's Aid Society Ottawa)

19

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 about the Aboriginal youth and their challenges in the urban centers. Furthermore the professor was able to explain to us some of the practices of Native Social Work.

Center of Aboriginal Culture and Education (CACE)

Apart from the above interviews we had a meeting with the Center of Aboriginal

Culture and Education. They are situated at Carleton University in Ottawa and help accommodate Aboriginal students to life at university and in the city. They work to ensure that cultures, traditions and worldviews are represented and respected on campus

53

. We were allowed to use some of the statements from this meeting.

The Qualitative Research Interview

To collect the empirical data for our research project we have as previously mentioned used the qualitative research interview. The qualitative interview attempts to understand the world from the interviewee’s point of view to unfold the meaning of their experiences, and to uncover their lived world prior to scientific information

54

.

The use of the qualitative interview we see as a chance to get some deeper and more personal opinions and information from the social workers, since the overall aim of the qualitative interviews is to provide data about what a situation looks like from a person’s own perspective 55

.

Within the qualitative methods there are different scientific theories that can be used in the interpretation of interviews. We have chosen a hermeneutic approach to the interpretation of our interviews. Knowing this as the interpreter of the interviews, we have to attempt to make our preconception explicit and try to become conscious about how certain formulations of questions, determine which forms of answers are possible.

The qualitative interview goes beyond the spontaneous exchange of view in every day conversation and becomes a dialog that has structure and purpose

56

.

53 (Center for Aboriginal Culture and Education)

54 (Kvale, 2007 p. 1)

55 (Thagaard, 2004 p. 86)

56 (Kvale, 2007 p. 211)

20


Interview Guide

Our interview guides used in the research were semi-structured. We created four different interview guides since we found it necessary to ensure that each of them was directed to the specific context and intention with the interview. However all three interview guides had the same overall purpose and the interview guides each consisted of thematic research questions. Each of these research questions were then further investigated through suggestions to several interview questions.

The reason why we chose this structure for the interview guides was to make sure that we achieved our intended purpose of the interview. On the other hand the semistructured interview allows an openness to change the sequence, and the form of the questions during the interview so that it is possible to pursue answers the interviewee gives

57

.

In the construction of the interviews we made sure that the questions were as open as possible. Open questions provide the fullest and most honest answers, which is very important to our research, since we wanted to make sure that we got the personal opinions of the interviewee

58

. This emphasizes the significance of affecting the questions as little as possible with our own preconception which is in consensus with the hermeneutic tradition

59

. We also considered how not to ask questions to which the interviewee could reply yes or no, because that might prevent people from giving spontaneous and rich descriptions

60

.

Data Processing

In the processing of our empirical data we have found inspiration in Thaagard’s category-based analysis. In order to analyze the four interviews we categorized the content into different categories which we have used to gain an overview and to organize our empirical data. We divided the data into five different categories upon which we attached certain terms this is also referred to as coding 61 . The process of coding is an interaction between the preconception of the researcher and the tendencies in the data. On the one hand the preconception of the researcher controls the

57 (Kvale, 2007 pp. 129-130)

58 (Kvale, 2007 p. 134)

59 (Kvale, 2007 p. 211)

60 (Kvale, 2007 p. 135)

61 (Thagaard, 2004 p. 138)

21

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 organization of the data, and on the other hand the examination of the data contributes to the researcher further developing own conception from the content in the categories

62

. This is in line with the Abductive research strategy that highlights the interaction between theory and empirical data. The preconception is rooted in the researcher’s theoretical assumptions and contributes to the interpretation of the data meanwhile the data processing broadens these theoretical assumptions of researcher

63

.

Coding of data can by principle not be separated from interpretation in that the categorizing of the material reflects the conception the researcher has of the empirical data

64

. This is in line with the hermeneutical circle where categorizing the data makes it possible to interpret the data by commuting between understanding the component parts and the whole of the data

65

.

Reflections upon Interviews

In this section we will reflect upon our choice of method and research design as these choices have a big influence on how the data has been collected and processed, and therefore on the research project in total. First of all we chose to write the project in

English since our field work were performed in an English speaking context, and we felt that by translating the quotes from the interviews we could risk losing the actual intention behind the statements.

The use of triple hermeneutics causes us to interpret the data from a critical point of view as well. The contexts and the organizations behind the interviewee’s have an impact on the perceptions of the social workers which is revealed in the statements from the interviews. It is therefore necessary that we as researchers consider this in our interpretation of the data.

We need to be aware that when we decide to interpret the statements from the interviews with a certain preconception in mind it is inevitable that this preconception will influence on the interpretation of the data. This can give some ethical reflections

62 (Thagaard, 2004 p. 138)

63 (Thagaard, 2004 p. 181)

64 (Thagaard, 2004 p. 139)

65 (Kvale, 2007 p. 210)

22

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 about how far it is possible for the interviewees to influence upon how their statements are interpreted

66

.

Furthermore we have considered the fact that our preconception could have been contributing to and even been controlling for our interviews. The interviews might have become more closed than we intended in that we potentially have tried to test and confirm our preconceptions unconsciously.

Introduction of Theories and Perspectives

In this section we would like to introduce the perspectives and theories which will be used throughout the project. First we will introduce the theory of Guldager which is the theory behind our focus upon the consensus between perceptions and methods.

Hereafter we will introduce the theories which are the foundation for our analysis. Our preconception is mainly based on a cultural psychological perspective, and since we found that the social workers had perceptions in consensus with this perspective, we decided to apply cultural psychological theories in the analysis. The focus upon the challenges related to being caught in between cultures has influenced us to examine how culture and identity development is connected. In line with the cultural psychological perspective we will introduce theories about acculturation strategies according to the transition between cultures.

Our preconception also included recognition that the structural perspective clarifies how the historical oppression of the Aboriginal population has caused the situation of being caught in between cultures. In the interpretation of the interviews we gained new knowledge about the value of the structural perspective. The social workers further emphasized the consequences of oppression and the impacts of stereotyping. This was not a part of our original preconception, but in line with our abductive research strategy we have adopted the perceptions of the social workers, and by this we have renewed our preconception. The perception of the social workers also included a focus upon the antioppressive and strengths perspective and therefore we will place these perspectives on equal footing as the structural perspective.

66 (Kvale, 2007 p. 117)

23


Therefore we will introduce the anti-oppressive and strength-based approaches which we will also draw upon in our analysis.

The Theory of Guldager

Our main question is based upon the method of Guldager in that it is centered on perceptions and how these influence on the practical social work. We are aware that

Guldager has made a model for evaluation and research of methods in social work however we have chosen to only apply the overall idea that there should be consistency between perceptions and methods.

When looking for solutions and interventions on social challenges one has to consider the diversity in the factors that are playing a role in causing the particular challenge. The

Aboriginal population in the cities are facing complex social challenges, thus their situation can be understood in multifaceted ways. The fact that every understanding is connected to an intervention makes it is important to consider one’s perception before beginning an intervention. Working with complex social challenges or ‘wild’ social challenges gives no clear solutions or procedures thus it is necessary to bring various perspectives into play in the interventions.

According to Guldager perception is the most essential in the methods of social work because it contains not only one’s view of human being and of society, but what’s more one’s preconception and experience which it is necessary to be aware of 67 .

In close connection to Guldager’s theory our goal for the project is to explore the perceptions and thoughts of the social workers working with Aboriginal peoples.

Furthermore we wish to explore how the perceptions influence on the methods used.

Methods used in the social work, that are based on a weak or narrow-minded perception and without rationality between the methods and the perceptions, risk either to fail or to become highly oppressive in the given case

68

. Therefore we consider it important to be aware of one’s perception in order to use the right methods in the work with the target group.

67 (Guldager, 2000 p. 333)

68 (Guldager, 2000 pp. 342-343)

24


Cultural psychological perspective

Culture and Identity

A person must construct a clearly defined personal identity in order to gain both selfesteem and psychological well-being, which is clarified in the sentence: ,,How can I know if I am worthy, if I don’t know who I am?” 69

. Seeing identity from a social- constructivist view, identities are not freely chosen by individuals, but neither are they timeless or unchanging. Instead our identities are given through the social relationships, the everyday practice of perceiving and treating others, and the institutions we are a part of.

As those factors changes over time, so will our identities

70

. From a narrative understanding a clear personal identity is the construction of a coherent whole, with which the person is able to link together a meaningful story of own existence 71 . To be able to tell a coherent life-story, which is useful for the identity development, one’s own personal stories must correspond to overall collective stories from people that one relates to

72

.

Culture is a concept difficult to grasp because it is a part of our very nature seldom acknowledged because it has been internalized from the surroundings we interact in.

When we do come to realize the importance of culture is when it is gone or is being disturbed as for instance in intercultural contact.

Cultural identity

A cultural identity represents a shared history transmitted through generations, as traditional ideas and values, and becomes a paradigm that affects one’s identity and behavior

73

. The cultural identity is important for the people’s sense of self and how they relate to others, and contributes to the wellbeing of the individual

74

.

Berry examines the importance of cultural identity for Aboriginal peoples and he categorizes four components for the consolidated cultural identity as: Firstly conception of being an Aboriginal, second finding it important to be Aboriginal, third having positive feelings about it and lastly wanting to remain Aboriginal and expressing it on a

69 (Usborne & Taylor, 2010 p. 97)

70 (Paige, 2011 p. 5)


72 (Stokkebæk, 2007 p. 329)

73 (Diller, 2011 pp. 66-67)

74

(Hokowhitu, 2010 p. 57)

25

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 daily basis. If there is no consistency or an uncertainty among these five components it can result in a negative or confused identity, signifying incompatible feelings about one self and not knowing who one really is

75

.

In relation to this it is important to mention that one cannot speak of one collected

Aboriginal culture. The Aboriginal peoples in Canada are divided into various groups who all practice their own version of the culture however they are all founded on the same basic principles, a traditional ‘belief’ set or worldview which can be seen as a unifying force among diverse Aboriginal groups

76

.

Collective identity

This can be further connected to the social psychological ideas about how cultural identity exists of the subjective experience of being a part of and belonging to a specific ethnic group. Someone with a clear cultural identity would intuitively know the values, norms, and behaviors endorsed by his or her cultural group and could rely on these in the construction of a clearly defined personal identity 77 . Having this cultural reference group is also referred to as having a clear collective identity. A clear collective identity can be defined as the part of a person’s self-concept that is connected to the membership of a social group, and the values and emotions connected to that membership

78

.

Therefore a clear group-based identity is the same way as the cultural identity associated with having a clearly defined personal identity, which is further related to positive self-esteem and well-being

79

.

In modern life it becomes necessary to handle different social and cultural identities in order to fit into different settings and one must constantly reflect on ‘who I am’ and

‘what I want,’ in relation with one’s surroundings 80

. We will look into how the intercultural meeting has an impact on the identity development for the Aboriginal peoples, when difficulties in finding coherence in different identities can lead to what we believe is an identity confusion.

In our interviews is the term ‘identity-loss’

75 (Berry, 1999 p. 6)

76 (Graveline, 1998 p. 52)

77 (Usborne, 2010 p. 886)

78 (Usborne, 2010 p. 885)

79 (Usborne, 2010 pp. 885-886)

80 (Stokkebæk, 2007 pp. 331-332)

26

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 mentioned, but since we don’t believe that a person can be without identity, we instead use the term identity confusion.

Acculturation Strategies

Many indigenous groups have found themselves, through no choice of their own, having to adjust to a new culture imposed on them by a colonial force as is the case in

Canada

81

. Acculturation is the cultural transmission which happens when different cultures get into first-hand contact with each other and with following changes in the original culture patterns of either or both cultural groups 82 . It is the process where people migrate to and learn a culture that is different from their heritage culture

83

.

Moving to a new culture always involves psychological adjustment.

There are several ways in which individuals can react to this process of change that occurs when transitions within, between and among cultures happen. Some people are better at coping with this transition than others. The level of coping skills depends on the cultural distance present between the original culture and the new culture. Cultural distance is the difference between two cultures in the overall ways of life

84

. People do not have to actually leave the country to be confronted with the need to acculturate to a new set of values

85

.

Berry and colleagues have proposed four acculturation strategies that people might adapt to when transitioning between cultures. These are the Integration, the

Marginalization, the Assimilation and the Separation strategies

86

.

The Integration strategy is where both cultures are integrated in the lifestyle. This strategy is seeking the best of both worlds

87

. Identities become blended and merge into one coherent identity. Integration models view the development of such a multicultural identity as additive since new identities are added to the existing cultural identity

88

.

81 (Heine, 2008 pp. 516-518)

82 (Burnet, 1992 p. 25)

83 (Heine, 2008 p. 511)

84 (Heine, 2008 p. 516)

85 (Heine, 2008 p. 519)

86 (Heine, 2008 p. 521)

87 (Heine, 2008 p. 522)

88 (Kitayama, 2007 p. 330)

27


In the Assimilation strategy the person integrates into the new culture, and rejects the heritage culture. The person attempts to fit into the new culture, but makes no effort to maintain own heritage culture

89

.

The Marginalization strategy is when the person does not include either of the cultures neither the new nor the heritage culture. The person has negative feelings towards both cultures. This is a rare strategy.

The last is the Separation strategy where the person is maintaining the heritage culture and makes no efforts to fit into the new culture. The person prefers to continue to exist in the cultural world of the heritage culture

90

.

Another way a person can adapt to a dual identity like in the integration strategy is the alternation model which assumes that is it possible for a person to know and understand two different cultures at the same time and therefore become bicultural. It also supposes that an individual can switch back and forth among cultural identities depending on the fit of the identity in the immediate context

91

. It also assumes that a person can have a sense of belonging in two cultures without compromising his or her sense of cultural identity 92 .

The acculturation strategy affects the cultural identity development. In the analysis we will therefore examine the connection between cultural identity development and acculturation strategies.

The Structural Perspective

The structural perspective acknowledges that the history is linked to the current conditions in society and therefore has an impact on groups in society

93

. The perspective historically and critically analyzes and challenges the dominant social and economic structures of capitalism, colonialism and racism, and how these structures are the root cause of social challenges, in that they produce and reinforce oppression.

94

The structural perspective highlights that social structures are constructed and reinforced by

89 (Heine, 2008 p. 522)

90 (Heine, 2008 pp. 521-523)

91 (Kitayama, 2007 p. 330)

92 (Peplau, 1996 p. 249)

93 (Shera, 2003 p. 66)

94 (Webb, 2009 p. 86)

28

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 the powerful group in society, to ensure their own continued dominance, while exploiting less powerful groups

95

.

Stereotyping

Stereotypes shape how people perceive others and it therefore becomes a way to oppress and discriminate against groups in society

96

. To fully understand stereotypes we need to look at both prejudices and discrimination because they are all in close relation to one another. Prejudices are explained as to be disrespectful attitudes toward groups as whole or individual members of this group 97 . Stereotyping is one of the components of prejudices, and refers to assumptions that are made about others in the absent of knowledge about this particular group

98

. These assumptions are often incorrect and always too general in the characteristics of whole groups of people. It makes people ignore contradictions that challenge the stereotype and makes them see others as they want or expect to see them, instead of what they really are

99

.

When linking the structural perspective to the Aboriginal peoples’ situation in Canada it is arguable that the historical oppression and continuing stereotyping of the Aboriginal people of the Aboriginal culture, has had a long lasting and painfully hold on the

Aboriginal peoples why we will examine this further in the analysis

100

.

Anti-oppressive and Strength-based Perspectives

The Anti-oppressive and strength-based perspectives build on some of the same key assumptions from which practice principles flow

101

. In this section we will introduce some of the practice principles, which we will examine in the analysis of the empirical data. Both approaches aim to recognize clients’ and communities’ capacity to help themselves. The empowerment perspective can be seen as the bridge that combines the two approaches

102

. A way to reach this empowerment is by ensuring the

95 (Webb, 2009 p. 87)

96 (Jackson, 2011 pp. 10-11)

97 (Jackson, 2011 p. 20)

98 (Jackson, 2011 p. 10)

99 (Proulx, 2003 p. 59)

100 (Shera, 2003 p. 67)

101 (Healy, 2005 p. 157)

102 (Healy, 2005 p. 157)

29

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 participation of clients and communities by incorporating their views in the intervention. This is done by helping them to identify areas for development so they can gain confident in their own capacities

103

.

In relation to the anti-oppressive approach the empowerment perspective is also considered in the focus of minimal intervention. Minimal intervention is significant in order to reduce the oppressive and disempowering dimensions of social work interventions. The principle of minimal intervention says that social workers should always aim to intervene in the least intrusive way

104

. This can also be seen in consensus with the importance of mutual partnership that is another significant practice principle combining the two perspectives. Mutual partnership happens by valuing the individual and communities by showing respect of their perspectives and lived knowledge

105

.

Furthermore the clients should be included as much as possible in the decision-making process to avoid an unequal power relation between client and social worker 106 .

In our opinion the two approaches complement each other well since the anti-oppressive approach focuses on recognition of the past and current structures in order to move forward, where the strength-based approach work towards creating hope for the future rather than seeking to remedy the problems of the past 107 . The two approaches thereby cover both the individual level and the overall structures in society. All though the road to empowerment is different, they both focus on empowering clients to move forward.

In the analysis we will examine how these approaches which we discovered through the interviews influence on the methods used in the practical social work.

Research Question 1.1

Which perceptions do the Canadian social workers have of the social challenges of the Aboriginal youth?

In this first part of our analysis we will explore our first research question. In line with the hermeneutic tradition we wish to interpret the statements in the interviews we conducted in order to examine the perception of the social workers. The hermeneutic

103 (Healy, 2005 p. 185)

104 (Healy, 2005 p. 187)

105 (Healy, 2005 p. 162 & p. 187)

106 (Healy, 2005 p. 186)

107 (Healy, 2005 p. 153)

30

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 circle contributes to a continuous process where our preconception is renewed along with the new knowledge acquired through our research

108

.

Our focus upon perceptions stems from our use of Guldager’s theory where he talks about the importance of perceptions in relation to the practical social work.

Cultural Psychological Perspective on Identity

In the interpretation of the conducted interviews we found perceptions that are very compatible to our preconceptions regarding the cultural psychological perspective. The social workers from Odawa described the situation of the youth by mentioning words like identity loss

109

and disconnection,

110 referring to a state of cultural confusion. We therefore found it relevant to look deeper into the cultural psychological theories about the connection between culture and identity development.

The adolescent years are a crucial period for the shaping of one’s identity. Too many difficulties in this period can lead to the risk that the youth end up making some unhealthy decisions for their life as for example substance abuse, violence or relationship issues

111

. It is important for the youth to get a sense of who they are in order to develop a clear coherent identity, therefore is clarity also needed on one’s cultural identity

112

. Culture is the whole complex of relationship, knowledge, beliefs, values and ethical rules that bind people together giving the individuals a sense of who they are and where they belong 113 .

When moving to, or forced into, another culture the individual has to make some serious psychological adjustments as for example to learn a new language, adjust to a new set of values and come to term with the fact that one is becoming a part of a minority group in the mainstream society

114

. We will argue that a cultural confusion in the sense of not being able to identify with a ethnic group can have serious influence on the development of the cultural identity and put the young Aboriginal peoples in a state of identity confusion.

108 (Aadland, 2004 p. 193)

109 Interview Odawa 24th of October 2011



112 (Usborne, 2010 pp. 883-885)


114 (Heine, 2008 p. 512)

31


The Historical Impact on Culture

The past of Canada tells a story about how colonialism tried and almost succeeded in destroying the culture of Aboriginal peoples, an act that by many is considered a cultural genocide because of the assimilative politics employed

115

. The Aboriginal peoples were forced to acculturate to a new set of values and adjust to an involuntary adoption of the western culture

116

. This meant that cultural transmitted norms, that once made sense to Aboriginal peoples and provided meaning and guided individual behavior, suddenly became ineffectual. People lost confidence in what they knew and in their own values as human beings

117

. Acculturation is believed to result in acculturative stress factors that influence on the social and psychological situation, leading to mental health problems, feelings of marginality and alienation, substance abuse, loss of selfesteem and identity confusion

118

. Aboriginal peoples are left struggling with a bewildering and conflicting set of principles, a feeling of normlessness, with which they must try to construct a clearly defined personal identity 119 .

In the Center for Aboriginal Culture and Education (CACE) they are aware of how the history has an effect on the challenges that Aboriginal youth face in today’s society 120 .

The young Aboriginal peoples who are moving to the cities are shaping new identities, but with great difficulty because they often lack support from the families and communities in order to help them understand their heritage culture

121

. CACE gives examples of parents and grandparents that are battered by the ill effect of the colonization, which make them very resistant to talk about what happened to them. This has created a silence between the generations that make the young Aboriginal peoples very insecure about who they are

122

.

In the development of a coherent identity the young Aboriginal peoples might find it difficult to connect their life-story to the story of the generations before them, because the norms and values of their culture have been silenced for them. It complicates the connection and understanding of their cultural roots and this disconnection makes the

115 (Chris & Roland 1997 pp. 43-44)

116 (Heine, 2008 p. 518)


118 (Berry, 1999 pp. 28-29)

119 (Usborne, 2010 p. 885)

120 Meeting CACE 25 th of October 2011. View appendix 7

121 (Thornton, 2001 p. 107)

122 Meeting CACE 25 th of October 2011.

32

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 development of a cultural identity troublesome. In the research conducted by The Royal

Commission on Aboriginal Peoples it was found that the cultural identity development is one of the central issues facing Aboriginal peoples in cities, and therefore called for measures to enhance cultural identity for this population

123

. We will look into how

Odawa is trying to address this concern.

The interview with the social workers of Odawa made it clear that the Aboriginal youth are having difficulties adjusting to the mainstream culture in the cities and meanwhile they are feeling a disconnection to their own cultural background. The purpose of the work of Odawa therefore becomes to help the youth regain a connection to their culture and a creation of a consistent identity, in order to make positive healthy choices in their lives

124

. According to one of the social workers, all of the young Aboriginal peoples are at-risk, because of the lack of connection to the communities, their culture and history 125 . As one of the social worker’s expressed: “That loss of identity which I see in the children, not being able to relate to anyone or anything” 126 .

At the reserves the youth are close to their traditional ways and cultural roots, but as soon as they move to the city they become a part of mainstream society that has a whole new set of values and customs. Thus Odawa strives to be a substitute for the reserves.

Through the services the youth becomes reconnected to their traditional values and learn how to act and interact according to the Aboriginal worldview.

The workers explained the necessity of the Native Friendship Centers in the city:

“…it’s really important to have community. A lot of our population is now going into urban centers. (…) So the friendship centers were created years back to help accommodate Aboriginals going in to the urban population. (…) Odawa is the community. They get recreation, just like they would if they were on the reserves”

127

.

This emphasis on the importance of community for the Aboriginal peoples shows us that the need for solidarity and community is a big part of the perception of the social workers in Odawa. When interpreting the statement that all Aboriginal youth are at-risk,

123 (Proulx, 2006 p. 3)

124 Interview Odawa 24 th of October 2011




33

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 because of their lack of attachment and relation to anything, this shows how the communities become a preventive factor by providing the sense of belonging they need for shaping coherent identities.

Stereotypes – a Threat to the Identity Development

We encountered that stereotyping and racism was a big part of the perception of the social workers in all of our interviews these are issues that impacts on the identity development

128 . This wasn’t an issue we originally considered, and therefore it has renewed our preconception. We have become aware that present stereotypes in society have a severe impact on the young Aboriginal peoples’ identity development.

If Aboriginal youth meets prejudices and stereotypes in the institutions and in society, it reinforces the feeling of being different just because of the color of their skin. As a worker in Odawa says:

“There is not enough knowledge out there and we do encounter this in our clients that are encountering: ‘You have long hair, are you a girl?’. So there are still those perceptions of Aboriginal peoples out there, negatively I should say” 129 .

As touched upon earlier, a part of a coherent identity is to feel a connection between how you see yourself and how other people see you. If the Aboriginal youth are being surrounded by a society that devalues their identity and therefore experience negative stereotypes on a daily basis it will become difficult for them to make this connection

130

.

Often stereotyping contributes to discrimination, and is used as an excuse to treat another person or group differently

131

. Because of this, people who are exposed to stereotyping and prejudices often represent disadvantaged groups with a high level of inequality compared to the rest of society

132

.

The challenges stereotypes and discrimination bring to the young Aboriginal peoples, and methods used to help conquer these negative stereotypes are subjects that we will look deeper into later on in the project.




131 (Jackson, 2011 p. 10)

132 (Jackson, 2011 p. 23)

34


Structural Perspective on Acculturation Processes

In the interpretation of the statements made in the interviews we realized that the impact of the history and current structures and politics is a major factor in the perception of the social workers. In the interviews it was made clear that colonization and assimilation politics led towards the Aboriginal population has had a significant influence on the young Aboriginal peoples today. It becomes important to look at how acculturation processes are related to structural oppression in the past and the present.

As we looked upon in the previous section the colonization was followed by an inevitable acculturation process, which has had an impact on the Aboriginal culture. The historical oppression and present conditions in society controls the acculturation process in that they influence the strategies followed by the individual. We believe that the impacts of acculturation processes are important to consider since the adapted acculturation strategies have different consequences for the identity development of the

Aboriginal youth.

The distinction between the two cultures becomes more obvious when the young

Aboriginal peoples move to the cities. One of the social workers at CACE explained how the Aboriginal youth become part of a minority group in society when they move to the cities in order to gain an education or find jobs. The social worker explained how this can be very tough for the students, and this is why they need support and the possibility to reconnect with a community in the city 133 . The youth find themselves in between two cultures not able to fully participate in either of the cultures, and this makes them a marginalized group in society

134

. CACE tries to make this move to university and urban life easier for the youth with educational and cultural support.

When the Aboriginal peoples move away from the communities existing at the reserves and into the cities they become part of a cultural transition between the Aboriginal and the western culture. It is therefore relevant to look further into what happens in this acculturation process.

133 Meeting CACE 25 th of October 2011.

134 (Burnet, 1992 p. 46)

35


Structural Impacts on Integration

During the interviews it was made clear that the social workers believed that in order for the youth to avoid being marginalized in society, they need to feel a sense of belonging and be able to fully participate in society. This belief is highly considered in the work they do and we believe their work therefore has an integrative aim. For this reason we will explore the different acculturation strategies and how they contribute to or counteract integration.

The acculturation process becomes affected when a majority culture is trying to encourage a minority culture to assimilate into theirs by using assimilative means such as what has been used throughout the history of Canada. Assimilative measures can end up with the minority culture actually choosing an assimilation strategy. They might choose it because it is the easiest or because they have been marked by a history of oppression. However on the other hand the prejudiced attitudes and hostility towards

Aboriginal culture, which has been especially pronounced in the governmental policies in Canada, might encourage the Aboriginal peoples to do the opposite. They might instead choose a separation strategy or marginalization strategy 135 . Both of these strategies exclude the person from the culture of the majority group and thereby disintegrate the youth from mainstream society.

The structural oppression of the Aboriginal peoples plays a significant role in which strategy the youth adapt to. A healthy acculturation process is gained when the youth adapt to more multicultural or bicultural strategies like the integration strategy and the alternation model. These are both about the person attempting to fit and fully participate in the majority culture while at the same time striving to maintain traditions of the persons own heritage culture. In general a person will not strive to fit into another culture if that culture shows prejudice towards the individual’s own culture

136

. This brings attention to the previous discussion about stereotyping and racism. With the legislative and political situation today and the stereotypes put upon Aboriginal peoples a multicultural or bicultural identity can be hard to obtain for the youth living or moving to an urban context.

135 (Heine, 2008 p. 22)

136 (Heine, 2008 p. 22)

36


Research has shown that different acculturative strategies can lead to different levels of acculturative stress, which can affect the identity development in that the stress can result in psychological consequences like societal disintegration and personal crisis such as identity confusion

137

. As previously mentioned the topic of identity confusion was also part of the perception of the social workers at Odawa. It is therefore relevant to look into how the different acculturation strategies influence on the acculturative stress level.

The marginalization and separation strategy can both lead to more acculturative stress than the integration strategies. Even the assimilation strategy can result in higher levels of acculturative stress for the minority group having to assimilate into the culture of the majority group. Reasons for this could be the rejection of own heritage culture and accompanying social support networks plus furthermore a sense of disconnection with the past. Separation strategies bear the cost of rejecting the new culture and all the positive features that it encapsulates, which is often accompanied by the individuals themselves being rejected by the new culture 138 . The consequences of the prejudiced attitudes from the majority group in society could therefore be young people that are distancing themselves from mainstream society and maybe also their heritage culture and potentially suffering from identity confusion.

Juggling two cultures at a time

As mentioned above the strategies with the least acculturative stress related to them are the strategies that involve a form of multiculturalism or biculturalism meaning that the person incorporates both cultures in the daily lives such as in the integration strategy

139

.

This kind of dual cultural identity can be managed either by engaging the identities simultaneously by merging or mixing the two cultures, or by alternation where the person is able to switch between them according to their appropriateness in a particular context

140

. This also means the person becomes bicultural and includes the person being able to do what is referred to as code-switching or frame-switching. Frame or code-

137 (Burnet, 1992 p. 43)

138 (Heine, 2008 p. 526)

139 (Burnet, 1992 p. 47)

140 (Azzi, 2011 p. 287)

37

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 switching means that the person has incorporated two sets of cultural norms in their identity which they are able to switch between according to the current situation

141

.

Organizations like Odawa strive to get the youth reconnected with their cultural heritage in order to help them gain a clear cultural identity, and be able to participate on equal terms in society. This might lead to the youth becoming reconnected to the Aboriginal culture and worldview, and thereby returning to more traditional ways of living.

However this does not mean that Aboriginal peoples should return, or are able to return, to the kind of life the ancestors lived many generations ago. Canada’s Aboriginal peoples are not returning to a previous era, rather they are selecting aspects of the old ways and blending them with the new. In many Aboriginal communities, people are emerging with bicultural identities, with an identity firmly anchored in the traditional cultural world of their people and a consciousness of the skills necessary to succeed in the dominant society 142 .

According to Usborne and Taylor being able to juggle two cultures successfully is the way to develop a clear personal identity and psychological well-being 143 . When adapting to the integration strategy whether it be by mixing or alternating between the two cultures the psychological stress or the acculturative stress is less and therefore the person is less likely to develop for instance identity confusion. The integration strategy is therefore in line with our preconception about the need for the youth to be able to integrate both cultures in their daily life.

It can then further be argued that if a person is struggling to integrate different cultural identities in a consistent personal identity, then it can be necessary to help clarify both cultural identities, and thereby help the person to gain knowledge about who they are in order for the person to gain psychological well-being

144

. From our understanding the

Aboriginal organizations intend to help the Aboriginal youth get in touch with their cultural roots and thereby seek to clarify this cultural identity. However when looking at biculturalism we have realized throughout the project that it is not enough to get in

141 (Peplau, 1996 p. 250)

142 (Graveline, 1998 p. 21)

143 (Usborne, 2010 p. 893)


38

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 touch with cultural roots if it means a lack of focus upon the other cultural identity. A lack of focus upon the culture of mainstream society will not lead to an acculturation process resulting in integration into society. A lack of openness towards mainstream culture can instead cause the risk of marginalization. These thoughts are renewing our own preconception in that they emphasize the need to reach out to both cultures and incorporate values and norms from both in the practical social work. This appears necessary in order to help enable the youth to combine the two cultures in their daily life.

Anti-oppressive and Strength-based Approaches in the

Organizations

During the conducted interviews we were told that Children Aid’s Society Ottawa

(CASO) in 2006 had a transformation in the organization from a risk assessment model to an anti-oppressive and strength-based focus when working with Aboriginal and non-

Aboriginal families and children. This was an actual shift legislatively

145

. From the interpretation of the interview with the social workers at Odawa, we will argue that these perspectives also appear to be a part of their perception of how they understand the social challenges for young Aboriginal peoples. In the following section we will do an interpretation of some of the statements in relation to the overall thoughts behind the anti-oppressive and strengths-based perspectives, and also look at how they can be seen in relation to the structural and cultural psychological perspectives.

Oppression on Different Levels

Theoretically the anti-oppressive perspective expands the structural perspective regarding the term oppression in that it also incorporates the importance of selfreflection and the interpersonal relationship between social worker and client

146

. It still highlights the structural context of client´s problems, but argue that all forms of oppression must be acknowledged as harmful: “ At the end of the day no action at all can be as oppressive as intrusion into other people´s lives´”

147

. Therefore we realized that we had to broaden our preconception regarding the structural perspective and

145 Interview CASO 1 26 th of October 2011

146 (Healy, 2005 p. 173)

147 (Healy, 2005 p. 181)

39

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 understand that we should also be aware that oppression does not only occur at a structural level, but also at the institutional level and in the interpersonal relationship. A social worker in CASO explained how this person’s perception is rooted in the antioppressive perspective:

“Anti-oppressive practice is about really implicating yourself in your work. It is not us going in and saying what is wrong with the family, but getting a better sense of what are the structures, culture and environment. Furthermore being aware of what do I bring as a social worker when I come to the house, what values I bring to the table. It is really about sharing the power with the family. I am bringing my resources and mandate, what does your family bring

148 .”

From our understanding the above quote refers to the interpersonal relationship in the anti-oppressive perspective. Anti-oppressive theorists argue that social workers have to reflect on their relationship to clients, and be aware of the fact that the relationship is constrained by an unequal power relation arising from: “The stigma of service use and interest held by professionals and service provider agencies

”149

. It is therefore important to have clear communication about what one personally bring as a social worker. It is especially significant in relation to the statutory responsibilities surrounding the mandate, and to fully disclose the nature and scope of one´s service. This helps to share the power with the client and gives them a chance to participate in the intervention

150

.

Judging by the interview with Odawa we will argue that they also consider the importance of not being another source of oppression in the interpersonal relationship.

This is also a significant principle in the strength perspective. To get knowledge about the perception of the social workers at Odawa we asked them what is valuable to keep in mind when working with the youth:

”I think it is just being respectful of them as people. Not to undermine their skills or their intelligence, and to be mindful of their values and beliefs. Not try to install something on them they might not believe or represent who they are. Listening is


149 (Healy, 2005 p. 186)

150 (Healy, 2005 p. 187)

40

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 definitely the key with the kids. Just coming across as sincere and caring, not treating them as a number or client

151

.

According to our interpretation the above quote can be linked to some of the elements in the strength perspective, which points out that we as social workers have to affirm and show interest in the client’s perspective. It is the narratives and the stories that clients share with us that allow us to see who they are

152

. Furthermore working strength-based means that we have to believe in clients’ capacities to determine what is best for them.

It is therefore significant that we are mindful of their values and beliefs

153

. The interpersonal relationship is about paying attention to clients’ own interpretation of their challenges so they gain influence on the decision making process in the intervention

154

.

Culture as an Empowering Factor

From the interviews we understood that culture plays a huge role in the work they do at

Odawa. They recognize that the structural oppression of the culture has had a negative impact on the young Aboriginal peoples which is a dimension considered in the antioppressive perspective 155 . The social workers from Odawa explained that many children request the cultural support, and it is these children who have low self-esteem and a lack of self-confidence. Therefore Odawa implements the Aboriginal worldview in their work in order to help the youth to regain acceptance of and connection to their culture

156

. We argue that this can be seen in relation to the empowerment perspective which combines the strength and anti-oppressive perspective

157

. Empowerment of individuals is reached by helping clients to identify areas for development so they can gain confident in their own capacities

158

. In this case the culture is seen as an important strength and capacity which can help young Aboriginal peoples to develop self-esteem and self-confidence to reach their full potential.


152 (Saleebey, 1997 p. 133)

153 (Healy, 2005 p. 157)

154 (Healy, 2005 p. 162)

155 (Healy, 2005 p. 179)


157 (Healy, 2005 p. 185)

158 (Healy, 2005 p. 185)

41


As previously mentioned the strength perspective was also a part of the transformation in 2006 in CASO. One of the interviewees from CASO explained how the transformation from the risk-assessment model into a more strength-based approach meant a change from accessing the risk level of a family to now building on the things that the family are doing well. Now the social workers assessment should focus more upon how the families are assuring the safety of their child. Something might still have to shift in the family, but it is not about going in and only looking at the errors

159

. This is in consensus with the main philosophy in the strength perspective which emphasizes a focus on the capacities and potentials of clients. The social workers who employ a strength perspective are driven by the search of people’s capacities, resources and skills instead of focusing on the errors and what people are not doing right

160

.

There is naturally a huge difference in being an Aboriginal Center like Odawa and being a governmental organization like CASO that works with all ethnic families in society.

In our second interview with CASO they explained that culture and the Aboriginal worldview has also begun to play a bigger role in the work they do with Aboriginal families 161 . The focus on cultural awareness creates an acceptance of the client’s different cultures which means that the perceptions have changed and therefore the work has become less oppressive. Today the interventions have a focus on getting the youth connected with the right Aboriginal services as for example Odawa. The fact that the social workers now have perceptions which include an understanding of how important it is for the youth to have a cultural base results in more appropriate interventions. This will be a subject in the next analysis part.

Summarize

In this analysis of the empirical data we understood that the cultural psychological and the structural perspectives are both part of the interviewed social workers’ perceptions of the social challenges of the Aboriginal youth. We realized that in consensus with our preconception the historical colonization and oppression of the Aboriginal culture has an extensive legacy on Aboriginal peoples

162

. Our preconception became renewed in that we realized that structural oppression still exists in continuing discrimination and


160 (Saleebey, 1997 p. 127)

161 Interview CASO 2 7 th of November 2011

162 (Shera, 2003 p. 67)

42

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 stereotyping put upon the Aboriginal peoples. Furthermore the anti-oppressive perspective extended our understanding of oppression and made us consider the importance of not only looking at oppression at a structural level, but also at a more personal level such as in interpersonal relationships.

The strength perspective has further renewed our preconception in that it emphasizes the importance of taking the perspective of the client into account, and to let their own dreams and hopes for their life become a part of the intervention. The thoughts in the strength perspective becomes especially valuable when working with people who have a culture that differs from the culture of the social worker so the worker does not force own values and preconceptions upon the client. In the analysis we decided to connect the values Odawa considers in their relationship to clients with the strength perspective since it could be seen in relation to the same considerations from CASO. However we are aware that we could have related this to appreciative praxis which is an approach highly valued in Danish social work.

The development of a consistent identity comes to mind in the interpretation of the interviews where culture and cultural identity is a part of the perception. When there is a focus on cultural roots and traditional teachings in order to gain this consistent identity it stems from an Aboriginal worldview which differs from a more western worldview.

Our preconception naturally represents this western worldview and we will let the

Aboriginal worldview inspire our understanding of the challenges for the Aboriginal youth. Therefore we will explore the Aboriginal worldview further in the next analysis part.

While using the acculturation strategies in the analysis of the statements we acknowledged that our preconception needed to be challenged in the fact that it is not enough to be connected to ones cultural roots, one also has to feel membership towards the mainstream society. A person needs to be competent in and comfortable with the two groups in contact, and as such be able to integrate the two cultures in their daily lives.

When we have used the perceptions of the social workers as a foundation of the analysis and therefore we need to consider the validity of the data. It is likely that the perceptions

43

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 retrieved from the empirical data are influenced by organizational frameworks and political agendas. In relation to the triple hermeneutics it is necessary to be conscious of how this can affect the statements in the interviews. This could especially be the case in

CASO where the perceptions are influenced by the overall legislation behind the organization. However it could also be the case at Odawa, where shared conceptions about how the Aboriginal peoples view themselves as an oppressed group in society, have an influence on the perception of the individual social worker.


How does the Canadian social workers’ perception of the social challenges affect the development of methods for the practical social work with the Aboriginal youth?

In this second analysis part we will explore the methods used in the practical social work with Aboriginal peoples in Canada. According to Guldager’s theory the perception of the social worker should influence on the methods used in the practical social work. Therefore we will look at how the methods are characterized by the perceptions and if new methods have been developed on behalf of the perceptions. We will analyse the methods in the light of the theories explored in the previous part.

The Impact of the Aboriginal Worldview on the Practical Social

Work Methods

Native social work practice is social work practiced from an Aboriginal perspective. It is based on the overall ideas in the Aboriginal worldview. One aspect is the Aboriginal view upon identity development which is in accordance with the Medicine Wheel and the adaption of this, the Circle of courage, which identifies the four stages of human development. Odawa incorporates the ideas of the Medicine Wheel, and from what we have understood they also incorporate the ideas of the Circle of Courage in their work.

As we interpreted a part of the social workers’ perception was that the Aboriginal youth have a need for a place to feel belonging and solidarity among their peers. This is in consensus with the theories about what is needed in order to gain a clear cultural identity. It is argued that if a person does not have a clear reference group to relate to in the development of a cultural identity, then it becomes difficult for that person to

44

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 construct a coherent sense of personal identity, and further a positive experience of selfesteem and psychological well-being

163

.

This is very relevant when looking at the Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The colonization silenced the norms and values of the Aboriginal culture and simultaneously exposed them to the new norms and values of the European culture. This has caused the lack of a clear reference group for them to relate to in their identity development

164

. In other words the Aboriginal peoples’ feeling of having a meaningful collective identity has been taken away from them. In the theory part it was explained how a clear collective identity is the idea of having an ethnic reference group, which a person can relate to in the construction of a cultural identity. A person needs this membership of a social group in order to gain an idea about the shared cultural values and norms within this group

165

. This emphasizes the importance of the relationship between well-being and cultural identity clarity, and therefore the importance of reclaiming and redefining a clear cultural identity for Aboriginal peoples 166 .

In a research performed by Berry, he examined the feelings of the Aboriginal peoples in relation to their cultural identity. The people believed that a reconnection to their spirituality would provide the foundation for a sense of who they are, and a feeling of security within themselves

167

. Traditional activities such as story-telling, dancing, singing and sweats

168

bring the community together and reinforce the value of their culture. They also felt that there was a real need to provide opportunities for these activities again in order to reestablish strong cultural identities

169

.

Aboriginal organizations like Odawa and similar organizations are trying to provide this ethnic reference group for the urban Aboriginal population. The organizations do this by focusing on building an Aboriginal community in the urban settings where the

Aboriginal peoples can have a sense of belonging and collective reference. They focus

163 (Usborne, 2010 p. 886)

164 (Usborne, 2010 p. 886)

165 (Usborne, 2010 p. 885)

166 (Usborne, 2010 p. 896)

167 (Berry, 1999 p. 22)

168 Aboriginal ceremony that functions as s spiritual refuge for mental and physical healing.

(www.barefootsworld.net/sweatlodge.html d. 26/11-2011)

169 (Berry, 1999 p. 27)

45

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 on the spiritual components of their culture such as activities like dancing, smudging

170

, sweats and teachings about Aboriginal values, norms and traditions. This all contributes to the development of a clear cultural identity for Aboriginal peoples, and thereby also a coherent personal identity.

Following quote from a social worker at Odawa shows how they function as an ethnic reference group for the Aboriginal peoples in Ottawa:

“

Odawa is so important ... because some of our families are transitioning into the city.

Going into an urban setting is sometimes very overwhelming for the families so having a community or a place to come where they feel welcome and can socialize with other people ... they feel a sense of home by coming here” 171

.

Interconnectedness, Wholeness and Balance

We find that it is important to examine the similarities and differences between the worldviews of the Aboriginal culture and the western culture in order to fully understand how this influences on the methods employed in the organizations studied for this project. Some major differences are found between the terms individualism versus collectivism and linear versus circular thinking. In order to fully understand the

Aboriginal worldview we have attended lectures in Native Social Work at Carleton

University in Ottawa. In the interview with Dr. Paula du Hamel Yellow Horn, who teaches this course, she emphasized that it is crucial to have the Aboriginal worldview in mind when working with Aboriginal peoples.

The Aboriginal worldview is especially based upon three key components: interconnectedness, wholeness and balance

172

.

Aboriginal culture places humans in the physical environment without drawing any distinction between them and the physical world. The Aboriginal peoples originally were hunters and gatherers who lived in harmony with nature

173

. They believe in interconnectedness , meaning that everything is connected and that every organism has

170 One of the most common Aboriginal ceremonies. It is usually a purification ceremony where specific plants are burned and the smoke is brushed over oneself. The smudge invites health to a person’s life.

(http://aboriginalhealth.vch.ca/terms.html d. 26/11-2011)


172 (Loiselle, 2009 p. 6)

173 (Miller & Rodger, 1991 p. 12)

46

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 equal right to life on earth

174

. According to the Aboriginal culture life is a path on which the traveler is invited by the creator to grow and develop in all aspects of life, so that each can find their true identity

175

. Each individual contributes to the collective well-being of the whole and is a part of the great circle of life. This leads on to a circular or holistic vision which is incorporated in the worldview. The circle represents the cyclical and harmonious patterns of life, and the circle ensures wholeness since all is related to each other

176

.

This way of thinking is actually similar to the westernized systems theory’s emphasis on balance and how change in one component has a rippling effect on other components in the system

177

.

This circular way of thinking has been implemented in the so called Medicine Wheel.

The Medicine Wheel is also referred to as the Native American Paradigm, and it is used to explain the world and how we as human beings interact in it. In other words it is used to teach about the interconnectedness of all things, and to challenge the opposition, dualism and isolation that characterize western world thinking 178 . The Medicine Wheel focuses on wholeness and balance and it consists of four directions East, South, West and North. These four directions are identified as respectively the physical/material, the emotional/relational, the mental/intellectual and the spiritual/cultural

179

. The Aboriginal view upon child well-being consists of these four aspects, where the child needs to develop all four directions in order to gain a healthy identity

180

. It is interesting that a part of the international code of ethics in social work particularly says that social workers should uphold and defend each person’s physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual integrity and well-being

181

.

In relation to the collectivistic part of the worldview another important belief has to be mentioned, namely the Self-In-Relation. This refers to the link between individual responsibility and community well-being. It is believed that each person is responsible

174 (Graveline, 1998 p. 55)

175 (Graveline, 1998 p. 55)

176 (Loiselle, 2009 p. 3)

177 (Loiselle, 2009 p. 9)

178 (Graveline, 1998 p. 75)

179 (Loiselle, 2009 p. 9)

180 (Fearn, 2006 p. 21)

181 (International Federation of Social Work)

47

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 for own actions In-Relation to the larger community, and that the Self-In-Relation is linked to knowledge about one’s own family line, tribal nation and responsibilities. This knowledge is necessary if the person is to function within an Aboriginal cultural identity

182

.

Even though we have seen some similarities between the worldviews, the Aboriginal worldview is in many ways in opposition to the western way of looking at the world.

The European settlers who first came to Canada were Christians who believed that human beings were on a higher level of existence than animals and other organisms.

Christians saw human beings as sovereign to nature

183

, and the western culture has continuously developed their technology to achieve control over nature

184

. Keywords in the western worldview are economic gain and capitalism, personal liberty and individualism

185

. This is in opposition to the cyclical views of interconnectedness, holism and harmony. The western world view is based upon a more linear-cause model that assumes that some things are more important than others. The linear way of thinking does not emphasize the overall connectedness of all living things 186 . The

Native American Paradigm and its circular, ever evolving believe in: all life is a Circle , challenges the linear cause-effect models incorporated in the modernized western world thinking

187

.

Circle of Courage

As mentioned the Aboriginal worldview is highly considered in the perception of the social workers, and we see how the worldview becomes implemented in the methods used in Native Social Work. One of these methods is the Circle of Courage

188

, which is an adaption of the Medicine Wheel often used when working with at-risk youth

189

. It contains a holistic program based on traditional Aboriginal ways of knowing, personal development, and community values

190

. The Circle of Courage explains the development from child to Elder, and it compasses of four core values or steps of

182 (Graveline, 1998 p. 57)

183 (Miller & Rodger, 1991 p. 18)

184 (Frideres, 2005 p. )

185 (Miller & Rodger, 1991 p. 15)

186 (Graveline, 1998 p. 59)

187 (Graveline, 1998 p. 75)

188 View appendix 8

189

(McIntyre, 2010)

190 (Aboriginal Family and Community Literacy Curriculum, 2010)

48

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 development: Belonging, mastery, independence and generosity. These four represents the interconnectedness of life. It is believed that all four parts of an individual's "circle" must be intact in order to have a self-secure and social approach to life. A lack of strength in any of the four areas of development can result in emotional and behavioral difficulties

191

.

Dr. Paula du Hamel Yellow Horn explained the overall ideas behind the Circle of

Courage:

”

It starts in the east with Belonging. From the time a child is born it needs to feel belonging, they need to feel loved. They need to feel support. And for our children and youth who are in traumatized families they don’t feel that, there is no belonging, there is no love, they don’t feel love” 192

.

This means that Aboriginal children from families marked by intergenerational trauma are missing this first stage of development, and this influences on the rest of that child’s life. It is interesting to see how the Circle of Courage is the Aboriginal way of looking at identity development, and how it is similar to the western psychology’s view upon child development. For example the belonging stage can be linked to Bowlby’s attachment theory

193

.

Dr. Paula du Hamel Yellow Horn explained the connection between Indian Residential

Schools and the first stage of the Circle of Courage:

“ Indian Residential Schools kind a cut that affection off, so the parents are not able to give that love and that belonging (..) So the child is missing the whole first stage of development you know as a child”

194

.

These are some of the impacts of intergenerational trauma in the Aboriginal communities . The children experiencing identity confusion today might have parents that were apprehended in the 60’s scoop, and they might again have parents that are survivors of Indian Residential Schools. As a social worker in CASO expresses it:

“(..)if you got someone in their 40’s who were part of the 60’s scoop, their own identity and heritage was taken away from them because they were in white families, so they didn’t have the exposure to their own communities.

(..) so when they had their own

191 (McIntyre, 2010)

192 Interview Dr. Paula du Hamel Yellow Horn 7 th of October 2011

193 (Stokkebæk, 2007 p. 109)


49

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 children, they didn’t have their own identity to be able to pass on to their children. (..) and they (these parents) could have had parents that were part of the Indian Residential

School system, so they lost their identity.

After the belonging stage the child moves into the south which is called mastery . Here the child becomes an adolescent and needs to be mastering social skills, mental skills and learn to understand more complex situations in life. At this stage the adolescents need adult role-models to guide them and they need Elders from the community to teach them about the foundation of adulthood which is called independence and is the west part of the Circle of Courage. However when the adolescent are disconnected from their community and their parents aren’t able to teach them about their culture, because they themselves have had their culture taken away from them, this development is not happening 195 .

“(..) adolescent behavior is where this resiliency should be happening, and that teaching and that mastery of skills so they become independent adults. (..) And for our youth many of them have missed that too. (..) They haven’t developed these stages. (..)

There is a big gap between 0 and 25, psychologically because of traumas”

196

.

Ideally adulthood then leads on to the North and the generosity stage where the Elder is able to be generous and to give back to the youth

197

.

The lack of development from the belonging stage to the independence stage is what we believe Odawa Native Friendship Centre tries to redevelop in the children. They teach life-skills such as the importance of nutritious food, physical activities and homework.

They also learn how to make traditional objects like dream-catchers which is a part of the Aboriginal culture. They also work with more personal development themes like character-building and anger management. The teachings are partly done through Elder teachings, traditional dancing and singing and spiritual ceremonies like Pow Wows

198 and sweats. To give an example, the traditional forms of dance, done in a circle,

195 Interview Dr. Paula du Hamel Yellowhorn 7 th of October 2011



198 Aboriginal spiritual ceremony: People come together to sing, dance, renew old friendships and form new ones. Based on the circle, dancers and drummers are in the middle and the audience creates a circle around them (http://www.bluecloud.org/powwow.html d. 26/11)

50

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 physically embodies an understanding of interconnectedness within the greater circle: If someone slows down, if someone falls, or gets out of place, it throws the whole circle off. This can be transferred to teach the children lessons about their own lives and their relation to others

199

. Another example is the storytelling where the children learn about their world and how to live in it. Beliefs, traditions, and morals are often conveyed in the form of a story. Children learn how to perform tasks and activities through role playing and toys

200

.

All these activities have several intentions: First of all they give the children a sense of belonging and a sense of being part of a community. Secondly the intention is for the youth to gain a healthy and easier transition into adulthood so they can create hopes and dreams for their future, and hopefully be able to make more healthy choices for their future lives.

Regaining Ethnic Pride

The Aboriginal worldview emphasizes in the same way as the strength perspective, that all humans have the capacity to change and grow 201 . Individuals need to learn to uncover and accept lessons from all sorts of experiences and stories. When a person is able to reframe the past history of oppression it then enables the person to accept that past history and move forward

202

. Life is a journey where you learn from your experiences, but are constantly moving forward. As Dr. Paula du Hamel Yellow Horn expresses it:

“They (the youth) need to understand that so they can be proud of their culture. They need to see their culture in a different light. And they need to understand why the traumas happened. (...) So they need to understand that they can perpetuate this trauma.

They need to be aware they can stop it and that they have ownership to stop it. So that when they have children they are not going to pass that trauma on to them”

203

.

As the youth becomes better identified with their heritage culture, and they are able to construct a better sense of cultural identity they may also develop awareness about

199 (Graveline, 1998 p. 131)

200 (Royal Saskatchewan Museum, 2008)

201 (Loiselle, 2009 p. 10)

202 (Graveline, 1998 p. 134)


51

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 ethnic pride. Therefore they attempt to regain ethnic pride by becoming aware of how unhealthy practices as for example substance abuse affects the general view upon

Aboriginal peoples

204

. This is very important in terms of the transition into adulthood and for their future families in the Aboriginal community. This is a way to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma, and it relates to the organizations having a preventive aim. An interviewed worker from Odawa expressed that the work they do is definitely more prevention than reaction

205 . The focus is on supporting the children so they don’t make unhealthy life choices.

Change of Philosophy in CASO

Child welfare has played a really dark role in the oppression of Aboriginal peoples in terms of the Sixties Scoop, which is an example of the oppressive measures executed by the child welfare services

206

. CASO is now at this point where they recognize the role child welfare has played in the oppression of the Aboriginal culture and that is a small step towards a non-oppressive practice

207 . This shows a change in the organization’s perception of the work they do with Aboriginal children and families. In the interviews it was clarified that this step towards a more non-oppressive practice is founded in the anti-oppressive and strength-based perspective.

The Sixties Scoop and its Impact on the Relationship between CASO and the

Aboriginal Community

Together with assimilation policy including the reserve and the Indian Residential

School systems, the Sixties Scoop has played a huge role in the oppression of the

Aboriginal peoples 208 . To explain why Aboriginal children were apprehended at such alarming rates it has been pointed out that the living conditions in most reserves in

Canada were terrible after decades of government manipulation and financial mismanagement. Rather than funneling resources into programs and infrastructures to address the problems, governments supported child welfare departments to step in and

204 (Cheah, 2004 p. 12)


206 (Sinclair, 2007 p. 24-26)


208 (Shera, 2003 p. 105)

52

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 remove the children

209

. This understanding that the overall political and structural conditions were justifying this apprehension of children is in consensus with both the structural and anti-oppressive perspectives that emphasizes the need to look at the structural origins in order to understand the difficulties people experience

210

.

The Sixties Scoop is a very strong example of how child welfare has taken advantage of their organizational power and mandates which led to oppressive practice towards

Aboriginal peoples. They have removed children from parents who were already marginalized in the society instead of, as the anti-oppressive perspective would suggest, examine the structural inequalities within the society that has disadvantaged these families

211

. This political and legal enforcement at a structural level has resulted in a relationship between Aboriginal peoples and child welfare which for years has been based on suspicion, disrespect, and mistrust 212 . It was explained by a social worker at

CASO that it used to be almost impossible for the Aboriginal community and child welfare to work together, because there was no communication between the two and no one would call each other back 213 . It appears that CASO has acknowledged that they are to blame for the mistrustful relationship, and their previous perceptions have been very patriarchal and top down. As earlier mentioned this previous perception has led to inappropriate methods so therefore a realization that changes need to happen within child welfare itself is slowly emerging

214

.

The Touchstones of Hope

The terrible story between Child Welfare and Aboriginal peoples and a pressure from the Aboriginal peoples caused The Touchstones of Hope

215 to be developed. This is a circle based on Aboriginal worldview and is structured around the four directions in the

Medicine Wheel. The phases have incorporated an anti-oppressive way of thinking and are also called the model of reconciliation

216

. The model is a recommendation to CASO as an institution and front line workers of how best to support Aboriginal families and

209 (Sinclair, 2007 pp. 24-26)

210 (Healy, 2005 p. 179)

211 (Shera, 2003 p. 106)

212 (Frideres, 2005 p. 10)



215 View appendix 9


53

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 children through what is mentioned as a post-colonial child welfare practice. The four phases are Truth-telling, acknowledging, restoring and relating

217

.

Truth-telling refers to the process of open exchange where listening to and sharing the past of child welfare is the focus. Acknowledgin g means the social workers in CASO have to understand the historical factors influencing on Aboriginal parenting today. It is important that service providers understand where families is coming from

218

. Restoring refers to the importance of actually trying to address the problems of the past and create a better path for the future. The last phase is relating where the social workers in CASO should recognize that the Aboriginal peoples themselves are in the best position to make decisions about their own children and youth. In the interview with CASO it was explained that this model is considered in the work they do, and have been the reason behind some of the initiatives taken to improve the services to Aboriginal families 219 .

The Shift to a more Community-based Approach

In order to strengthen the relationship to Aboriginal peoples and improving linkages to

Aboriginal service providers the initiative was made in 2007 to hold two community consultations. CASO and the Aboriginal community, including service providers such as Odawa, participated in the consultations. With the transformation from a risk-based model to the anti-oppressive and strength-based approaches, together with changes in the senior leadership, a new philosophy was made: “ if we want to fix inside let’s look outside, to who we are serving and bring this feedback in” 220

. The changes were important components that led to the initiative to organize the consultations, and can be seen in line with the first phase in the Touchstones of Hope.

The consultations were held to increase partnership and build collaboration between

CASO and the Aboriginal community

221

. The anti-oppressive approach highlights the importance of working in partnership and says that any gesture towards partnership begin with the sharing of power, not only at the interpersonal level, but also at the


218 (Fearn, 2006 p. 21)



221 View appendix 10

54

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 institutional level

222

. In our interview CASO explained that the consultations were the first step towards a more community-based approach which was centered on working in partnership. The consultations were meant to open up to the Aboriginal community and acknowledging that a partnership was necessary in order to make the right decisions in the interventions with Aboriginal families. Listening became CASO’s role at the consultations as the community was given a chance to explain the impacts the child welfare history has had upon the families, and a chance for them to share their ideas of how best to move forward

223

. Participants were able to collectively express a number of urgent and longstanding concerns about the delivery of child protection services to the

Aboriginal community.

Both the anti-oppressive and strength-based approach highlights the importance of giving people the opportunity to share and make sure that their values are recognized, by showing respect for their perspectives and their lived knowledge. The perspectives argue that solutions developed collaboratively are likely to be more useful than those imposed by “experts” 224 . In practice this has been carried out by acknowledging the importance of the Aboriginal community and by getting them involved in the decision making process about the needed changes in CASO

225

.

Community-based Work with the Families

As we realized it is significant to understand that the community plays a huge role in

Aboriginal culture, and therefore has an impact upon how CASO should interact with the families

226

. CASO explained that Aboriginal families are different from the western notion of a family where the parents and maybe an aunt or a grandmother are considered as significant others in relation to the children. In an Aboriginal context the children is not just the concern of the biological parents, but the entire community.

Therefore, the raising, care, education and discipline of children are the responsibility of everyone. “ CASO are therefore trying to move from looking at the individual family unit to broaden up to what the social support network is” 227

.

222 (Healy, 2005 p. 187)


224 (Healy, 2005 p. 161)

225 (Healy, 2005 p. 187)



55


CASO is now trying to see if the families are connected to the community which they haven’t considered before. If a family is not connected to the community they try to help them get connected with service providers like Odawa. CASO recognize that they are not experts in Aboriginal culture which is why they use the partnership with the community to guide them in their interventions

228

. This whole community approach is in consensus with the anti-oppressive perspective in that it builds on the awareness of the past history where children were apprehended from their families and their culture were denied. Even if children is taken into foster care it is so significant not to repeat the history, and make sure they stay connected to the community so they do not lose their cultural connection

229

.

The whole community approach can also be understood in relation to the strength perspective where one of the practice principles, “create community”, really emphasizes the importance of social support and belonging to a community as some of the first steps towards empowerment of clients. To be without membership in the community increases the risk of people getting marginalized and oppressed. Therefore it is central as social worker to be attentive of opportunities to link clients to community networks, which is in fine consensus with what CASO is trying to do with their young

Aboriginal peoples and families

230

. The community-based methods employed in CASO is therefore comparable to our previous discussion about the importance of belonging to a group in order for the young Aboriginal peoples to have clear reference group upon which they can construct a clear cultural identity

231

.

Training of Staff

One of the first concerns identified in order to work more community-based, was that

CASO and the Aboriginal service providers did not know enough of each other’s work.

This meant that the work surrounding the families was not as effective as it should be.

Therefore getting knowledge about each other’s work was one of the first steps that



230 (Healy, 2005 p. 165)

231 (Usborne, 2010 p. 886)

56

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 were taken to improve the linkages between CASO and the service providers

232

. CASO described that over the years they have had seven presentations from all the service providers so they could get a deeper understanding of their programs and the work they do. The same way CASO has presented what their role is, what their mandate means, where the mandate starts and stops, and what to expect when families are getting calls.

Being open and honest about statutory responsibilities in relation to the institutional constrains is significant in the anti-oppressive approach. It is a way to maximize the peoples´ opportunity for participation 233

. This gives the service providers a better understanding of what the families can expect when getting involved with CASO, and this enables them to better help the families.

Another key issue identified at the consultations was that there existed a lack of cultural awareness and sensitivity in CASO. They felt that this led to a continuing stereotyping of Aboriginal peoples, which has become an ongoing source of oppression 234 .

According to the cultural psychological perspective lack of cultural awareness can lead to that clients easier becomes victims of ethnocentrism. “We often judge people from other cultures by comparing them to the standards of our own”

235

.

Stereotyping has its roots in that humans develop beliefs that support their values and basic feelings and avoid those that challenge them, therefore generalization and categorization becomes a problem

236

.

In our interview it was described that the Aboriginal community thought that CASO was badly arranged, and that there was no awareness about Aboriginal culture, which often led to stereotyping. They felt they had to retell their story and explain their culture every single time they came into the office. CASO acknowledged these views and their solution was the creation of two teams; The Inuit specific, and the First Nations and

Metís specific. The creation of these teams was in order to assure that Aboriginal families got served by social workers with knowledge and sensitivity to their culture.

Cultural awareness training is now a part of the training of the staff working at

232 View Appendix 10

233 (Healy, 2005 p. 165)


235 (Heine, 2008 p. 41)

236 (Diller, 2011 p. 37)

57

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 especially these teams. According to the anti-oppressive approach, “awareness” training of staff is a way to empower clients, since it can help to promote anti-discriminatory practice at every level in the organization

237

.

Furthermore to avoid stereotyping in the interpersonal relationship it is highlighted that awareness training also makes social workers reflect on own perception. Without selfreflection, views that are different from one´s own easier become labeled as deviant or abnormal. Therefore awareness training helps the intervention to be carried out in consideration of the clients´ culture. It is significant not to let the client be the only source of information about the culture, this needs to be balanced with information from the community as well

238

. The partnership between CASO and the community is assuring that clients´ cultural beliefs are supported from an external partner.

Circle of Care

Another concern identified at the consultations was that parents are very afraid of the agency power. Many families feel they are confronted with absolute power, and therefore getting involved with the child welfare system, bring Aboriginal parents to the feeling of extreme powerlessness. CASO explained that the families felt they were taken to court a lot. Court is a particularly sensitive matter and damaging for an

Aboriginal community, because the Canadian government has had a history of legislatively undermining Aboriginal rights, so even the mention of court is a big deal

239

. To show consideration for this fear of ending up in court, the Circle of Care was developed in partnership with the seven service providers. This was an attempt to avoid court unless it is absolutely necessary.

The Circle of Care is the Aboriginal version of Family Group Conferencing (FGC).

FGC is a method of resolving, or attempting to resolve, family issues in relation to child protection. It involves bringing together three sets of people namely the child or young person, members of their immediate and extended family and the Aboriginal

237 (Healy, 2005 p. 186)

238 (Diller, 2011 p. 15-20)


58

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 community and child protection professionals. These people then discuss the issues, come to resolutions and develop a plan for future action for the particular child

240

.

The Circle of Care is different from a Family Group Conference model, in that the people facilitating the program are Aboriginal. The meeting is housed in the Aboriginal community, and it therefore becomes their program and gives them ownership. An

Elder or traditional person will be present to bring the wisdom of the Aboriginal culture.

The Elders are the ones that make sure the culture is considered in the meetings.

The anti-oppressive approach considers the importance of “ minimal intervention”.

Minimal intervention is significant in order to reduce the oppressive and disempowering dimensions of social work interventions. This principle says that social workers should always aim to intervene in the least intrusive way, because any intrusion in other people’s lives is oppressive 241 . It was described in the interview that the Circle of Care is about making less intrusive interventions in order to reduce, and to avoid that children come in to care. The impact of apprehending children and placing them in care has been especially traumatic for the Aboriginal population and this is what CASO is trying to move away from

242

. The Circle of Care gives Aboriginal families a chance to be involved in the decision making process regarding their children and it encourage them to work together and come up with a plan on their own. However CASO still have the mandate to set the bottom lines for example that the child can no longer reside with the mother, but before going to court the family gets a change to sit together and talk about the option to find a possible kinship carer

243

in the extended family or the Aboriginal community

244

.

This can also be seen in consensus with the importance of mutual partnership that is a significant practice principle combining the strength-based and anti-oppressive practice.

The clients should be included as much as possible in the decision-making process, to avoid an unequal power relation between client and social worker

245

. This mutual partnership focuses on how empowerment of clients happens by ensuring that their

240 (Skytte, 2007 p. 204)

241 (Healy, 2005 p. 181)


243 Kinship placement occur when children and youth are cared for by members of their family or community. (www.casfrontenac.ca found 22/11-2011)


245 (Healy, 2005 p. 186)

59

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 views are incorporated into the assessment process in order to give them a sense of ownership

246

.

CASO has definitely become more culturally aware and incorporate parts of the

Aboriginal worldview in the methods used such as the Circle of Care. Furthermore they now acknowledge the collectivist view Aboriginal peoples have upon family and community and try to consider and draw upon this in the interventions. Many of the changes in the organization can be seen in line with the Touchstones of Hope. The third phase restoring refers to the importance of actually trying to address the problems of the past and creating a better path for the future. Even though it is only small steps they have tried to develop new methods to address some of the problems. This really shows a change in their perception and how this has led to changes in the organization. In the interviews with CASO we got the understanding that these initiatives has helped to improve the relationship to the Aboriginal community. They explained that the relationship is not perfect and there is a long way to go, but they have moved from a place where there was no communication to this point where there is regular contact and communication from both sides, which is so important for the families involved with

CASO

247

.

Structural Difficulties and Ways to Move Forward

The conducted interviews were characterized by the perception that the Aboriginal youth are facing diverse and complex difficulties in their daily lives as a result of current socio-economic factors in society. Thus consequently to address these diverse difficulties, diverse services are needed on several areas. We therefore felt a need to further examine the current conditions for the Aboriginal youth. By doing this we hope to gain an understanding of the perceptions behind the methods that are used to address the complexity of the challenges faced by the youth. Furthermore we will explore ideas and suggestions from the people we interviewed on how to deal with the overall prejudices and inequality in mainstream society.

246 (Healy, 2005 p. 185)


60


We have mentioned how Odawa uses preventive strategies for the children and youth to break out of the vicious circle of intergenerational traumas in order to make the right choices for their future. The connection to the Aboriginal community and the

Aboriginal culture helps the youth in the development of strong identities so they easier can find their way in mainstream society. CASO has begun to adapt more to the traditions and cultures of the Aboriginal peoples and has tried to build stronger relationships not only between CASO and the communities, but also between social worker and client. There is no doubt that culture is one of the main component in the work done with the Aboriginals peoples in the two organizations, but it is important not to forget other issues that are just as crucial in the social work, especially with at-risk youth.

One of these issues is poverty. Many of the children, who participate in the programs of

Odawa, come from low income families, why the services are offered free of charge and economic help to for instance the payment of bus tickets are given from the organization. Nutritious meals have also become a part of the service, because the families have difficulties providing proper food for the children at home

248

. Another issue is education. Odawa recognizes the importance of education for the future of the youth. They are giving support to the children at an after school, and as a supplement for the mainstream education they give traditional teachings and cultural activities

249

.

Handling Diverse Social Challenges

The social workers we interviewed are therefore aware of not only the cultural aspect when it comes to the young Aboriginal peoples they are also considering their socioeconomic situation and their opportunities for the future. The difficulties of the youth often symbolize a complex and problematic situation, also referred to as ‘wild’ social challenges, and therefore cannot be handled with one simple solution

250

.

When working with diverse or ‘wild’ social challenges it is important to have an eye on the whole situation, why the Akwe:go and Wasa-Nabin programs are working from the Aboriginal worldview, which emphasizes a holistic point of view. To maintain the comprehensive



250 (Guldager, 2000 p. 329)

61

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 view over what services are best for the particular service user they employ the Healing

Continuum Wheel

251

as their strategic framework.

As we touched upon earlier, the Aboriginal worldview is connected to that of wholeness or holism, which again is equated with balance and interconnectedness of all things. The

Healing Continuum Wheel is developed on the basis of the four aspects of the Medicine

Wheel: the emotional, spiritual, physical and mental levels, which are located in the inner circle of the wheel. In the next circle are the participants or users with the need of support and the outer circle shows the different approaches or services to be offered.

The wheel is working on different levels according to the social challenges identified or the person at-risk. This could be either preventive strategies to avoid the arising of social challenges or direct crisis intervention if action is needed right away. Depending on the social challenges identified, the social worker in accordance with the holistic thinking considers the interventions needed on an emotional, spiritual, mental and physical basis. For the individual to maintain a healthy life, an interconnection and balance between these four levels are needed 252 . This perception around a holistic view helps the social worker find interventions that match the identified social challenges of the individual child, why these services become more on a one-on-one basis in order to address the specific needs of the child.

Current Social Challenges in Mainstream Society

What we interpreted from the interviews was that the oppression of colonialism is still present in many forms in the society today as for example in the form of socioeconomic discrimination. The two programs, Wasa-Nabin and Akwe:go both have the understanding that the young Aboriginal population are at-risk because of their historical past and loss of their cultural heritage, but also due to current problems with un-employment and low educational standards.

Investigations show that Aboriginal peoples that move into the cities are suffering from severe social inequalities compared to rest of the society

253

. For example a huge educational gap exists between the


252 (Graveline, 1998 p. 76)

253 (Thornton, 2001 p. 99)

62


Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal population

254

. The social challenges that Aboriginal peoples are facing today can definitely be traced back to the traumas they have been through, but it’s important also to focus on the factors that cause difficulties here and now. Dr. Cindy Blackstock, the Executive Director of the First Nations Child & Family

Caring Society of Canada, comments on the contemporary situation in child welfare, where there continuous to be an overrepresentation of Aboriginal families

255

:

“Having practiced child protection for over ten years on the front line, I believe unequivocally that parents should be held responsible for redressing the risk faced by their children, but only if they have the ability to influence that change. If the risk is sourced at a societal level, then the child welfare system and other allied services must be held primarily accountable for redressing the risk”

256

.

She refers to the fact that most child welfare cases in the Aboriginal families often are in regard to neglect in sense of poverty rather than for example sexual and physical abuse 257 . This gives the impression that some of the resent problems are due to bad conditions caused by poverty more that it is due to poor parental skills.

To get a picture of the contemporary situation and the intensity of inequality between the Aboriginal population and the mainstream population one has to take a look at the reserves, where the conditions in some cases are considered to be equal of those of the third world. Canada is ranked at one of the best countries in the world to live in according to the human development index

258

. In comparison the on-reserve Aboriginal population is as low as number seventy eight

259

. This shows how nearly four hundred years of colonialism has plunged many Aboriginal peoples into a condition of disarray and despair, causing multifaceted socio-economic challenges to this population group.

To mention a few, the high unemployment rate is a major cause of poverty and domestic abuse is meant to be so widespread that many Aboriginal children won’t grow up without having experienced interpersonal violence firsthand

260

. Instead of

254 (Howard, 2011 p. 128)

255 (Shera,2003 p. 106)

256 (Yellow Horn, 2011 p. 169)

257 (Yellow Horn, 2011 p. 169)

258 Measurement of life quality according to health, education and living standards.

(http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/hdi/)

259 (Fleras & Elliot, 2006 p. 167)

260 (Fleras & Elliot, 2006 pp. 172-173)

63

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 acknowledging the dire socio-economic situation in some of the Aboriginal communities, their challenges are continuously referred to as the ‘Indian problem’ and the solution is for many still based on assimilative ideas about turning them into being

‘just like us’ 261

.

From a structural perspective the fault is not on the individual, but instead the challenges are caused by a societal context where some people are excluded from the opportunities of and participation in the society

262

. Thus an important aspect to consider is how the structural levels are influencing on the Aboriginal population today, and what measures that can be done to make changes, not only on the individual and relational plan, but also in society as a whole.

Oppression through Dominant Discourses

We have seen how a more strength-based and anti-oppressive approach in CASO has moved the focus away from the deficits to a more contextual way of thinking. This change in approach and an increased cultural awareness helps the social worker to be attentive towards own prejudices and cultural differences and in that way avoid discrimination and oppression in their work and relationship with Aboriginal families.

However the Aboriginal peoples are still victims of oppression in their daily lives, in form of prejudices, discrimination and racism

263

. Cultural racism is when the majority sets dominant discourses of what normal standards are and thereby forcing other cultures and groups to adopt these values and norms in the institutional settings, where they attend their daily lives. Where institutional racism is structural barriers limiting other groups from participating in institutional services, cultural racism produces uncomforted feelings of not belonging and being abnormal compared to the majority

264

.

The mainstream society has been the one defining the identity of the Aboriginal population. This has happened through politics, discourses and media that have the control of dictating prejudices and stereotypes as truths for the majority to believe

265

.

261 (Fleras & Elliot, 2006 p. 164)

262 (Shera, 2003 p. 65)


264 (Diller, 2011 p. 52-53)

265 (Dovidio, 2010 p. 8)

64


Historically the stereotyping of Aboriginal peoples began with the protestant missionaries, creating and encouraging negative stereotypes to put their own deeds in a good light

266

. When picturing the Aboriginal peoples as bloodthirsty savages to the westerners it became easier to justify their unworthy treatment and the occupation of their land

267

. These old generalizations haven’t completely disappeared and are in a way still present in new stereotypes in today’s society. They generate an understanding that the Aboriginal peoples are to blame for their poor situation instead of acknowledging it as structural impacts and continuing oppression

268

.

Internalization of Stereotypes

Victims of oppression are often led to believe the negative views of the oppressor, which becomes an internalized oppression, and can express itself in depression, hopelessness and self-abuse 269 . Stereotypes put upon the Aboriginal peoples during the assimilation period are still believed as the truth by parts of the mainstream Canadian society. These stereotypes have become internalized into the mindset of the Aboriginal peoples and stigmatized them as drunks, lazy people and bad parents 270 .

This split and confusion between how the Aboriginal peoples see themselves and how others see them can result in difficulties in the identity development of the youth

271

. The internalization of stereotypes affects the view on own capacities and promotes a feeling of self-blaming because one hasn’t taken advantage of the opportunities that the mainstream society informs to be available for everyone

272

. Proulx gives a clear example on how rooted the stereotypes have become in society:

“The drunken Indian is ten feet tall but the sober one is invisible. No one notices all the ones that they pass that are on their way to work, on their way home, on their way to committees, whatever. No one notices those ones, but everybody notices the one that is drunk on the street

273

.

266 (Thornton, 2001 p. 13)

267 (Jackson, 2011 p. 115)

268 (Howard, 2011 p. 154-155)

269 (Shera, 2003 p. 67)

270 (Proulx, 2006 pp. 405-438)

271 (Proulx, 2003 pp. 62-66)

272 (Shera,2003 pp. 67-68)

273 (Proulx, 2003 pp. 61-62)

65


The workers of Odawa distance themselves from the negative tone from society when it comes to the Aboriginal youth and emphasize the qualities of the Aboriginal traditions and worldview:

“When it comes to being Aboriginal we talk about it in such a negative tone it seems: addiction, unemployment, no education. And there is never any positive that we say, but now being in this role there is a lot of positive that you could talk about when it comes to the Aboriginal culture and their teachings are so heartwarming I should say, but I do believe that there is still a lot of stereotypes, there is still a lot of racism out there” 274

.

The Aboriginal youth might experience cultural racism when they attend mainstream schools founded on a western set of values. Stereotypes put upon the young Aboriginal peoples intensify a feeling of alienation and exclusion from society

275

. This could lead to the expression of not belonging to, nor being welcome in the mainstream society and the feeling of being discriminated when they try to participate on equal terms with non-

Aboriginal peoples in the workforce and the schools.

Odawa recognizes the need for working with the self-esteem and self-expression of the

Aboriginal youth in order to promote positive self-images and guide them in making healthy choices about their future. An example is Wasa Nabin’s ‘I am a kind man’ workshops that help the youth develop a positive strong identity and create healthy relationships

276

. The idea comes from the seven grandfather teachings and is meant to teach the youth that violence is not a part of their culture thus help them go back to their traditional roles and responsibilities and keep away from abusive behavior

277

. The teachings are built on seven values such as for example honesty, humility and respect

278

.

This is taught by the Elders in accordance with the Circle of Courage, and is part of the reason why Odawa has Elders connected to the programs. Traditionally the Elders passed on their wisdom to the youth through storytelling and thereby helped them become independent adults

279

.




277 (Government of Ontario)

278 (Government of Ontario)

279 (Ellwood, 2007 pp. 23-24)

66


Decolonization

Another form of storytelling is expressed by Blaut, who believes the Aboriginal peoples need to free themselves from the ties of past colonialism that still exists as an oppressive factor in the mindset of the Aboriginal population. Blaut’s definition of decolonization involves that the individual becomes aware of own history meanwhile the truth about the colonial history requires to be revealed for the public; a story that according to Blaut has led to poverty rather than process

280

.

In order to modify dominant discourses and the feeling of oppression of the individual the structural perspective emphasize that changes are necessary on both individual and structural levels

281

. The exact same picture was painted by Dr. Paula du Hamel Yellow

Horn. On the individual level, she believes that the youth needs to decolonize; they need to take that oppression off them and rediscover their pride as Aboriginal peoples. It’s important for them to understand that the fault is not on them, that broader structures are the reason for their situation and that they are not determined to share the destiny and the traumas of their ancestors. They have ownership to stop it, but they have to change the way they see themselves and start working for themselves 282 . This fits well with the work in the Akwe:go program where they strive towards building up the character and self-esteem for the young Aboriginal peoples to become more resilient to the challenges they will meet in their lives.

To make changes on the structural level, Dr. Paula du Hamel Yellow Horn mentions public education as a factor that could help to improve the future possibilities for the

Aboriginal youth. Everyone in society needs to know the history of Aboriginal peoples and how socio-economic structures still affects this group. As she clearly points out:

“

The public don’t know anything. There should be mass education

” 283

. Mass-education was also mentioned by the social workers from Odawa, who believe that this would help to get rid of the stereotypes and negative discourses in society regarding Aboriginal peoples. They believe that the history and culture has to be taught in the schools, as a part of the curriculum:

280 (Chrisjohn, 1997 p. 37)

281 (Webb, 2009 p. 86)



67


“…if you had no choice but to learn about it, you would have more empathy and not see the people on the reserve as lazy bums, drinking their port having nothing to do. If you know why and what happened and you know who made it happen, you would see it differently”

284

.

A wider knowledge in society about the historical past of the Aboriginal peoples and a bigger awareness about the falsehood of stereotypes and the damages they cause would hopefully minimize the discrimination from mainstream society and thereby make it easier for the Aboriginal youth to find their place and value in mainstream society.

As mentioned stereotyping is a part of having prejudice towards a group because of absence knowledge about that group. A way to reduce prejudices is therefore to put people with different backgrounds together in intergroup contact to learn the true person behind the prejudices. As soon as people engage in a group that shares the same goals or interests, it broadens the empathy for all the people involved despite cultural differences

285

. Like the social workers of CASO have realized, contact and communication between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people is needed because it improve the attitudes toward one another. Additionally people tend to generalize their expressions to the group as a whole, so addressing this issue would help each group develop a new and better view of one another

286

.

As the name Wasa-Nabin suggests; it’s time to move forward, to create change not only for the individuals but the whole society on every level. A new relationship between

Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people has to be built to conquer the negative stereotypes created and to exterminate the discrimination in the public institutions. If

Canada is to live up to its multicultural reputation, defined as living together with differences

287

, measures has to be made on the structural levels to better include the

Aboriginal peoples in mainstream society. It is therefore

“…not a case of fixing the

Aboriginal problem as a basis for living together separately, but of fixing the relationship” 288

.


285 (Jackson, 2011 pp. 162-164)

286 (Jackson, 2011 pp. 162-164)

287 (Fleras & Elliot, 2006 p. 4)

288 (Fleras & Elliot, 2006 p. 186)

68


Summarize

We have now looked at how the perceptions are reflected in the methods used in the organizations, and how these might have encouraged to the development of new methods for the practical social work.

We have explored how the perception in CASO regarding the anti-oppressive and strength-based perspective has been employed in the methods used in the practical social work. This has been done by acknowledging that changes on a more institutional level needed to happen to avoid continuing oppression of Aboriginal youth and their families. CASO has in that way made progress so the methods reflect the overall assumptions of the two perspectives. They have now adapted ideas from the Aboriginal worldview in their perception and have thereby gained a greater cultural awareness. The organization have implemented a more community-based approach and developed the

Circle of Care as a respond to the needs of the Aboriginal community. These progresses show that there now is an understanding that the interventions need to happen in collaboration and partnership with the Aboriginal families and the Aboriginal community to assure that the families gets cultural appropriate interventions.

The importance of community is also considered in the perception of the workers in

Odawa with their focus upon community building. They wish to create a greater solidarity among the Aboriginal community and help the youth create healthy and positive relationships with peers and others from the community. This community building is what helps create a cultural identity for the Aboriginal peoples. This gives the youth a sense of belonging and feeling of coherence in relation to their personal identity development and enables them to feel good about themselves.

Odawa emphasizes how historical oppression has resulted in intergenerational trauma that has negative consequences for the youth’s identity development according to the

Aboriginal worldview. In order to address this Odawa reuses traditional methods founded in the Medicine Wheel such as the Healing Continuum Wheel in order to implement the cultural teachings in the practical social work with the youth. The holistic thinking gives the workers a better contextual understanding of not only the culture aspects, but also the larger structural aspects that has great impact on the youth.

69


Focusing on the creation of strong identities helps the youth to concur the negative stereotypes existing in mainstream society.

The perceptions and methods that we have explored all touch upon the current socioeconomic conditions, but in order to improve the situation we believe that new methods and approaches needs to be considered. It’s arguable that the methods used in Odawa are focused upon strengthening the youth’s ability to cope with the socio-economic conditions. The methods used in CASO are oriented towards institutional changes and working more community based. The use of empowerment and strength-based methods in the organizations shows that they believe in the individual’s self-determination and capacities to change. However as we have seen in the last analysis part the organizations also incorporates a more deterministic view upon the human being in their perception since they emphasize how the structures have a vast influence on the individual challenges. It becomes complicated to address the overall structures when the methods used are mainly focused on individual and community level. It is arguable that something needs to be changed on the structural level and in society as whole before their methods can make a real change for the situation of the youth. This brings back

Guldager’s theory that underlines how methods and interventions constantly have to be reevaluated and developed in accordance to one’s perception of the social challenges.

Guldager further states the consequences of social workers having a perception that is based on a narrow-minded view or theory that creates an idea that is totally off guard from reality. Guldager gives the example of the Nazi’s understanding of Jews as a threat to the Arian race, which builds the basis of the marginalization and stigmatization of the

Jews and the later attempt to annihilate them in total

289

. A similar example, which by some has been compared to holocaust, is the assimilation politics in Canada

290

. These politics were based on the belief and reasoning that the Aboriginal peoples belonged to a subordinate race why the only way to help them where to civilize them, Christianize them and “kill the Indian in him and save the man” 291

.

The above mentioned episodes are both examples of perceptions and intensions based on a highly unethical foundation. This can be seen in relation to the actions executed

289 (Guldager, 2000 p. 341)

290 (Fleras & Elliot, 2006 p. 167)

291 (Milloy, 1999 p. 27)

70

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 under the Indian Residential Schools and the Sixties Scoop which originated from a narrow-minded perception. The social workers failed to question the perception behind their own actions, and therefore didn’t consider the consequences of their actions. This again shows how crucial perceptions become for social work practice and it brings attention to the importance of ethical reflections and values in social work in order to make interventions that empower clients.


Which perceptions and methods in the practical social work with Aboriginal youth in Canada are transferable to the practical social work with young ethnic minorities in Denmark?

We will begin this third analysis part by examining why we believe the social challenges for the minority youth in respectively the Canadian and the Danish society is comparable. Throughout our field work and in our analysis of our fieldwork we have broadened our understanding of how important a perception that includes a cultural awareness is when working with ethnic minorities. Furthermore knowledge about own prejudices and prejudices of society is vital to practice social work from a nonoppressive approach. In order to understand how our findings in our research from

Canada can be transferable to the Danish social work practice, we need to look into the challenges young ethnic minorities are facing in Danish society.

In our instructions for action we will use our broadened understanding in relation to both the Canadian and the Danish society to come up with some reflections that contribute to the social work in both countries.

Comparable Challenges for Minority Youth

In this part we would like to discuss how our findings in Canada, in terms of a more culture-sensitive social work practice, can be used in a Danish context. We know that culture awareness is taught to some degree in the social work schools in Denmark, and we are aware that both on the political level and in many organizations performing social work, culture awareness is to some extent a priority. Despite of this there are still social challenges existing among ethnic minorities in Denmark where it can be argued that the roots to these challenges can be found in culture related issues. We believe it is

71

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 still possible to improve the social work in Denmark so it can participate to a better transition for the young ethnic minorities into Danish society and thereby avoid the possible arising of social challenges.

The culture related issues are particularly relevant for young ethnic minorities in

Denmark. We find that the challenges they face in the Danish society are in several ways not that different from what the young Aboriginal peoples are facing in the

Canadian society. Both groups can be seen as minority groups in society. There is no final definition of ethnic minorities in Denmark

292

, but we will look at ethnic groups in

Denmark that are minorities in society and as such are disadvantaged, underprivileged or discriminated against.

As in Canada the Danish mainstream society or majority group has to acculturate together with the ethnic minority group. Naturally there is a vast difference between being an immigrant trying to acculturate into a new country, and being an Aboriginal person trying to create a life in a society that has been placed upon them by colonial force. We are not saying that there aren’t significant differences to these two situations.

We are saying though that marginalization of and discrimination against the minority group are existing in both societies, and we see how this lack of peaceful coexistence affects the youth in many of the same ways in both Canada and Denmark.

It is arguable that the Danish government has and to some extent still do believe, similar to the politics lead by the Canadian government, that assimilation is the best way for other cultures to integrate into life in the Danish culture and society

293

. This has had negative effects on the integration of ethnic minorities into Danish society.

Bringing back the discussion about acculturation strategies and the acculturative stress related to them assimilation can lead to acculturative stress for the minority group being assimilated into the majority group

294

. Assimilation can be very stressful for ethnic minorities, since they would then have to completely forget their heritage culture. This can be particularly difficult for the ethnic minority youth who often finds themselves in between the two cultures.

292 (Skytte, 2002 p. 1)

293 (Ejrnæs, 2002 p. 8)

294 (Heine, 2008 p. 22)

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Strangers in Society

Research has especially been performed for young ethnic minorities that are of Muslim culture. They find themselves torn between the families at home who are expecting them to act according to the Muslim culture, and when they go out into Danish society, may it be to gain an education or to work, they are expected to act according to the

Danish culture

295

. Some of these Muslim youth manage to commute between the two worlds and find a way to make coherence between their heritage culture and the often very different Danish culture. They become bicultural and bilingual and as such they are able to alternate between the two cultures

296

. They become able to perform codeswitching or frame-switching according to different cultural contexts

297

. The positive sides of biculturalism was explored in our previous analysis part in relation to the

Aboriginal youth since this enables the youth to keep their heritage culture while integrating into mainstream society. As previously discussed when a person is able to combine the two cultures it becomes easier to gain a clearly defined personal identity 298 .

However not all ethnic minority children and youth in Denmark are able to create this bicultural identity where they can juggle the two cultures in their daily life. Instead they find themselves in a so called cultural vacuum, and as a result of this it becomes difficult to integrate into the Danish society

299

. The differences between the two cultures they are trying to juggle are very significant, and often the youth are forced to choose one culture over the other. This is where we find the fundamentalist youth who use religion as the strongest identifier of their heritage culture, or the assimilated youth that has adopted all Danish culture and denied their heritage culture

300

.

These negative acculturation strategies is very closely linked to feelings of being discriminated against and marginalized in society. The marginalization can be seen in connection to the structural oppression that is imposed upon the ethnic minorities by a

295 (Ejrnæs, 2002 pp. 14-15)

296 (Hedegaard, 2005 p. 197)

297 (Ejrnæs, 2002 p. 16)


299 (Sareen, 2009)

300 (Sareen, 2009)

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 discriminative labor market, inadequate education, and a general lack of equal opportunities in society compared to ethnic-Danish youth

301

.

Furthermore some of the ethnic minority youth in Denmark feel they are made into strangers of society, and they feel they are being treated as second class citizens

302

. The prejudiced stereotyping from mainstream society is a very important similarity between ethnic minority youth in Denmark and Aboriginal youth in Canada. The negative outcomes from these feelings of alienation are the same, where some of the youth end up becoming separated from the majority group and marginalized in society. This gives them little hope for a positive future in the Danish society, and it definitely does not benefit the integration process rather the opposite. These marginalized youth often end up suffering from social challenges such as crime, unemployment and drug abuse. The feelings of being made ‘a stranger’ in society are enforced by the political debate and the choice of wording in the public media. It is a fact that most Danes have little or no contact with ethnic minorities so the media dictates the public tone and the stereotypes created towards ethnic minorities 303 .

Cultural Distance

Al though it is important to look at the effects of marginalization it is also necessary to look further into the idea of being caught in between cultures. When two cultures have very different values and beliefs this makes it complicated for the youth to be able to fully participate and feel a sense of belonging in both cultures. When looking at the

Muslim people in Denmark their cultural values and traditions differ a great deal from the Danish culture and traditions. The Muslim culture has a collectivistic and to different extends a paternalistic family pattern where the family is seen as the most important and the youth is expected to act according to the best interests of the whole family

304

. This is actually not that different from the worldview in the Aboriginal culture in Canada where an individual is always a part of a greater community. The collectivistic worldview is very different from the western countries individualistic

301 (Husain, 2000 p. 10)

302

(Sareen, 2009)

303 (Hussain, 2000 p. 111)

304 (Skytte, 2002 p. 67)

74

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 family patterns where values like independence, self-realization and equality are treasured

305

. Ethnic minority youth in Denmark and Aboriginal youth struggle with the same large cultural distance between the two cultures and this complicates the acculturation process.

In the Muslim culture there are often a different view upon the roles of men and women.

Women are traditionally meant to stay at home and take care of the house and children.

This can lead to a lack of priority to give girls an education. On the other hand the boys are expected to provide for the family, and this can lead to a feeling of not living up to the expectations of the family

306

. This view upon gender roles is very different from what the youth encounter in the Danish society, and this is also why it is important to recognize that even for the youth who are able to switch between the two cultures according to the context it is still likely that they struggle with acceptance of this alternating identity from their family members. Some families might not find it necessary for a girl to gain a further education all though the norms in Danish society are that everyone needs to gain an education in order to provide for themselves. This difference in view can result in generation conflicts, which can lead to psychological stress for the youth. It may also lead to the youth distancing themselves from both school and family. A lack of a clear identity can lead to the youth finding a new identity among a group of peers where they create a collective identity as marginalized in society. These groups often end up in criminal activities and unhealthy live choices

307

.

Some of these groups are portrayed in the media and in mainstream society as

‘immigrant-gangs’ 308

, and their often criminal and violent actions create a vicious circle where the ‘immigrant-gangs’ are creating further stereotypes and negative attitudes towards immigrants in the media and among mainstream society. This again adds to the young ethnic minorities feelings of alienation and of being a stranger in society.

All this again brings back the discussion of culture-sensitive practice in the social work, and to recognize the importance of young people gaining a clear cultural identity where

305 (Skytte, 2002 p. 68)

306 (Ministeriet for flygtninge, indvandrere og integration, 2009 p. 131)

307 (Ministeriet for flygtninge, indvandrere og integration, 2009 p. 132)

308 (Borg, 2009)

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 they are able to somehow live up to the different expectations in the two cultures they are living in. Therefore it can be said that if the Danish social work aims to contribute to a better integration for ethnic minority youth into the Danish society, then the social workers has to consider the importance and influence of cultural roots when working with this particular youth group.

Political Attitude towards Ethnic Minorities in Denmark

The current government in Canada continues in many ways to oppress the Aboriginal population, all though they have acknowledged their part in the terrible history and have to an extent realized that they have to be more accepting of Aboriginal peoples and their culture. More money is now going into programs and support of Aboriginal institutions

309

. An example is Odawa who gets funding from the government.

Development of communities in the cities where Aboriginal Peoples can get together and practice their culture is definitely a small step in the right direction considering that the overall political agenda was to assimilate them completely into mainstream culture.

As mentioned previously it is arguable that the Danish government also believes assimilation is the best way for other cultures to integrate into life in the Danish culture and society

310

. As the political and public debate in Denmark also have a big influence on the young ethnic minorities we find it relevant to look deeper into what characterizes the current politics and public debate in Denmark and how this affects young ethnic minorities.

Engagement among Ethnic Minorities

The Danish society used to have a very homogenous culture. Everybody was Lutheran and there were only very small groups of ethnic minorities. However, since the 1960s the immigration of foreign workers and refugees has created substantial minority groups of people who are very different ethnically, religiously and linguistically

311

. The lack of exposure to other cultures can be one of the reasons why Denmark today is associated with relatively high levels of ethno-religious tension and comparatively little sense of

309 (Frideres, 2005 p. 230)

310 (Ejrnæs, 2002 p. 8)

311 (Kærgård, 2010 p. 470)

76

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 engagement among the ethnic minorities

312

. Engagement is an identity strategy that implies a willingness to open oneself to others. Engagement can only happen if there is a genuine attempt to communication and dialogue between the minority group and the mainstream society

313

. This can be seen in relation to the integration strategy where there is an interest in both maintaining one´s original culture, and incorporating the new culture

314

. We will argue that the current political agenda and public debate is partly to blame for the lack of engagement and integration among ethnic minorities.

Ethno-centrism

Since the nineties the Danish People’s Party has successfully managed to influence the content of the dominant discourses in an increasingly xenophobic direction, and has been able to reach a stable level of electoral support at 10-15 per cent. The Danish

People’s Party has managed to develop a new political image as the defenders of the

‘‘white Danish welfare state’’. Furthermore, they have managed to construct a new image of ethnic minorities, in particular of citizens with a Muslim background, as not only an economic burden for society, but also a cultural danger eroding the cohesion of the Danish society

315

. Danish immigration policy has become very restrictive, and the main aim has been to minimize integration

316

. This aim is clearly written in the Danish

People´s Party principle program.

“…

Denmark is not an immigrant country and has never been. We will not accept a multi-ethnic transformation of the country. Denmark is the country of the Danish people and the citizens must be able to live in a safe rule of law that evolves in accordance with

Danish culture” 317

.

The Danish People´s Party’s policy regarding ethnic minorities has had a severe impact on the political agenda in Denmark that has developed a conceptualization of the Danish culture as being superior to that of the Muslim culture

318

. One can argue that this appear similar to previous conceptions in Canada where the European culture devaluated the

312 (Azzi, 2011 p. 197)

313 (Azzi, 2011 p. 201)

314 (Heine, 2008 p. 521)

315 (Andersen, 2009 pp. 213-215)

316 (Kærgård, 2010 p. 470)

317 (Dansk Folkeparti)

318 (Andersen, 2009 p. 215)

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Aboriginal culture

319

.

The objective was to get Aboriginal peoples ‘civilised’ into the rest of the Canadian society. As mentioned the Danish People´s Party would also only accept the Danish culture in Denmark.

‘Us versus Them’

Islam has become an emerging identifier among many young Muslims in Denmark as they struggle against racism, alienation and marginalization. Young Muslims are chronically associated with a religious tradition that is under the microscope throughout the societies in which they live

320

. Young Muslim people in Denmark feel that many stereotypes about Muslims have developed. The Danish media has been an instrument in exploiting racism through framing the discourse and priming the audience

321

. The

Danish People´s Party has been portrayed heavily in the media and therefore influenced the stereotyping of Muslims, especially in the question about Muslim women, honor killings and the hijab as some of the most controversial 322 :

“…They (Muslim people) despise whatever is western, Danish or Christian. They often come with a baggage full of male chauvinism, ritual slaughtering, circumcision of girlchildren and clothes that oppress women, and other traditions that belong to the dark middle age…” 323

.

The political debate in Denmark has for years been effected of statements like the above, where Islam is seen as the antithesis of democracy, human rights and gender equalities. This has caused an attempt from the ethnic minorities to prove to the majority that Islam does indeed value these elements

324

. Therefore the particular Danish context of outspoken and institutionalized Islam phobia has at times resulted in a search for essentialist identity strategies by the minorities

325

. This identity strategy is completely opposite the engagement strategy and is viewed as a strategy that establishes clear boundaries between one self and others. This is popularly referred to as “us versus them”. This is grounded in a tendency to erect psychical barriers of security through familiar and trusted signifiers from the religion. It is an attempt to retreat from the cold

319 (Milloy, 1999 p. 37)

320 (Azzi, 2011 p. 199)

321 (Mustafa, 2000 p. 3)

322 (Mustafa, 2000 p. 3)

323 (Mustafa, 2000 p. 3)

324 (Azzi, 2011 p. 211)

325 (Azzi, 2011 p. 212)

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 hostility of mainstream society and to secure a feeling of coherence in a country that otherwise feels fragmented and threatening for the individual

326

. This identity strategy is similar to the separation strategy we discussed earlier; where individuals place a value on holding on to their original culture, and at the same time wish to avoid interaction with other cultures

327

.

Theories about stereotyping highlight that negative attitudes towards ethnic minorities and their culture can result in people wanting to find refuge in being “ethnic” which causes them to become in discrepancy with the majority in society. The outcome leads to changes in people’s self-recognition. The consequences can be that individuals start to define themselves in relation to one’s ethnic distinctive

328

. Earlier in the project this has been referred to as internalization of stereotypes. The public debate in Denmark seems to have had at least two unintended consequences. Especially the Muslim minority have reacted by becoming increasingly specific about their own cultural identity. The majority of Muslim people in Denmark were not previously very active religiously, but this picture has change and more are becoming further aware of their own values, culture and religion 329 . One can actually argue that the negative attitudes and hostility towards especially the Muslim culture have encouraged people to choose the essentialist identity or the separation strategy. Separation strategies and the marginalization strategies have in the same way been the negative effects of the politics in Canada, so one can argue that assimilation does not lead to better integration of ethnic minorities.

We believe that there are similarities in the effects of the political agenda’s in respectively Canada and Denmark. Naturally the political actions carried out towards

Aboriginal peoples in Canada are significantly different from the Danish political agenda. In Denmark it is more the political tone and public debate that has had very negative consequences for the mainstream view upon the Muslim culture. It has led ethnic minorities to believe that they are not welcome at all in Danish society. So even though our political agenda has never been as destructive as it has been in Canada, we

326 (Azzi, 2011 p. 285)

327 (Azzi, 2011 p. 285)

328 (Skytte, 2007 p. 54)

329 (Kærgård, 2010 p. 471)

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 are still in a situation where we have a group of young ethnic minorities who does not seem to be able to find their place of belonging in the Danish society.

Canada has recognized that they have made mistakes and they are trying to move forward. We believe that it is about time that Danish politicians and society becomes more accepting of Ethnic minorities in order to achieve a better integration of ethnic minorities in Denmark. In Canada they have acknowledged how important it is for the

Aboriginal peoples to have a place to practice their traditions together. It is interesting that politicians in Denmark are still at the stage where the mention of Mosques leads to heated debates about whether or not that is in consensus with our Danish values.

Cultural Social Work in Denmark

We have now touched upon the differences and equalities between the Aboriginal population of Canada and the ethnic minorities in Denmark, the political strategies and discriminative discourses in Danish society. We will now dig into how the emerging group of different ethnicities has influenced on the practices of social work. A democratic country as Denmark would be suspected to be inclusive and openminded to people of every kind, but the discussion of the ‘immigrant problem’ has only grown bigger and more intense the last decades. ‘But are we actually dealing with a cultural problem or a structural problem’? Ejrnæs goes as far as to say that Danish politics, through the constriction of the integration law, have applied poverty upon this specific group and the UNHCR 330 has actually been estimating it as discrimination against immigrants

331

. The political discourses are setting the foundation of the social work with ethnic minorities, and therefore they play a big role in how professional social workers relate to the new state of multiculturalism in Denmark. These discourses aren’t in any way neutral, which makes it important for the social workers to consider own perceptions and values in the work with ethnic minorities. In the following we will therefore look further into different factors that influence the social work with ethnic minorities in a Danish context.

330 The United Nations Commission of Human Rights.

331 (Skytte, 2007 p. 47)

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Cultural Conception

Skytte points out, among others, two specific dimensions to take into account in the social work practice with ethnic minorities. One is the cultural conception and the other is appreciation. In social work it is important to have a holistic way of thinking and to consider the context in which the user situates oneself, thus also this person’s cultural background. It is however not enough to be aware of the cultural aspect, it is also crucial to be aware of one’s perception on how the culture influences of the user’s life.

Skytte mentions three different conceptions on culture: the evolutional, the relativistic and the contextual. In the relativistic conception the culture obtains the entire focus of the social worker, hence one forgets to consider other aspects such as socio-economic factors that might influence on the challenges. This conception considers culture as a static dimension and can easily lead to the fact that the social worker explains the challenges as a characteristic in the specific user instead of explaining it in relation to external factors 332 .

An evolutionistic conception is the one presented in the resent political debate where the

Muslim culture is portrayed as less developed than the Danish culture, consisting of oldfashioned traditional believes, and therefore less valuable

333

. When judging other people on the basis of one’s own set of values and seeing deviations from the standards of one’s own culture, one becomes the victim of ethno-centrism 334

. As we have looked upon earlier in the case of CASO, distinguishing others cultures and values as abnormal to one’s own is unfortunate because it easily creates stereotypes and generalizations of the user, which can lead to oppressive practice. Both the relativistic and the evolutionistic conceptions carry the risk of discriminatory praxis where the ethnic minority is seen as someone completely different than the ethnic majority.

Finally there is the contextual conception, which can help avoid this differentiation of users. In this conception culture is something that is created in the interconnection and relationships between groups and thus are dynamic and created in the social settings one performs in

335

. This cultural conception is one that we, similar to Skytte, consider useful

332 (Skytte, 2007 p. 15)

333 (Skytte, 2007 p. 20)

334 (Diller, 2011 pp. 66-67)

335 (Skytte, 2007 p. 24)

81

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 in the work with ethnic minorities because it captures the bigger picture as for example socio-economic factors. On the basis of the findings from Canada we find it important that this cultural conception is a well-considered part of a social workers perception in the work with different ethnic groups.

Appreciative Practice

Our findings throughout the project emphasized how important it is to be respectful and appreciative of the youth’s own values and strengths and to consider cultural backgrounds in the practical social work. This is also something that is discussed in the social work practice in Denmark why Skytte talks about the duality between equality and appreciation as another dimension in social work practice. Everyone has the right to be treated equally, but sometimes an individual has to be treated differently to actually achieve the same conditions as others. According to Skytte, the social worker has a double role when working with minority groups. On the one hand, everyone should have equal rights and opportunities; on the other hand, every child requires appreciation of their individual uniqueness. This means that one should neither ignore the culture nor tend to relate culture to specific challenges

336

. An appreciative approach also takes in mind the contextual situation of the client, for instance their economic and social situation while acknowledging the diversity of specific values and standards that the families have

337

.

Appreciative praxis is one of the buzz words in social work praxis in Denmark.

Appreciation of the immigrant’s background and culture is important for that person to feel welcome and acknowledged as a unique person. If the ethnic group one identifies with is being degraded it produces negative feelings of being unworthy

338

. According to

Honneth there is a close connection between appreciation and identity

339

. Mutual appreciation in the social relations is the keyword, because of the fact that ‘I can only see myself in someone that sees me’

340

. It is therefore crucial for the practical social work that the user is able to identify oneself in the cultural conception of the social

336 (Skytte, 2007 pp. 24-26)

337 (Skytte, 2007 p. 24)

338 (Skytte, 2007 p. 95)

339 (Høilund & Juul, 2005 pp. 22-30)

340 (Høilund & Juul, 2005 p. 30)

82

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 worker, and thereby feel appreciated and recognized for this persons own beliefs

341

.

Appreciation in social work therefore becomes about helping the person develop a coherent identity built on self-esteem and self-worth

342

.

Especially when it comes to child welfare appreciation of culture, religion and ethnicity are essential when a child ends up in the middle of cultural differences between the biological family and the foster family. According to the UN’s Convention on

Children’s Rights, a child that is apprehended from its family has the right to grow up in connection to its ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background

343

. This aspect is now incorporated in the instruction of the Danish law of special support to children and youth

344 , which shows how appreciation of the child’s cultural background is a necessity in order to fulfill the rights of the child

345

. An example could be the consideration of the language of the child in order not to ignore the importance of the child having the opportunity to communicate with its birth family and interact in its ethnic communities 346 . This brings attention to the history of the apprehension of

Aboriginal children who lost knowledge of their cultural beliefs and their mother tongue and therefore became strangers for their own families. In the research of children services in Denmark it was found that little appreciation was given to the ethnic children’s family relations and the social workers in general didn’t seem to take the child’s cultural or religious background into consideration 347

. Apparently there seem to be little knowledge about placement of ethnic minority children, and social workers have shown a demand for more knowledge and specialization in the municipalities

348

.

341 (Høilund & Juul, 2005 p. 30)

342 (Høilund & Juul, 2005 p. 31-32)

343 (The UN Declaration of The Rights of The Child, art. 20, stk. 3)

344 (Skytte, 2007 p. 217)

345 (Høilund & Juul, 2005 p. 240)

346 (Skytte, 2007 pp. 225-228)

347 (Skytte, 2007 pp. 224-225)

348 (Skytte, 2002 pp. 18-19)

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Culture Creation

In a research project of families that have been in contact with ‘Døgnkontakten’ 349

the social workers encountered how the youth were not only culture carriers, but also culture creators, which meant that many of them were able to create new identities in relation to their contextual situation

350

. Bouchet had a similar experience in a project for a group of strained immigrant boys. He acknowledged that the expertise required on this area, was not so much on the different cultures as much as the cultural interplay, the actual culture clash

351

. The young ethnic minorities are in a process of creating, interpreting and changing their culture to fit their structural and social situation. This leads back to the contextual conception of cultures as dynamic and changing and shows the possibility in creating identities with a mix of different cultures. This is the overall ideas behind an alternating identity where the person is able to adapt to different cultural settings and thereby integrate different cultures in their identity 352 .

More knowledge seems to be needed on the processes of the intercultural relations in order to help the young minorities in the development of meaningful cultural identities.

Additionally the social workers must reflect on their cultural conception and recognize that culture is something that is constantly created, challenged and restored in the ethnic minority’s identity development

353 .

Considering the fact that Denmark is turning into a multicultural society, and has been for some decades, it is rather shocking that the aspect of social services for ethnic minorities has been an area greatly ignored in the praxis of research

354

.

A lacking cultural awareness in the social work with ethnic minorities can be extremely troublesome since ethnocentric beliefs and stereotypes may easily intervene with the services provided and in the relationship between worker and client. The dominant discourses in media and politics along with the limited knowledge about the immigrants have all contributed to paint the picture of immigrants as a threat to the Danish society.

These discourses in society give the impression that the social challenges ethnic minorities face are related to the ethnicity of the person and not related to socio-

349 ‘Døgnkontakten,’ now under the name ‘Døgnvagten,’ is a place for young people who need urgent counseling or support. (http://www.doegnkontakten.dk d. 04.12.11)

350 (Skytte, 2002 p. 8)

351 (Skytte, 2002 p. 14)

352 (Kitayama, 2007 p. 330)

353 (Møller & Skytte, 2004 p. 137)

354 (Skytte, 2002 p. 1)

84

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 economic factors in society. One can therefore argue that this disguises the fact that a big part of the so-called “ethnic problems” actually are no more than ordinary social challenges

355

. The importance of cultural awareness has been emphasized throughout the project, all though it is crucial that the perception of the social worker is not based on a narrow-minded relativistic conception of culture, but instead on a holistic point of view that encapsulates the situation in its entirety.

Ethical Reflection and Instructions for Actions

In this section we will reflect on the knowledge we have gained during our research. We have found that Canada have a social work practice where they really consider being cultural aware, and where they have developed methods that is suited for the social challenges that Aboriginal youth face in contemporary society. However we have also discovered that the social work with this group continues to face obstacles that need to be addressed in order to meet the needs of the target group. Many of the specific methods used in Odawa and in the CASO have been developed in order to meet the specific needs of Aboriginal peoples’ tradition and culture. Therefore the methods cannot be transferred directly to the practical social work in a Danish context. However the overall ideas and thoughts behind working with these methods and with this cultural awareness can definitely be transferred to Danish social work carried out with ethnic minorities. This is what we aim to do in this section by looking at transferable perceptions and methods from Canada.

Finding a Balance

We came into this project with a preconception focused on the importance of getting connected to cultural roots in order for the young Aboriginal peoples to be able to juggle different cultures in modern Canadian society. During the research we realized that this preconception needed to be renewed to include other aspects that influence on the development of social challenges among this population group.

The Friendship Centers are meant to work as a substitute from the communities in the reserves, helping to provide cultural support to the Aboriginal peoples moving to the cities. The question is though if this contributes to an inclusion in mainstream society or the opposite? This is an important factor to keep in mind to ensure that the strong

355 (Togeby, 2003 p. 266)

85

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 community ties don’t become a hindrance in the integration progress of the young

Aboriginal people.

It is important to be aware that creating strong connections and feelings within a particular group might lead to prejudices against groups that don’t share the same ideas and values

356

. We have discussed the stereotyping and discrimination from mainstream society and the affects this has on the Aboriginal youth, but it also important that the solidarity in the Aboriginal communities doesn’t create a resistance and possible negative attitude the other way. It’s a natural mechanism to connect with people similar to one self and therefore separate oneself from people who are different. This can easily lead to the feeling of other groups as a threat because the separation makes communication difficult and contributes to misunderstanding

357

.

It could lead to an unintentional outcome where the Aboriginal youth become more strongly connected to own culture, but at the same time further disconnected to the mainstream society. In the fear of this leading to separation strategies and the negative consequences this brings to the youth, it is in our opinion crucial to the social work that it considers how the youth can create connections in both cultural settings.

Therefore we find that it is important for the social workers when working with ethnic minorities to be aware of the effects of different acculturation strategies in order to help the youth gain the best outcome which in our opinion would include a bicultural aspect where the youth are able to fully participate and feel a sense of belonging in both cultures. As the following quote demonstrates, this strategy is combined with a state of psychological well-being:

Research evidence clearly demonstrates that those who prefer, and are able to achieve biculturation are generally those with relatively good mental health and a positive cultural identity

358

.

As touched upon earlier especially the Muslim youth in Denmark struggle with finding a consistent personal identity from which they are able to identify themselves both with their heritage culture and the Danish culture. In our opinion it is therefore significant that the Danish social workers consider the importance connections to cultural roots

356 (Jackson, 2011 p. 171)

357 (Diller, 2011 p. 37)

358 (Berry, 1999 p. 8)

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 have on the development of a coherent identity for the ethnic minority youth in

Denmark since this is so closely related to the integration into the Danish culture. We believe that the Danish integration politics focus too much upon how the ethnic minorities should incorporate the Danish norms and values. Instead we believe in relation to our findings from Canada that it is important to find a balance between the two cultures and not put the youth in a position where they have to choose between the two. Therefore the link between cultural connection and integration is a factor that needs to be taken into account in the perceptions of the social workers.

Approaches in the Practical Social Work

We have come to realize that the interventions done in the practical social work with young people have a significant influence on the identity development for particularly ethnic minority youth. Social workers need to be aware of how the approaches employed in their work have a crucial effect on the youth’s sense of self-esteem and psychological well-being. Thus we believe that the best outcomes are when the social worker is able to work from approaches that are appreciative, strength-based and antioppressive. These approaches focus on empowering the client by acknowledging their values, beliefs, strengths and at the same time they take into consideration the broader context which influences on the social challenges of the client. Especially in the work with young ethnic minorities in Denmark it is significant that the social worker encapsulates the views and perspective of the youth in the interventions. In our opinion it is therefore vital that the perception of the social workers considers the importance of applying an approach that contains the empowering aspects of the three approaches mentioned above. Oppression has been a huge topic throughout the project and the emphasis on non-oppressive practice is therefore of high value. We believe that oppression in the interpersonal relationship need to be taken into consideration in order not to impose own values and beliefs upon the young ethnic minorities and thereby unconsciously oppress their culture. This is in consensus with the international code of ethics that emphasizes the obligation to focus on identifying and developing strengths in all individuals, groups and communities and thus promote their empowerment

359

.

359 (International Federation of Social Work, Principle 4.1 4)

87


In relation to the above it comes to mind that the term used for social challenges in

Danish social work is ‘social problems’ and therefore one could say that this in itself shows a focus upon problems instead of challenges that can be overcome by encouraging the persons strengths and capacities for change.

At the same time the social worker must distinguish between being cultural aware, but not culturally narrow-minded as in the relativistic conception of culture. It is important to distinguish between cultural related and structural related social challenges. This can be very difficult to do in the practical social work. Therefore we believe it is of high value for the social workers to receive cultural awareness training in order to be able to identify the cultural related challenges of the specific target group, and be able to differentiate these from the structural related challenges. We saw how the organizations in Canada provide cultural awareness training to staff both so they get more knowledge about the values and worldviews of the specific culture, but also so they are able to in understand the history of colonization in relation to current social challenges among this population group. Furthermore we saw how they in CASO have decided to employ specific teams that work with the Aboriginal children and their families in order to ensure that they receive the right cultural appropriate interventions. We believe that both cultural awareness and specific teams targeted at a certain ethnic group could be something to consider in Danish organizations that work with ethnic minorities to meet the needs of the growing multicultural population.

Advocating

As we have touched upon earlier people are not necessarily the cause of their social challenges and therefore not always the appropriate target for change, thus changes are needed on the structural level to challenge social conditions that contribute to social exclusion

360

. During our time in Canada we realized that a lot of the work the organizations do is in order to strengthen the individual to be able to handle discrimination and structural injustices in society. However it appeared that there isn’t an equally focus upon advocating for overall structural changes that could have positive influence on the young Aboriginal peoples’ situation. To enhance changes on the


88

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 structural level the social worker needs to enlighten the society of structural inequalities and political injustices. This can be done through advocating, which is a part of antioppressive practice. As stated in the International Code of Ethics, social workers have a responsibility to challenge unjust policies and practices:

“Social workers have a duty to bring to the attention of their employers, policy makers, politicians and the general public situations where resources are inadequate or where distribution of resources, policies and practices are oppressive, unfair or harmful”

361

.

We find in general social workers often resort to a feeling of hopelessness when faced with political and socio-economic injustices and instead of advocating for change they accept these injustices as barriers they need to put up with. We believe that social workers in both Canada and Denmark needs to remember that advocating for changing overall structures in society is a important part of the social work profession.

In continuation of advocating social workers need to be the spokesmen of the disadvantaged and therefore become more involved in the public debate in media and politics in order to confront the negative discourses in society. As mentioned earlier the public opinion towards ethnic minorities is very important in terms of the integration of ethnic minority groups. A change in the mainstream view upon Aboriginal peoples and ethnic minorities is a necessity in respectively Canada and Denmark in order to change the negative tone that marks the political debate. Previously it was discussed how

Denmark have been a homogenous population for its entire existence and one could argue that Denmark need to learn to accommodate and adapt to the presence of visibly different and culturally diverse citizens who use religious and ethnic identifiers to express themselves

362

. The Canadian social workers expressed a need for mass education in the mainstream society and we believe this could also be of high relevance in a Danish context where there appears to be a general lack of knowledge about the cultures of ethnic minorities which have led to a dominant discourse categorized by stereotyping.


362 (Husain, 2000 p. 11)

89


From Perception to Praxis

We have found during our research that it is important to be aware of own perception as a social worker however this perception changes in line with the discovery of new knowledge, and this should help to the development of methods that is in consensus with the perception. Especially when it comes to diverse or ‘wild’ social challenges no fixed methods can be employed, and the methods should therefore be ever changing and evolving in line with the new found knowledge and perception. This is why Guldager emphasizes how perceptions are essential to social work, and how the perception should be dialectic in that both theoretical knowledge and experience from praxis is incorporated in the perception

363

. The social workers should question own experiences in order to continue improving and developing the practical social work.

Yet it is often very difficult for the individual social worker to apply the perception completely in the practical social work since the perception would always be very broad and extensive making it complicated to ensure that every aspect is considered in the social work praxis.

In addition to that the social worker will always be working within an organizational framework that has certain procedures and time-limits which could make it complicated for the social worker to fully consider every aspect in this person’s work all though an intention to implement a broad perception might be there. Overall it can be said that it isn’t always easy to apply these well-founded perceptions in the practical social work, but as social worker we should always strive to do so.

Conclusion

How do Canadian social workers’ perceptions of social challenges for Aboriginal youth influence the social work methods applied with this group, and can we use these perceptions and methods to get a broader understanding of the practical social work with ethnic minority youth in Denmark?

In the research for this project we realized how complex and broad the social workers perceptions are. This results in perceptions including many different aspects in order to

363 (Guldager, 2000 p. 334)

90

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 fully grasp the social challenges of the Aboriginal youth. The social workers possess perceptions that partly include a cultural psychological perspective in that they consider culture as an important part of the identity development. Belonging to a cultural group and having a clear cultural identity is very significant in relation to the personal identity development.

The cultural identity has been denied and oppressed through the historical oppression and the assimilation politics led towards the Aboriginal peoples. The social workers believe that intergenerational trauma caused by this history has resulted in identity confusion among the young Aboriginal peoples, and this makes it difficult for the youth to juggle the two cultures in their daily life. In order to address this issue organizations like CASO have become more culturally aware thus developed and implemented methods from the Aboriginal worldview in the work with the youth to help them regain connection to their cultural roots. Therefore CASO has incorporated holistic methods such as the Touchstones of Hope and the Circle of Care. Aboriginal organizations like

Odawa use the teachings of the Medicine Wheel together with other traditional practices such as dancing, sweats and Elder teachings.

These findings are in line with our original preconception that stated how connection to cultural roots contributes to integration into mainstream society. However by using cultural psychological theories in our analysis we became conscious that the integration process requires openness towards both cultures and therefore we believe that the practical social work needs to consider this. When the minority youth feels integrated in both cultures this has a preventive effect in that it helps the youth to become self confident about own lives and to make healthy choices for their future. Finding a way to live not in between the cultures, but instead being competent and comfortable with both cultures is a way to become more resistant towards social challenges. This made us realize that a focus upon integration of ethnic minority youth through participation and membership is also very important in a Danish social work context so we don’t end up losing a young generation. In relation to this appreciative praxis comes to mind. For the ethnic youth to feel included in mainstream society the social workers need to be more appreciative of cultural backgrounds and religions. The social workers need to have an

91

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 understanding of the difference it can make for the youth when the methods are nonoppressive and reflect the youth’s own values, beliefs and goals for their lives.

In our project we established that the social worker’s perception also included the structural perspective in shape of not only the historical oppression, but also a focus upon current oppression in society and the impacts of the continuing discrimination and stereotyping from mainstream society. This emphasis of current structural oppression renewed our original preconception in that we gained knowledge about how oppression is present on different levels why anti-oppressive practice becomes crucial for the social work. The history of child welfare has caused CASO to implement an anti-oppressive perspective in their perceptions and this shows in the methods developed in the organization. The methods focus upon empowerment and including the community in the work with the young Aboriginal peoples and their families. This is closely related to their use of the strengths perspective in that this perspective seeks to find the capacities and strengths both in the individual and in the surroundings. Specifically CASO have developed specific teams in order to meet the needs of the different Aboriginal groups.

This is something that could be transferable to a Danish context where designated teams with specific knowledge targeted towards certain ethnic groups would ensure cultural appropriate interventions.

In Odawa there was also a focus upon the strength perspective in that they search for strengths and capacities in the youth to enable them to cope with stereotypes put upon and racism against them. They therefore aim to strengthen the self-esteem and psychological well-being of the youth so they become able to challenge the prejudiced views of mainstream society. Acknowledgment of the fact that stereotyping and discrimination has a significant influence on the self images of the youth is something the social workers in Denmark also need to have in mind.

In our analysis we realized, all though the perceptions were centered on structural oppression, the methods employed in the organizations were mainly targeted towards the individual and community level. In our opinion the methods lacked a focus upon making overall socio-economic changes in society. We were able to see some

92

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 comparable factors in Denmark and Canada when it comes to the socio-economic structures where the ethnic minority youth in Denmark also experience discrimination and racism through the public debate. Therefore there is in our opinion a real need for the social workers in both countries to advocate for changes in overall structures in society. A part of the social workers’ perceptions was that mass-education is necessary in order for the mainstream society to gain a better understanding of the Aboriginal culture and of the past history. The same can be said in relation to the Danish society where a greater knowledge about ethnic minorities could lead to a change of tone in the public debate which again could work as a favor for integration.

Even though a well-founded perception is essential for social work practice it is however not always possible to act according to the perception in the daily praxis in the organizations. The social worker might have a perception that is culture-sensitive and considers non-oppressive and empowerment oriented praxis, but legislation and organizational structures can be a hindrance. That being said the social worker should always strive to incorporate the thoughts behind the perception as much as possible in their praxis.

Throughout the project we have as future professional social workers realized the value of being conscious about own perception, and how much this can influence on the interventions with the clients. Own actions have a great impact on the outcome for the people you work with in the social work, and it is crucial to be aware of whether one’s actions unconsciously leads to further oppression or if they contribute to the development of peoples capacities. Furthermore our role as a social worker is not only about the social work with individuals, but also about making an effort to change injustices in society.

Suggestions for Further Research

We have described how a long and dark history of colonialism in Canada has had negative outcomes for the Aboriginal population to this time. It would be of great ignorance if we led this stand as a unique incident that only happened in this part of the world. All over the globe colonial powers has taken control over indigenous lands and forced upon the indigenous people to settle with another culture and mindset. This is no

93

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 exception in Danish history why we will put the Danish colonialism of Greenland into perspective.

Our own backyard

To look at the impacts of colonialism it would not have been necessary to travel all the way to Canada, we could have started in our own backyard, or more precisely

Greenland. Since 1720 Denmark had the colonial power over Greenland, and in 1953 it became an integral part of Denmark where a modernization of the country and the so called ‘Danization’ period began. Many Danish and Greenlandic politicians were striving for development and progress, which for many involved the necessity to switch to more Danish standards

364

. For example the politician Augo Lynge commented in the

Greenlandic newspaper that ‘he wished to make a decent Danish citizen out of the

Greenlander’

365

. The popular discourse was that the only way forward for the

Greenlandic society was to raise the children in a Danish environment with the Danish language, norms and values.

Therefore, in 1951, twenty two children were placed in foster care in Denmark, to be raised and schooled in the Danish culture. This was in order to create new strong elites in the Greenlandic society. Originally it was meant to be only children without parents, but because there weren’t sufficient orphans also children with single parents were picked out. The families were convinced that they couldn’t take proper care of their children, and not all were told the truth about where the children were going. After a year in Danish foster families the children returned to Greenland, but had now forgotten their mother tongue. Instead of going back to their families they were installed in an orphanage in Nuuk and never returned to their families again. For the twenty two children and their families this was a traumatic experience which made it very difficult for the children to identify with neither of their two cultures. For many this split between cultures ended up in severe identity issues

366

. Equal parallels can therefore be drawn between the Danish and Canadian colonization period. All though the Canadian history was much more pronounced both cases started out from the best intensions, but

364 (Petersen, 2005)

365 (Bryld, 2010 p. 11)

366 (Bryld, 2010 p. 11)

94

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 ended up with tragic consequences for the people involved. It would be interesting to explore social challenges among Greenlander’s living in Denmark today, and how differences between the Greenlandic culture and the Danish culture might create the same difficulties as what has been discussed in relation to ethnic minorities in this project.

Critical Reflection

We have chosen to answer our thesis statement with the help of definite theories and a specific view of human beings and of society. As a result of this we have reached a certain outcome. We are conscious about the consequences of our choices, and that the result could have been different, if we had intended for another view upon the world and had used theories with another focus.

The use of a hermeneutic approach to the collection and analyzing of the empirical data has had great influence on the outcome of the project in that we have made interpretations of the empirical data, and from that selected specific theories and perspectives upon which we based the project. Others might have had other interpretations than we have had and thereby chosen different theories and perspectives.

Furthermore the literature employed throughout the project is characterized by the authors’ view upon human beings and the creation of social challenges, which in that way has influenced the direction of our project. If we had chosen a different view upon human being and of society this could have led to a different choice of literature, which again would have affected the direction of the project.

Seeing that we throughout the project have a focus upon how socio-economic structures in society affect the individual we could also have chosen to base our project on sociological theories about social deviation as a result of inequality in society. Merton talks about how social deviation can be a normal reaction among certain groups in society if the structures in society make it difficult for this particular group to attain the overall goals and values of mainstream society. He talks about four strategies as a response to not having available legitimate measures in order to adapt to society

367

. However since our project is centered on

367 (Niklasson, 2002 p. 281)

95

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 the effects of culture clash we thought it was more relevant to use Berry’s four acculturation strategies which namely looks upon what happens when different cultures meet.

The results of this project might not be completely transferable to practice, but they can serve as a call for reflection regarding the practical social work. The challenges examined is by no means exhaustive, however our suggested instructions for action can be used as an inspiration to meet the challenges faced in Danish social work with ethnic minority youth.

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Glossary

1.

Aboriginal Community: The term Aboriginal community will in the project refer to Aboriginal peoples living in an urban context. It is not a geographical area, since the community is not a place where Aboriginal peoples live together.

The term refers to Aboriginal service providers, extended family, the neighbourhood, cultural events such as art making, dancing and music

368

. This means that what defines the Aboriginal community is the communication between beliefs, spirituality and culture that brings Aboriginal peoples together

369

.

2.

Aboriginal peoples: The descendants of the original inhabitants of North

America. There are three Aboriginal groups in Canada namely First Nation,

Inuit and Métis. The terms Indian and Eskimo have been replaced by respectively First Nation and Inuit. The Métis population refers to people of mixed European and Aboriginal ancestry

370

. We draw upon the Royal

Commission on Aboriginal Peoples’ definition which describes Aboriginal peoples as referring to the various indigenous groups in Canada here under the three groups mentioned above

371

. We decided to look upon all three groups since we in our project will not be distinguishing between the different indigenous groups. Therefore we have applied the term Aboriginal peoples so as to cover all three indigenous groups throughout the project.

3.

Ethnic minority: An ethnic group refers to the description of the identity of a group of individuals who see themselves as belonging to a certain cultural affiliation because of their identification with a common language, ancestry, homeland and historical and cultural symbols

372

. A minority group can be described as the sociological concept that refers to any group that is disadvantaged, underprivileged or discriminated against from the majority

368 (Proulx, 2003 p. 165)

369 (Proulx, 2003 p. 165)

370 (Browne, 2009 p. 8)

371 (Browne, 2009 p. 8)

372 (Fleras & Elliott, 2002 p. 268)

97

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 group

373

. We have applied the term ethnic minorities for people who identify as belonging to a specific culture and furthermore are underprivileged in society and discriminated by the majority.

4.

Intergenerational trauma: Intergenerational or multi-generational trauma happens when the effects of trauma are not resolved in one generation. When trauma is ignored and there is no support for dealing with it, the trauma will be passed from one generation to the next. What we learn to see as "normal" when we are children, we pass on to our own children. The unhealthy ways of behaving that people use to protect themselves can be passed on to children, without them even knowing they are doing so

374

. This is similar to the Danish term ‘social arv’ (Inherent Trauma).

5.

Integration: An ambiguous term, which makes it important to clarify its definition. With no clear reference point it makes it difficult to decide however people are integrated into society or not 375 . We will use Kristensen’s definition of integration as a feeling of belonging to and an ability to fully participate in society both politically, socially and economically

376

. However where

Kristensen tends to avoid cultural adaption as a factor in her definition of integration, we will emphasize how integration can imply cultural adaption in the sense of different cultures living together in an united society instead of being about assimilating one culture into the other.

6.

Mainstream Society: Mainstream society will refer to the modern western society.

7.

Multiculturalism: A set of ideas and practices for engaging diversity as different yet equal for the purpose of ‘living together with differences’ 377

.

373 (Fleras of Elliot, 2002 p. 271)

374 (Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1995 p.22-23)

375 (Tinor-Cemti, Shehzad, Kjær & Mandrup, 2010, p. 75-77)

376 (Egemose, 2009 p. 8-9)

377 (Fleras & Elliot, 2002 p. 272)

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8.

Non-Aboriginal: We use the term non-Aboriginal when referring to people that does not identify as Aboriginal.

9.

Perception of social challenges (problemforståelse): Guldager’s term for the knowledge, preconception and experience that lies behind the social worker’s view upon the social challenges. In the project we use the term ‘perception’ referring back to ‘perception of social challenges’.

10.

Reserve: This term refer to land that is set aside by the federal government for

Aboriginal peoples. Though the government owns the land, the particular

Aboriginal group who lives on the land is responsible for managing it. Reserves are where the majority of Aboriginal peoples have grown up among family and friends in the community, so when they move to the cities the reserve often still provide a place of belonging for Aboriginal peoples 378 .

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Mit barn er anbragt - etniske minoritetsforældres fortællinger

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Retrieved September 6,

2011, from http://www.odawa.on.ca/programs/akwego.htm

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September 6, 2011, from http://www.odawa.on.ca/programs/wasa-nabin.htm

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+Etniske+unge+i+kulturelt+vakuum

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105


Appendix outline

Appendix 1: Approval of Thesis Statement

Appendix 2: Original Thesis Statement

Appendix 3: Interview Guide Odawa

Appendix 4: Extract from Interview with Odawa

Appendix 5: Interview Guide CASO 1

Appendix 6: Extract from Interview with CASO 1

Appendix 7: Meeting at CACE 25 th

of October 2011

Appendix 8: Circle of Courage

Appendix 9: Touchstones of Hope

Appendix 10: Executive Summary

Appendix 11: Healing Continuum Wheel

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Appendix 1: Approval of Thesis Statement

Formular til godkendelse af bachelorprojektets problemstilling

Studerendes navn(e): Maiken Them Simonsen, Lene Boe Kjeldsen og Christine

Kjeldgaard Pejstrup

Hold: 08II int

Projektets emne/ titel: Bachelorprojekt i Ottowa - Canada

Problemstilling: Som du har beskrevet i problemstilling af dato: 10. juni 2011

Problemstillingen godkendes hermed

Begrundelse for godkendelse:

 Det er et relevant emne og projektet gennemføres med anvendelse af videnskabelig metode.



Projektet inddrager praksis og gennem projektet kan de studerende erhverve sig kvalifikationer inden for socialrådgivning og socialt arbejde

 Med det skitserede projekt vurderes I at kunne gennemføre et bachelorprojekt, der kan leve op til målene med uddannelsen.



Projektets teoretiske forankring/teoretiske kvalifikation forekommer relevant.



I skal leve op til et krav om nationale/internationale perspektiveringer: Det vurderes, at I har taget højde herfor.

 Problemstillingen er formuleret tilstrækkeligt åbent, så den både kan være et styringsredskab og samtidig skabe mulighed for konkretisering af fokusområder, når kontakter til praksis og kontekstforståelse konkretiseres og tydeliggøres gennem forløbet.

Eventuelle anbefalinger:



Problemformulering ser fornuftig ud, dog kan den konkretiseres ift 1.1 ”… den teoretiske viden på området”, det kan være meget bredt.

 Konkretiser og underbyg jeres problemforståelse med faglige kilder. Det er vigtigt, at I benytter jer af litteratur vedr. aboriginals, ikke mindst redegør for,

107

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 hvorfor I italesætter målgruppen som ’aboriginals’ frem for som indianere.

Udtrykket ’aboriginals’ dækker også inuiterne i Canada. Er det den brede eller den snævre målgruppe, I vil beskæftige jer med. Præciser i givet fald, hvilken og hvorfor. Hvorfra har I f.eks., at et ”patriarkalsk autoritært kønsrollemønster”først blev indført med den europæiske kolonisering (s.2)



Overvej hvordan I vil operationalisere 1.3; hvordan vil I vurdere brugbarheden?

Hvad forstås som inspiration i denne sammenhæng – og overfor hvilke danske målgrupper?

 Bliv tydeligere på, hvad der præger jeres hypoteser, når jeres mål er at arbejde hypotetisk deduktivt, f.eks. samfundsforståelser, teori, værdier. Det vil gøre det lettere at arbejde med hypoteserne.

 Vær opmærksom på at begrunde og udvælge brugen af begreber og teori f. eks. hvorfor vælges begrebet social arv ud fra jeres forforståelser/hypoteser frem for andre som f.eks. social eksklusion. Begrebet social arv kan med fordel nuanceres og dermed gøres mere komplekst.

 Arbejd med sproglig forbedring af jeres tekst og mere præcise formuleringer.

Aarhus, den 22.juni 2011

Hovedvejleder: Bivejleder:

108


Appendix 2: Original Thesis Statement

Indledning

De canadiske Aboriginals er en udsat befolkningsgruppe, der lider under store sociale problemer. Efter europæernes kolonialisering af Nordamerika oplevede de indfødte at blive fordrevet fra deres land, frataget deres rettigheder, og at deres kultur blev fornægtet. Mange års marginalisering af denne befolkningsgruppe har ført til svære levevilkår og en udtalt fattigdom, hvilket kommer til udtryk i en udtalt arbejdsløshed, familievold, selvmord, psykiske problemer, misbrug og lignende sociale problemer blandt denne befolkningsgruppe.

Den europæiske kolonialisering medførte et mandsdomineret samfund, som især undertrykte de indfødte kvinder. Dette mønster blev med tiden overført til de

Aboriginals egne kønsrollemønstre. I dag ses dette patriarkalske autoritære kønsrollemønster stadig i de indfødtes familier.

Vi overvejer om de unge mandlige Aboriginals under deres barndom socialiseres ind i dette kønsrollemønster og de familieværdier dette medfører, og det dermed spiller en rolle i udviklingen af de sociale problemer der kommer til udtryk i voldelig adfærd.

Problemet er dog mere komplekst, idet denne gruppe tilhører en marginaliseret befolkningsgruppe, der lever under ofte meget fattige levevilkår. Dette medfører en følelse af afmagt og frustration i forhold til de unges egne fremtidsudsigter omkring arbejde og økonomisk sikkerhed. Vi overvejer om denne form for sociale arv også spiller en stor rolle i udviklingen af de sociale problemer.

Vi vil i vores opgave tage udgangspunkt i at de unge indfødte mænd kan ses som ’ofre’ for deres sociale arv. Vores problemforståelse er dermed at den sociale arv spiller en stor rolle for de unge mænds udvikling af sociale problemer.

Det vi gerne vil undersøge i vores opgave er, hvilken problemforståelse de profesionelle canadiske socialarbejdere, der arbejder med målgruppen, har af de unge mandlige

Aboriginals sociale problemer. Vi vil gerne undersøge, hvorvidt deres problemfortsåelse stemmer overens med vores hypotese, da vi er klar over at vores forståelse stammer fra

109

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 et skandinavisk perspektiv og menneskesyn, og at de derfor kan have et anderledes udgangspunkt.

Problemforståelse dækker i vores forståelse over den baggrundsviden og forforståelse man møder målgruppen med. Dette mener vi har stor betydning for det sociale arbejde, i det det netop er med baggrund i denne problemforståelse, at man udfører til praktiske sociale arbejde samt iværksætter og tilrettelægger det praktiske sociale arbejde. Efter vores opfattelse skal formålet med projekterne udspringe af en faglig og velbegrundet viden om målgruppen, og deres sociale problemer, samt hvorledes det er muligt at indvirke positivt på deres nuværende situation. Vi mener dermed, at problemforståelsen er hele baggrunden for det professionelle sociale arbejde, og at man i problemforståelsen kan hente den faglige viden for det praktiske sociale arbejde.

Problemformulering

Hvilken problemforståelse har de canadiske social arbejdere om de unge mandlige Aboriginals sociale problemer, og hvordan påvirker denne problemforståelse indsatserne i det praktiske sociale arbejde med denne målgruppe?

1.1

Hvordan kan de canadiske socialarbejderes problemforståelse af de unge mandlige aboriginals sociale situation ses i forhold til den teoretiske viden på området?

1.2

Hvordan indtænkes de canadiske socialarbejderes problemforståelse i den sociale indsats med målgruppen?

1.3

Hvordan kan de canadiske socialarbejderes problemforståelse og målretning af indsatserne være brugbar til inspiration i en dansk kontekst?

110


Teori

Hvad kan være en forklaring på den høje koncentration af sociale problemer hos de unge mandlige Aboriginals i Canada? Hænger det sammen med den dobbeltrolle, der befinder sig mellem den traditionelle indianske levemåde overfor det moderne samfunds krav? Handler det om en marginalisering fra samfundet som afvigere, der ikke lever op til samfundets normer? Bunder problemet i kulturelle mønstre eller fattigdommens grimme ansigt? Er det et individualistisk eller samfundsskabt problem?

For at kunne finde løsninger og handlemuligheder overfor et socialt problem er det nødvendigt at forstå hvilke faktorer der ligger bag årsagen til problemet. Som antydet ovenfor er der utallige måder, hvorpå man kan anskue den sociale situation hos de unge

Aboriginals. Den ene er ikke nødvendigvis mere rigtig end den anden, men der knytter sig en bestemt indsats til den måde hvorpå man anskuer problemet, og derfor er det vigtigt at overveje sin problemforståelse inden man sætter en indsats i gang. I arbejdet med ’Vilde problemer’ er der ikke nogen fast procedure og klar løsning, og det kan derfor være nødvendigt at inddrage flere forskellige perspektiver på problemerne.

”Vurderingen af, hvorvidt den bedste løsning er opnået afhænger af, hvilken opfattelse af problemet, den der vurderer indsatsen har” (Krogstrup,1999:107).

Guldagers model

Guldager finder at problemforståelsen er noget af det mest væsentlige i det sociale arbejdes metode. I problemforståelsen ligger nemlig både socialrådgiverens menneske- og samfundssyn, men også socialrådgiverens egen forforståelse og erfaring som man må være bevidst om. ”metoder kan ikke være hensigtsmæssige i sig selv; de kan alene være hensigtsmæssige i forhold til, hvorledes anvendelsen af dem indvirker på de sociale problemer.” 379

Guldager fremhæver vigtigheden af metoderationalitet, hvor en mulig metode analyseres ud fra den givne problematik, aktørerne og systemet.

Man kan derfor ikke forvente, at kunne bruge de samme metoder og problemforståelse over for eksempelvis nycanadiere og indfødte. Vi vil i denne opgave prøve at belyse de problemforståelser, der ligger bag indsatsen med de unge Aboriginals i Canada, og om der er en sammenhæng mellem problemforståelse og metode.

379 Guldager, 2000 s. 8

111


Social arv – deprivationscirklen og ulighedscirklen

Begrebet social arv har været et meget omdiskuteret emne inden for det sociale arbejde, og er blevet kritiseret for at være en for deterministisk måde at anskue mennesket på.

Vi vælger at betragte den sociale arv som en ond cirkel; som en proces hvor mange faktorer spiller ind i en fastholdelse og gentagelse af det givne problem. Den onde cirkel kan beskrives på to måder, som en ’deprivationscirkel’ og en ’ulighedscirkel’. Den sociale arv ud fra Deprivationscirklen lægger vægt på de individualistiske faktorer, hvor dårlig socialisering i familien er skyld i at problemerne videreføres til næste generation.

Denne forståelse af den sociale arv menes af Sven Aage Andersen, at være meget fremherskende som årsagsforklaring i befolkningen og måske endda hos mange socialrådgivere. Ud fra ulighedscirklen står den individualistiske forklaring ikke alene, men kobles med en mere strukturel forståelse, hvor samfundets ulighed i form af lønninger, uddannelse og arbejdsmuligheder spiller en betydelig rolle på de individuelle valgmuligheder.

380 Vi tager afstand fra det deterministiske billede af at børns problemer udelukkende kan blameres dårlige forældre og læner os derfor op af ulighedscirklen i en hypotetisk deduktiv tilgang.

Empiri

Vores empiriske data vil vi indsamle gennem interviews. Vi vil istandsætte interviews med omkring 3-5 socialarbejdere, der arbejder med målgruppen i sociale projekter eller lignende. Vi vil muligvis også inddrage socialrådgivere fra offentlige forvaltninger, der arbejder med målgruppen. Vi håber at vi gennem de kvalitative interviews kan danne os et billede af de canadiske socialarbejdernes problemforståelse, og hvorledes disse problemforståelser finder anvendelse i det praktiske sociale arbejde med vores målgruppe. Vi vil også anvende empiri og interview data fra allerede udført forskning udført indenfor feltet.

Det blev hurtigt klart for os, at det ikke vil være en mulighed at interviewe og indsamle data direkte fra de unge mænd i målgruppen. Dette bunder i flere overvejelser. For det første, så overvejede vi tidligt i forløbet de udfordringer vi ville møde alene grundet vores køn, etnicitet og unge alder. Vi forudså at vi grundet vores køn og unge alder ville få meget svært ved at opnå det ønskede resultat i en eventuel interview situation med

380 Andersen, 2010 s.14-15

112

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 målgruppen. Vores research omkring målgruppen har gjort det klart at disse unge mænd ofte har meget lille respekt for kvinder, samt at de muligvis ville føle det meget krænkende at skulle interviewes af tre kvinder. Vores kontakt på Ottawa University i

Canada har ydermere givet udtryk for, at der er et generelt svagt tillidsforhold mellem canadas Aboriginal befolkning, og folk der ønsker at ’studere’ dem grundet den lange historie. Det ville kræve meget lang tid at kunne opbygge det tillidsforhold, det ville kræve for at kunne udføre sådanne interviews.

Opgavens fokus og mål vil derfor ikke søge at indhente data fra målgruppen selv, men nærmere hvordan de mennesker der arbejder med målgruppen i det daglige forstår deres situation og årsagerne til deres sociale problemer. Denne viden vil vi i vores opgave gerne sammenholde med den teoretiske viden vi besidder på området og vores problemforståelse. Det er muligt at de canadiske socialarbejdere kan byde ind med en anderledes forståelse eller tilgang som giver et godt resultat i det praktiske sociale arbejde med målgruppen. Om muligt er der måske nogle synsvinkler eller tilgange der kan overføres og bidrage til udviklingen af det sociale arbejde i Danmark med målgrupper, der har lignende sociale problemer.

Metode

Under dette afsnit vil vi præsentere vores valg af overordnet videnskabsteoretisk forståelsesramme samt metodiske tilgang.

Den videnskabsteoretiske forankring har stor betydning for, hvad der søges oplysninger om i interviews, og udgør dermed et udgangspunkt for den forståelse, man som forsker opnår.

Hermeneutikken

Hermeneutikken hævder betydningen af at fortolke folks handlinger og meninger, ved at fokusere på et dybere meningsindhold, end det der er umiddelbart indlysende. Vi kan altså sommetider være nødt til at skulle fortolke os frem til en mening. Mening kan kun forstås i lyset af den sammenhæng, det studerede indgår i. Fortolkning spiller altså en central rolle inden for hermeneutikken

381

. Tolkningen af interviewtekster anskues som en dialog mellem forsker og tekst. Det fremhæves at forskerens mål må være at

381 Thagaard, s. 39

113

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 fremlægge en tyk eller tæt beskrivelse. En tynd beskrivelse, vil kun gengive det observerede. En tyk beskrivelse indeholder også udsagn om, hvad informanten kan have ment med sine handlinger/meninger. Den indeholder et meningsaspekt

382

.

Hovedpointen med vores undersøgelse vil ikke være at beskrive de unge mandlige

Aboriginals sociale problemer i sig selv, men at lave en fortolkning af hvordan socialrådgivernes problemforståelse påvirker arbejdet med målgruppen. Tolkningen stammer altid fra anden forudgående litteratur, ikke fra dataene selv. Ifølge hermeneutikken findes der forskellige fortolkningsniveauer. Fortolkninger af 3. grad handler om forskerens tolkninger af handlingerne på grundlag af teorier, der fremhæver handlingens skjulte eller underliggende betydning

383 . Vi vil ved hjælp af gældende teori på området altså prøve at opnå denne dybere mening af hvad socialrådgiverens problemforståelse egentlig betyder for det praktiske sociale arbejde.

Det kvalitative forskningsinterview

For at kunne forstå socialrådgiverens problemforståelse vil vi interviewe de canadiske socialrådgivere, for dernæst at lave en fortolkning af hvad deres problemforståelse betyder for det praktiske sociale arbejde.

Vi vil foretage kvalitative interviews. Interview formen fokuserer på at interviewe færre personer, men dermed også gå mere i dybden med hvert enkelt interview. Data ved den kvalitative interview form giver mulighed på at blive opmærksom på særlige holdninger og reaktionsmåder hos de adspurgte 384 .

Gadamers nyformulering af hermeneutikken argumenterer for at idealet om en fordomsfri fortolkning er misvisende da enhver fortolkning forudsætter, at vi allerede har begreber teorier og forventninger om det fænomen vi prøver at forstå. Videnskaben er således ikke en praksis der skal undgå fordomme, forskeren vil nemlig aldrig kunne forstå noget uden sin historie og fordomme 385 . Dog er det vigtigt at være bevidst om sin forforståelse i en interview situation, så man påvirker interviewpersonen mindst muligt, med sine egne holdninger. Dette stemmer også overens med en socialkonstruktivistisk holdning til det de indhentede interview data egentlig siger noget om. Synspunktet

382 Thagaard, s. 39

383 Thagaard, s. 41

384 Rienecker og Jørgensen, s. 27

385 Olsen og Pedersen, s. 160

114

Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 fremhæver at informantens beskrivelser skabes på stedet, de er kontekstbundne i den forstand at de udformes i den relation der opstår mellem informant og forsker

386

.

Vores undersøgelsesmetode vil blive hypotetisk deduktiv idet vi som beskrevet i indledning og teoriafsnit vil tage udgangspunkt i vores egen problemforståelse omkring den sociale arv og dermed har nogle ideer om hvilken problemforståelse de muligvis arbejder ud fra, men vi er stadig åbne overfor at lade empirien bane vejen. Vi håber igennem vores interviews at kunne blive introduceret til en anden problemforståelse af målgruppens sociale problemer og eventuelle løsninger på dem.

386 Thagaard, s. 86

115


Appendix 3: Interview Guide Odawa

The interview is going to be conducted with two professional social workers that are working with Aboriginal youth in an urban context.

The objective with the interview is to gain knowledge about these particular social workers’ perception of the situation for the young Aboriginal peoples.

We decided to interview two social workers together since it gives a more dynamic discussion and diversity in the viewpoints.

We are interested in learning about the social workers’ own believes and perceptions regarding their work. Furthermore we are interested in learning about the organization the persons is working in and the perspectives and ideas behind the methods they use.

Main question:

How do Canadian social workers’ perceptions upon social challenges for

Aboriginal youth influence the social work methods applied with this group, and can we use these perceptions and methods to get a broader understanding of the practical social work with ethnic minority youth in Denmark?

Briefing (2 min. max.):

The interview is introduced by a short briefing to establish a good contact from the beginning 387 .



What is the purpose of the interview



Why do we use the sound recorder



Assuring of anonymity and confidentiality



Does the interviewee have any question before starting the interview

Introductory questions:



What is your educational background?



Can you tell me a little bit about what your personal role is in this organization?

387 (Kvale, 2007 p. 128)

116


Research question:

1. Why is there a need to have organizations that work with young aboriginals living in an urban context and what methods are used in the practical social work carried out with this group?

Interviewer question:

Importance of organizations like Odawa.

1.1

Can you explain to me why it is important to have an organization like Odawa in

Ottawa?

1.2

Could you tell me shortly what is the overall purpose of the Akwe:Go program?

Methods used in the practical social work in Odawa.

1.3

Can you describe to me how you work with the youth in this project?

1.4

Would you say that the program focuses on using specific methods?

1.5

What are the thoughts behind this way of working?


2. Which conception and theoretical framework does the social worker draw upon in this person’s practical social work?


The social worker’s view of the young aboriginal’s situation.

2.1 In your opinion what is the difficulties that the young aboriginal’s face in an urban society today?

2.2 In your experience what does the youth need to develop a consistent feeling of identity?

2.3 Could you tell me what kind of changes you see in the youth that has participated in the program?

2.4 Can you tell me what is valuable to keep in mind when working with the youth?


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3. What interfering factors can prevent the social workers from succeeding in the desired outcomes in the services provided?


Cultural factors.

3.1 Can you tell me if there is a difference in being an aboriginal or non-aboriginal social worker and working with aboriginal youth?

3.2

How do you feel that the overall relationship between the non-aboriginals and the aboriginals of Canada is?

Political factors.

3.3 How does the current governmental politics and legislation influence the social work that you do in the program?

Debriefing:

Debriefing is important before ending an interview, since it gives the interviewees a change to deal with issues he/she has been thinking or worried about during the interview. This can continue after the sound recorder has been turned off

388

.



A good way to end an interview would be to ask: I have no further questions, but is there anything else you would like to bring up, or ask about, before we finish the interview?



It might be a good idea for the interviewer to set aside 10 minutes or more of quiet time after each interview to reflect on what has been learned, and to think about facial and bodily expressions since this provide a richer access to interviewees meanings than the transcribed texts

388 (Kvale, 2007 p. 129)

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Appendix 4: Extract of Interview with Odawa

Question 4: The Work with the Youth

1.

With the Wasa Nabin. Basically its one on one. So if a youth is in crisis or if there is a need that they need, the cultural social justice, Youth in care. If they need any kind of assistance. I will do a one-on-one with them. What is your immediate need right now? So if its education, I might be able to go into their schools and advocate for them. Talk to their guidance counselors, bring culture in there. Bring snacks in there. We run into that the schools don’t want us to go in. so that’s why we have the homework club. So they can come to us or we can pick them up and bring them here. And they get the additional services that they need for that. So that’s one area. I work with other Odawa programs, they refer people for us. We have (Vince) that does a lot of circles and cultural programming. ‘I am a kind man’ and ‘The 7 grandparents teachings’. They did not grow up on the reserves. They don’t know other aboriginal people. In urban life. They can get introduced with drumming, dancing, singing and stories and everything like that. It’s a lot of one- on-one. I do a little bit programming for instance the Homework club. We are starting a Pizza nights for the boys and for the girls maybe sowing night or, bead (?) working…we’ll see. . It’s basically one-on-one on their needs.

1.

Even though we do work with the kids on a one-and-one basis. We also provide support to the families so if the families are low- income we provide them with food bank. We also provide kids with bus tickets to come to programming. If the needs of the kids are getting addressed. Are they progressing or are they not.

They have to remain in the program for up to a year. We have to reevaluate. We can have a maximum of 20 clients each. Basically it’s based on the needs especially for the younger kids, what the parents wants to see happen for the kids. If they want cultural we give the cultural. We have been collaborated with other organizations. We are having a Halloween dance with Minwashin lodge which is another aboriginal organization here. Bringing them out to fieldtrips.

Getting to know Ottawa, the community as a city. Going to the War museum and various fieldtrips. So that is some of the work that is done here.

2.

Mine is a lot more high risk kids which are using unhealthy behavior. They are acting out in many ways. There is substance abuse, there is violence, there is other things going on, relationship issues.

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1.

I guess we should say that the service is free. We do offer healthy meals and snacks when we go to see the kids or if they come here. There is always a food component involved if they are not receiving nutritious meals at home.

2.

Many of them are very low-income that we work with.

Question 5: Methods used

2. Yes, we use the wheel. Awareness wheel medicine wheel anything to do with the wheels. So if you know a little bit about the aboriginal culture and the wheels we identify childhood, youth, adult and elders which is the west, east west al that so we have to make sure we incorporate that as well in the culture. And there is a particular tool that we recently got trained for so if a youth, we start with promotion, where is it, promotion (showing on figure she is holding) and it would be youth and then so how would we be able to help you spiritually with promotion, what are some of the things you want to learn? So it could be cultural how to pray, the medicine the sacred medicine like sweet grass, tobacco and all that stuff. Could be lets see physical, maybe they need to..

1. Dancing that could be one of them, many of the kids have expressed interest in learning the different types of dance, whether it be jingle dance, fancy dance, we also do smudging before activities, so we do smudging and prayers so that they are able to clench their mind their heart their eyes, their ears and their bodies. Basically if they request an Elder, because I am not trained to do some of this, or I may not be as knowledgeable in certain areas, so we will ask an Elder to come in and to teach a particular. We just did dream catchers, the kids learned about the legend of the dream catcher and how to make them. Medicine Wheels we have done this. But a lot of the time it is bringing in the Elders and community members to the children and to the youth so that they hear it first hand from an Elder or someone that’s experienced.

2. Yea and they also get to learn about, get to know that there is an Elder living close to them or this is someone they can go to if Odawa is not around.

1. And one thing that we are doing is for myself I have had increased from the

Ottawa area to one particular school to go into their afterschool program and to teach in aboriginal teaching, So that may be just to introduce the medicine and the smudging and how to do that so it’s great to hear that the Ottawa community is expressing interest in knowing about the aboriginal culture. I think you are doing that also (referring to Matilda).

2. Yea we are doing that in a lot of the group homes that are in the city and have aboriginal clients as well. So we do use tools, so depending on the need.

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Question 6: What is this Way of working bringing to the Children?

2. Well a lot of our teachings have been forgotten or lost due to the residential schools and all that, so we are getting more comfortable in using the old tools that we used to have to hide right. So a lot of our youth do not know about the history that’s happened to us aboriginal in Canada and North America. So it’s really interesting to use the tools on where there come from and why, what do they mean.

So they can learn about the history and they can start using the tools. As you probably know about mainstream society thinks linear way, so aboriginal people thinks more of a circular approach to life. So that’s something that we have forgotten and a lot of aboriginal peoples think like the mainstream society know, so we need to bring those back. That’s the biggest thing, bringing back to them is the culture and the information and the tools.

1. And I think one of the goals with the program is to install this teaching and this knowledge in the youth and the children, so that one day they can be leaders and they can teach you know their families and the younger generation. So we want to see that continuing circular motion where we are learning from each other and growing.

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Appendix 5: Interview Guide CASO 1

The objective with the interview is to gain knowledge about the situation for the young

Aboriginal peoples living in an urban context.

We are interested in learning about the social worker’s own believes and perceptions regarding this persons work. Furthermore we are interested in learning about the organization the person is working in and the perspectives and ideas behind the methods they use.

Introductory questions:



What is your educational background?



When did you start working here?



Can you tell me a little bit about what your personal role is in this organization?

Suggestion for discussion:

1. How big is the need to focus on young aboriginals living in an urban context, and what methods are used in the practical social work carried out with this group?



What initiatives does CAS have that focus on aboriginal people?



Do you have any projects that focus specific on young aboriginals living in an urban setting?



Which organizations do you cooperate with in your daily work?



Do you use any specific methods in your work with Aboriginal Peoples?

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2. Which preconception and theoretical framework does the social worker draw upon in this person’s practical social work?

 The social worker’s view of the young aboriginal’s situation.



In your opinion what is the difficulties that the young aboriginals face in an urban society today?



What does the youth in your experience need to develop a consistent feeling of identity?

 The social worker’s description of own personal framework for practice – What do you think is valuable to keep in mind when working with the youth?

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Appendix 6: Extract from Interview with CASO 1

Change of Philosophy in Practice (methods in the practical social work)

Strength-based Approach

13:48 Other things that are happening across the agency that is more specific to my role is that we are trying to change our philosophy of practice and this is not the only initiative in the building. One of your questions talks about some of the philosophy and what are we doing. We are trying to practice from a strength based place. So in 2006 we had transformation, we had a real shift legislatively that before, so what we used to practice before was risk based so I would get a file I would see I was to access the risk level of a family. And now it is suppose to look like a strength approach of how are you assuring the safety of your child. You may thing it is just a language shift, but it is no longer a defective (?) model, like I am not going in to investigate what is wrong with your family I am going in to see what the issue is, if there is any safety concerns, but I am doing it in a strength based way. So maybe mum is leaving a child at home alone but she is doing it because of employment, or school times or drop of, so it is real strength as suppose to saying the child is left home alone. There is still a safety concern, that there is probably going to be a plan, or something will have to shift but it is not looking at the errors. So that is big shift. So we are working across the house for strength based.

Anti-oppressive Practice

15:30 The other big one is AP practice, and for ap it is really to implicate your self in your work. it is not us going in and saying what is wrong with the family but getting a better sence of what is the structure, culture, environment. what does I bring as a social worker when I come to the house, what values do I bring to the table, it is really about sharing the power with the family, I am bringing this, I am coming because of a concern, there is a concern in the community or a concern from the police, but really trying to understand, I am bringing my resources and my mandate what does your family bring, and what are the best interest of the child. That is the AP piece Those are the philosophical pieces. So how does an agency this big change, third largest in

Ontario, change the way we do work, we do it slowly so little by little, so the designated teams have been working for two years, this will be the west part, the Inuit team has been working for around 5 years where they have been taking these specific files, that

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 means that in that time we did not just say BOM, you are going to take all the files and tomorrow you are gonna be great with this community, it was and continues to be a long journey of doing teaching days, learning days, training, the community, again through the liaison committee and the community consultations they say you always see us at our worst, and that is true, we get calls when there is a concern, not when someone is having a birthday party. But we do not see people at their strength, so the community have asked, and we have responded, to come and see them at their best, when there is children’s pow wow, Halloween etc., that we come and celebrate and recognize all of the good things that are happening in the community with the youth and the kid so that we really are working in partnership So that is positive. So staff flex a lot of their time, because a lot of these event are in the evening or on Saturdays. So they go to these events and just flex their day because it is important for us to go and experience, and it is important for the community to see us there, so there is lot of community participations.

Parenting Support Network Group

18:40 A parenting network support group has happened. So that happened very organically. So 5 years in people had gotten comfortable in the Inuit community, and the head start is called the Ottawa Inuit children center OICC, and through that head start many families have adopted Inuit children, that are not necessarily of Inuit background but they can go to a cultural head start so they get to learn part of their language and heritage and their parents have been encourage to embrace the culture as well and they have been very welcomed in the community and part of that has led to a support group of parents fostering, adopting or caring for Inuit children and the parents recognize the needs and they approach OICC and our self because they can see the partnership working and they said help us organize this. So what is pour role in that, it is really small. We send the emails, sometimes we pay for food, sometimes we organize a room. And they get together and they share. Ahh this is going well, my child is asking questions about this, have you guys done a trip to Nunavut, some wanted to find out where to get cultural food, so they are forming a support group among themselves.

There are no child welfare issues; there is no head start issue, it is just this group that saw that the partnership was working, so they turned to the two leaders in the

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Bachelor Project: Caught in between Cultures, Socialrådgiveruddannelsen, Autumn 2011 community us and OICC, and asked how do we continue to share in a more organized way. So that has been running every other month as well.

20:31 Internally all of the supervisor have had presentations about residential schools, the Canadian history of what we did to the aboriginal people, we have had speakers, training as a supervisor group, they are also welcomed to join the forum but with that, they also that files, not every family is going to self-identify, but they now at some point having a discussion about culture has become an expectation and that they will get transferred back to the teams that those families belongs to, in the sense of they are going to get the best service if they are with the people that have had the most training. we are starting to do a data collection, so we are trying to find out who we are serving in the community although it is a required question on our recording it does not always come up and philosophical for this Ap and strength based approach is you have to get to know the whole family you cannot say okay it was neglect or okay it was abuse you have to understand the hole context of the family is there a story of immigration, residential schools or a story of being removed from your family when you were small, we have to know the whole family to provide the best service. that is the philosophy we are working under, so the data collection is every now file that has been opened we have to find out the religious affiliation, the language affiliation, the arrival time of they came to Canada and the culture, and very specifically we have to know the band and the band number, because we want to know, so right now we have undertaking that, we probably have 800 files on any given days that are open. We know for sure that the most are identifies as Canadian, but we have a large population that is still unknown. Because we have this partnership approach of working with the community, we do not know who to partner with, so we need to figure out this unknown. So west is doing really well, they have been entering their data, and we keep data anyhow, we need the names, and addresses and in their we added question about arrival date Canada, aboriginal ancestry yes or no, and these boxes it is only boxes only tell one side of the story but is compliment some of the work we are doing, so we actually know do we need 3 team or

5 team or 1 team where do the resources go, but that is one of the larger agency pieces that we are doing.

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Appendix 7: Meeting at CACE 25

th

of October 2011

Meeting with CACE – Centre for Aboriginal Culture and Education

Whys is it important to have CACE?



University is a culture shock for many aboriginal students, it is very different from high school and sometimes the youth have been out of the schooling system for a while. They are away from their culture and family.



CACE is a support system that builds networks between the students. It is also a support system for staff/faculty. CACE is about getting students involved, to keep them at university and avoid that they drop out.

What activities do you do with the students?



Elder teachings program, elders are used as helpers/guides



One – on – one support: Ottawa community/Personal development



Social activities/ workshops/pow wows



In the library they have an indigenous expert that can help the students finding literature



Have partnership with different organization in Ottawa, both Odawa and

Wabano

What barriers are there for young aboriginals to finish a university degree that is not there for other students?



At Carleton University there is about 500 – 700 aboriginal students. Aboriginals are very community based type of people, when they come to university they become a minority, which can be very tough on the students. Furthermore there is a lack of focus on aboriginal culture in the education system, which means that a lot of people are unaware of the things that has happen to aboriginals through the history.



In aboriginal families you can talk about the intergenerational effect that comes from the impact of residential schools. Because of the things that has happened to parents and grandparents in the schooling system, they do not encourage the youth to go to school. Furthermore the parents and grandparents do not talk about what has happened to them which makes a silence between the generations. This makes the young people very insecure about who they are.

How is it funded?



Funding goes through ministry of education

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Appendix 8: Circle of Courage

128


Appendix 9: Touchstones of Hope

129


Appendix 10: Executive Summary

130


131


132


133


Appendix 11: Healing Continuum Wheel

134

Caught in between Cultures

Abstract

Contents:

Preface

Introduction

Thesis statement

Main question

Research questions:

No Conception without Preconception

The Structure of the Project

Distribution of Written Sections

Context Setting

Method and Research Design

Scientific Theory

The Hermeneutic Tradition

Critical Theory

The Abductive Research Strategy

Empirical Data

Presentations of Organizations

The Qualitative Research Interview

Interview Guide

Data Processing

Reflections upon Interviews

Introduction of Theories and Perspectives

The Theory of Guldager

Cultural psychological perspective

Culture and Identity

Acculturation Strategies

The Structural Perspective

Stereotyping

Anti-oppressive and Strength-based Perspectives

Research Question 1.1

Cultural Psychological Perspective on Identity

Structural Perspective on Acculturation Processes

Anti-oppressive and Strength-based Approaches in the

Organizations

Summarize

Research Question 1.2

The Impact of the Aboriginal Worldview on the Practical Social

Work Methods

Change of Philosophy in CASO

Structural Difficulties and Ways to Move Forward

Summarize

Research Question 1.3

Comparable Challenges for Minority Youth

Political Attitude towards Ethnic Minorities in Denmark

Cultural Social Work in Denmark

Ethical Reflection and Instructions for Actions

Conclusion

Suggestions for Further Research

Critical Reflection

Glossary

References

Appendix outline

Appendix 1: Approval of Thesis Statement

Appendix 2: Original Thesis Statement

Indledning

Problemformulering

Teori

Empiri

Metode

Appendix 3: Interview Guide Odawa

Main question:

Briefing (2 min. max.):

Introductory questions:

Research question:

Interviewer question:

Research question:

Interviewer question:

Research question:

Interviewer question:

Debriefing:

Appendix 4: Extract of Interview with Odawa

Appendix 5: Interview Guide CASO 1

Suggestion for discussion:

Appendix 6: Extract from Interview with CASO 1

Appendix 7: Meeting at CACE 25

of October 2011

Appendix 8: Circle of Courage

Appendix 9: Touchstones of Hope