1st Edition
Microaggressions and Social Work Research, Practice and Education
While blatant forms of racism and discrimination have largely been condemned in our society, systematic oppression and racism can be manifested in a less obvious form, as ‘microaggressions’. The term, originally developed in the 1970s by Chester Peirce to describe the ways in which Black people were "put down" by their White counterparts, has since been expanded to describe both conscious and unconscious acts that reflect superiority, hostility, and racially inflicted insults and demeanors to marginalized groups of people.
This book provides a platform for social work researchers, scholars, and practitioners to present their research, ideas, and practices pertaining to ways in which microaggressions and other subtle, but lethal forms of discrimination impact marginalized populations within social work and human services. Contributors discuss the impact of microaggressions in social work as they relate to race; gender and gender expression; sexual orientation; class; and spirituality. The book also examines curriculum, pedagogy, and the academic climate as targets for intervention in social work education. This book was originally published as a series of special issues of the Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work.
Introduction 1. The Injurious Relationship Between Racial Microaggressions and Physical Health: Implications for Social Work 2. Is Ethnic Identity a Buffer? Exploring the Relations Between Racial Microaggressions and Depressive Symptoms Among Asian-American Individuals 3. "Our Kids Aren’t Dropping Out; They’re Being Pushed Out": Native American Students and Racial Microaggressions in Schools 4. Correlates of Interpersonal Ethnoracial Discrimination Among Latino Adults with Diabetes: Findings from the REACH Detroit Study 5. Everyday Racial Discrimination, Everyday Non-Racial Discrimination, and Physical Health Among African-Americans 6. Sexual Orientation, Gender, and Gender Identity Microaggressions: Toward an Intersectional Framework for Social Work Research 7. A Mixed-Methods Inquiry Into Trans* Environmental Microaggressions on College Campuses: Experiences and Outcomes 8. Victimization and Microaggressions Targeting LGBTQ College Students: Gender Identity As a Moderator of Psychological Distress 9. "You are a Besya": Microaggressions Experienced by Trafficking Survivors Exploited in the Sex Trade 10. Religious Microaggressions: A Case Study of Muslim Americans 11. Homeless Microaggressions: Implications for Education, Research, and Practice 12. Microaggressions in social work classrooms: strategies for pedagogical intervention 13. The impacts of processing the use of derogatory language in a social work classroom 14. Microaggressions: Intervening in three acts 15. Teaching racial microaggressions: implications of critical race hypos for social work praxis 16. Examining racial microaggressions as a tool for transforming social work education: the case for critical race pedagogy 17. Addressing microaggressions and acts of oppression within online classrooms by utilizing principles of transformative learning and liberatory education 18. Multiracial Microaggressions: Implications for Social Work Education and Practice 19. Racial microaggressions in social work education: Black students’ encounters in a predominantly White institution
Biography
Michael S. Spencer is the Fedele F. Fauri Collegiate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan, USA. His research examines inequities in physical and mental health among low-income, populations of color, including the impact of discrimination on the well-being of African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Pacific Islander populations.
