Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to explore the histories of four academic schools of social work. Their common denominator is the circumstantial and influential force of armed conflicts and war. Their stories of origin are set apart by time and socio-political space. The two cases of the Global North (Berkeley, US; and Lucerne, Switzerland) are connected to World War I, the two cases of the Global South (Sulaimani, Iraq; and Freetown, Sierra Leone) are embedded in a post-civil war context. While the first two cases are shaped by the national, the others are shaped by the international in relation to problem and target group definition, which contributes to a post-indigenization paradox. As a result, professionalizing social work as an intervention is also seen as a method to sensitize the public to society’s social problems.
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Notes
- 1.
The Yenish people describe themselves as a not fully sedentary community that has lived in Switzerland (and other European countries) for centuries. Since 2016, the Yenish (as well as the Sinti) have been recognized as a national minority in Switzerland (Berset 2016).
- 2.
I am very grateful to Professor Jeff Edleson, UC Berkeley, who is presently writing a biography of Jessica Blanche Peixotto and who provided me with very valuable information during my stay at UC Berkeley in February/March 2020.
- 3.
Unfortunately, there are hardly any published references to be found. One exception is the paper by Mriand J. T. Kamara that documents the activities of social care workers for the year 1970/71 (Kamara 2010). In an oral communication, a former employee of CARE International told me that there had been social care workers since 1964.
- 4.
Personal communication by one of his students.
- 5.
I am very grateful to Dr. Abdul S. Kamara, Fourah Bay College, who provided me with very valuable information during my stay in Freetown in December 2019.
- 6.
To what extent SLASOW has a leading role in developing a national social work and social welfare policy is open to further research.
- 7.
The questions are adapted from Hankivsky et al. (2014).
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Ehret, R. (2021). There Are Many Roads to a School of Social Work. Importance of the International for Modern Social Work. In: Sonnenberg, K., Ghaderi, C. (eds) Social Work in Post-War and Political Conflict Areas. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32060-7_5
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