Indigenous Social Work around the World: Towards Culturally Relevant Education and Practice

The Peace Corps was an early contemporary example of international social work. Thousands of idealistic Americans went to bring the benefits of western culture to the rest of the world. Times have changed; the Peace Corps still exists, but the rest of the world is rethinking the value of western culture. In this collection, Grey (social work, University of Newcastle, New South Wales) Coates (social work, St. Thomas University, New Brunswick, Canada) and Yellow Bird (director, Center for Indigenous Peoples' Critical and Intuitive Thinking, University of Kansas, Lawrence) take apart the idea of a unified pattern of social work relevant to every culture. The essays, most from indigenous social workers from around the world, report on the ways in which Western methods of social work have been adapted to serve the needs of non-Anglo-American cultures. This includes Native Americans. The authors also suggest that if international organizations of social workers wish to establish some sort of universal guidelines then they should incorporate the experience and findings of "indigenous" workers in the field. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mel Gray is Professor of Social Work, Research Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (RISIW), The University of Newcastle. John Coates is Professor of Social Work at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Michael Yellow Bird is Professor of Social Work at Humboldt State University, Arcata, California and is the Founder and previous Director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples' Critical and Intuitive Thinking at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA