Anne Deepak, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Social Work, recently co-authored the article “Dual Pandemics Awaken Urgent Call to Advance Anti-Racism Education in Social Work: Pedagogical Illustrations,” which was published in the “Journal of Ethic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work.”
Deepak wrote the article alongside six social work professionals from around the country: Andrea Murray-Lichtman, MSW, LCSW (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill); Adriana Aldana, Ph.D. (California State University, Dominguez Hills); Elena Izaksonas, Ph.D. (Metropolitan State University); Tauchiana Williams, MSW, LCSW (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill); Mitra Naseh, Ph.D. (Portland State University), and Michele A. Rountree, Ph.D. (University of Texas at Austin).
All authors are members of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Anti-Racism Task Force and served on a subcommittee of the task force, Program Mission & Goals, Explicit Curriculum, Implicit Curriculum Assessment.
“The task force has been an amazing space for support and collaboration around advancing anti-racism pedagogies and learning environments in social work. When calls for papers come out regarding anti-racism in social work, they are shared among the task force to further our work through our scholarship,” Deepak said.
In the published piece, Deepak and her colleagues describe a path forward to promote racial justice and dismantle systemic racism and white supremacy with social work education. The piece also interrogates social work’s complicity in white supremacy, provides examples of social work anti-racism pedagogy, and calls for centering people of color and their voices to move social work towards its anti-racism future.
Additionally, the article calls on the CSWE to continue its anti-racism work that began in 2020, and touches on the racial justice uprisings, COVID-19, and the push for institutional responses that created the pressure felt within social work to answer decades of calls for anti-racism action.
The Journal is dedicated to the examination of multicultural social issues as they relate to social work policy, research, theory, and practice, while also helping readers develop knowledge and promote understanding of the impact of culture, race, ethnicity, and class on the individual, group, organization, and community on the delivery of human services.