爆料王

鈥淚 wanted to show that Aboriginal academics were more than tokenistically added onto a book about diversity,鈥� she said in an interview with the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC).

鈥淣ormally people just tick a box 鈥� that鈥檚 the Aboriginal chapter 鈥� but I鈥檓 not a chapter; I鈥檓 much more than a chapter. I could probably write every single one of those chapters, unfortunately, because of the statistics in Australia. That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 so important that we become governors and true intellectual property is given, because you probably can鈥檛 be a social worker without us.鈥�

is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of the Sunshine Coast, has been an academic for five years and before that was a practising social worker for more than a decade.

鈥淚鈥檓 very radical in some ways because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are born political; we have to be leaders and forward thinkers,鈥� she said. 鈥淣obody really likes someone who makes you uncomfortable, and that鈥檚 what I鈥檝e got to do, is question non-Indigenous people around their cultural responsiveness and anti-racist practices鈥�.

Bennett is a Kamilaroi woman originally from Narrabri in northern New South Wales. When she was young she saw social work from the other side with interventions in domestic violence and alcohol abuse in her community. Mental illness in her family sparked her desire to become a social worker and change the cycle of intergenerational trauma.

鈥淭hen I decided I wanted to change the world and I wanted to change social workers,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 thought having one culturally responsive social worker is nice but if I could have a hundred, just imagine what I could do then. That鈥檚 how I got into teaching 鈥� I thought let鈥檚 change the whole degree.

She has fought successfully for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content in the course, for recognition in the code of ethics of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), and for a director on its board.

鈥淣ow stop stealing, that鈥檚 my latest thing. Let鈥檚 involve us in real governance, that鈥檚 my next one. That constant conversation of being the conduit between the community and the settlers, the colonisers, is what I鈥檓 trying to do in this world.鈥�

In 2017 Bennett was invited to present her ideas on cultural appropriation and protection of Aboriginal knowledge in academia at the first SSSHARC Huddle, which was on 鈥淲orking across difference and inequity in social work and policy studies鈥�.

Twenty academics and social workers gathered for the all-day discussion at the 爆料王, organised by Susan Goodwin, Professor of Policy Studies, and , Professor of Social Work (now at the University of British Columbia in Canada). With a book already in mind, they asked participants to circulate draft chapters in advance and workshop them with the group.

鈥淭he best thing about the Huddle scheme was that it wasn鈥檛 simply conference or symposium funding,鈥� Goodwin told SSSHARC. 鈥淚t was an opportunity to bring together researchers to work on something that would have a concrete outcome.鈥�

Social work practice is still dominated by Western perspectives and any difference is treated as an add-on, Goodwin said. The mainstream approach is 鈥渉ow can social workers work with, for example, Muslim communities or work with transgender people or people in mental distress, as though they are subsets of society, rather than centralising the really interesting critical perspectives emerging from transgender social work or critical mental health social work or Islamic social work.

鈥淜nowing there was some really exciting work going on, we were trying to make that work accessible so that other social workers can start from those perspectives.鈥�

At the Huddle, Rebecca Howe, Amy Harper and Sekneh Hammoud-Beckett explained their use of creative 鈥済ames of truth鈥� with transgender and non-binary young people to show how they can contest socially constructed arguments about their identity and needs.

鈥淎t the level of theory there鈥檚 lots of people talking about things like that,鈥� said Goodwin. 鈥淏ut at the level of practice, how you actually work with young people, and how they can shape what is known about them, is quite a different thing.鈥�

Emma Tseris spoke about similar work she was doing from a critical mental health perspective, arguing that terms like 鈥渞ecovery鈥� and 鈥渃onsumer participation鈥� can pigeonhole people and the way are treated. Others addressed aspects of aged care, domestic violence, disability, Indigenous and Muslim communities.

A panel of speakers presented the day鈥檚 鈥渉ot topics鈥� to an audience of 200 at a lively public event in the evening. Alankaar Sharma, a visiting scholar from the University of Minnesota (now at Australian Catholic University), gave a compelling talk about men as allies in opposing violence and discrimination against women. Donna Baines introduced the term 鈥渨hite fragility鈥� to describe the defensive reaction white middle-class social workers might have to criticism of imposing their ideas on others.

One of the hottest topics was Lobna Yassine鈥檚 research into Federal Government-funded programs to train social workers in identifying potential violent extremism in Muslim communities. Goodwin explained: 鈥淚slamic social workers had tried to persuade the Australian Social Workers Association not to take on these training programs, because of what it meant for stigmatising Muslim communities.

鈥淭he Social Workers Association didn鈥檛 get how social work was being implicated in repeating stereotypes about Muslim communities. It was a tension that hadn鈥檛 been publicised, so Lobna created a bit of a movement and debate that hadn鈥檛 been there.鈥�

When Bennett explained cultural appropriation of Aboriginal knowledge to the audience, 鈥測ou could hear a pin drop鈥�, said Goodwin. 鈥淪he was one of the speakers who put the whole issue on the table for everybody in terms of the Huddle and the book that came out of it.鈥�

Bennett has been talking for years about how to protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultural knowledge within academia. Despite 鈥渆mbedding鈥� and 鈥淚ndigenising鈥�, people are still stealing, she said. 鈥淪o some of the work we were talking about in the Huddle was about the word allies and the fact that it isn鈥檛 enough. We need more of an anti-racist view of our practice and we actually need traitors 鈥� traitors to colonisation.鈥�

Working Across Difference: Social Work, Social Policy and Social Justice (Macmillan 2019) had four editors, Donna Baines, Bindi Bennett, Susan Goodwin and Margot Rawsthorne. The whole first section covered Aboriginal perspectives, edited by Bennett for governance and cultural responsiveness. Every author in the book wrote a statement about working on Aboriginal land, and wrote their biographical note in terms of connection to place and experience of difference, as well as academic affiliations. They all used practical vignettes to illustrate their research and theory.

鈥淕etting together and being so well prepared really changed the aspirations for the book,鈥� Goodwin said. 鈥淩ather than just doing a scholarly book, people really wanted to make an intervention, a new way of producing knowledge, a new way of writing.

鈥淚t went out to reviewers in the social work community and most of them said it鈥檚 about time, we really need to change our scholarly practices as well as our social work practices.鈥�

In another 鈥渒nock-on鈥� from the Huddle, Bennett is now employed by the journal of the AASW to prepare protocols for authors who want to write on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content. They can be summed up in her saying: 鈥淚f I鈥檓 not at the table I鈥檓 on the menu.鈥�

For example, she said, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to write around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, you must create a standpoint, you must know who you are, you must know what鈥檚 your cultural identity, what makes you the person for this research?

鈥淎 second nice one is if you鈥檙e on the paper, why are you on the paper? Why isn鈥檛 someone Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leading it, governing it, why aren鈥檛 you mentoring?

鈥淎nd if you鈥檙e doing a research paper about a community or peoples, what are you giving back, what are they getting out of it? You need to be very clear what they get other than a published paper, which is worth nothing to them. If this is only about your career and another published paper it鈥檚 really not closing the gap, it鈥檚 not social justice.鈥�

With more than 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social work graduates in the country, Bennett would like to see them in more than the current 2 per cent of academic positions in 30 schools of social work, more in higher offices in universities, and more than one director on the AASW board.

As she pushes on, she said, the SSSHARC Huddle 鈥渇ormed a lot of my current thinking and my future work so I found it incredibly useful. On a personal level, they were beautiful people to be around as well. So it was a win win for me鈥�.

The SSSHARC Huddle 鈥淲orking across difference and inequity in social work and policy studies鈥� was held at Fisher Library, 爆料王 on October 9, 2017. A public panel followed on 鈥淪ocial Work Thoughts on Hot Topics: Cultural Appropriation, Islamophobia, Anti-oppression, White Fragility and Resistance鈥�.