1st Edition

Practising Critical Reflection to Develop Emancipatory Change Challenging the Legal Response to Sexual Assault

By Christine Morley Copyright 2014
    272 Pages
    by Routledge

    272 Pages
    by Routledge

    Overwhelmingly, critical practitioners working across a range of human service fields, who are committed to emancipatory and progressive social change ideals, report feeling powerless, alienated from the means of change, and hopeless about their capacities to make a difference in the lives of the individuals, groups or communities with whom they work because of restrictive contexts that ultimately determine the nature and parameters of their work. This ground-breaking book addresses this dilemma by demonstrating how critical reflection as an educational tool enables practitioners to envision possibilities for change. The legal system, particularly in its response to sexual assault provides a perfect example of this type of context and this volume explores the work of sexual assault practitioners that are engaged in supporting victims/survivors of sexual assault through the legal process. By reshaping ideas that have previously been considered as predominantly theoretical and abstract, Morley’s work provides an innovative framework that enables social work and human services practitioners to find hope, agency and practical strategies to work towards change, despite operating in contexts that appear immutably oppressive.

    Foreword; Preface and Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 The Legal Response to Sexual Assault; Chapter 3 Theorising the Impact and Thinking about Change; Chapter 4 The Need for Law Reform; Chapter 5 Alternatives for Thinking about Change: Critical Postmodernism and Critical Reflection; Chapter 6 Stories from Front-line Practice; Chapter 7 Identifying and Challenging Barriers to Change; Chapter 8 Finding Alternative Paths: Resisting Further Obstacles to Change; Chapter 9 How Does Critical Reflection on Practice Develop Possibilities for Change?; Chapter 10 Critical Postmodern Theory: Enhancing Feminist Practices and Prospects for Change; Chapter 11 Final Reflections and Concluding Comments;

    Biography

    Christine Morley is Associate Professor and Head of Social Work and Human Services at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia.

    "With persuasive invitation, Morley calls on social practitioners to invent new ways of efficacious action, new ways and actions that can give hope to the helpless people with whom they work, by making the voice of the voiceless heard." Patricia Higham, Emeritus Professor, Nottingham Trent University