Abstract:
This thesis is concerned with the nature of understanding
in multi-racial social work practice (MRP), and in
particular with the philosophy of anti-racist social work.
After a review of the past and present literature on MRP
which charts the development of anti-racism and black
perspectives in social work, it is concluded that new
approaches are needed to take account of the importance of
racism conceived as a linguistic resource. A consideration
of the wider literature on race and racism leads on to an
exploration of hermeneutic philosophy as a general guide
to the analysis of problems of communication and
understanding in social work. The work of Gadamer and
Derrida is reviewed in some detail, in the context of
wider developments in the philosophy of language and in
literary criticism and textual analysis. It is argued that
analysis of social work texts can offer new insights into
the problems of formulating guidelines for anti-racist
practice. Two exemplary analyses are presented: the first
of Dominelli 's text Anti-Racist Social Work and the second
of Ahmad's Black Perspectives in Social Work. Finally, it
1S suggested that this analysis demonstrates the utility,
and complementarity, of Gadamerian and Derridean
perspectives in this effort - and that we must recognise
that the positions we adopt on the best way forward are
necessarily provisional, just as the commonly understood
meanings of key terms in the debate about race and social
work remain provisional.
