Confronting the Medusa with Athena’s Shield: Empowering Social Workers with a Transformative Role in the Migration Field

Abstract

Along with existing challenges, there are new ones leading social workers to become involved in increasingly international intervention processes. This has led to the development of the concept of International Social Work (Hugman, Moosa-Mitha & Moyo, 2010; Cox & Pawar, 2006; Dominelli, 2010), which provides a good opportunity to both depart from old patterns of administering aid (Healy 2008) and to embody a perception of itself as a transformative actor (Wintergerst 2017, p. 236). Assuming that it is true that the presence of different cultures acts as a catalyst in the processes of change in society, then this is equally valid for the development of this profession (Di Rosa, 2021). A profound behavioural change cannot be accomplished simply through “more” techniques, more competencies, but needs to move up on the scale into actually transforming beliefs and constructing identity (Dilts, Hallbom & Smith, 2012; Ramanathan & Link, 1999). However, there is still a long way to go within educational systems and outside, in society, to transform our systems accordingly. In this paper, we share our insights, gained through intercultural participatory exchange formats (Reich & Di Rosa, 2022), to foster our vision, in which we suggest transforming our educational systems so that we can truly embrace differences in programmes, supporting authentic self-realisation and collective empowerment, whilst working towards co-creating sustainable futures.

Di Rosa R. T., Reich H. (2022) "Confronting the Medusa with Athena’s Shield: Empowering Social Workers with a Transformative Role in the Migration Field " Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 14(1), 247-266. DOI: 10.14658/PUPJ-IJSE-2022-1-14  
Year of Publication
2022
Journal
Italian Journal of Sociology of Education
Volume
14
Issue Number
1
Start Page
247
Last Page
266
Date Published
02/2022
ISSN Number
2035-4983
Serial Article Number
14
DOI
10.14658/PUPJ-IJSE-2022-1-14
Issue
Section
Special Section