writing diversity: ethnicity and race in australian social work, 1947–1997

12
172 Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3 Keywords immigrants, indigenous, publishing Introduction Published literature, especially in a national journal, is important to a professional association. Published literature has the power to establish the issues in a discipline and to legitimise the parameters of debate (Spender 1981). Journals have generally been regarded as a prime means of documenting and disseminating the current knowledge base and scholarly output of a profession(Ryan & Martyn 1996; p. 19). Analysis of journal articles allows the reader to assess the contribution of the journal to professional knowledge and practice. Australian Social Work, as the professional journal of the Australian Association of Social Workers, is a social work journal of international significance and is named by the National Association of Social Workers in the United States as one of the 200 core social work journals in the world (National Association of Social Workers 1997). It is therefore a prime site for an archaeological dig into the knowledge base of Australian social work. While hindsight may appear a little unfair to previous writers, it does provide a critical lens with which to see the values inherent in the published articles. The aim of this study was to analyse Australian Social Work over 50 years and make a judgement about the importance Writing diversity: ethnicity and race in Australian Social Work, 1947–1997 Anthony McMahon In 1997, Australian Social Work celebrated 50 years of publication. This paper provides a content and discourse analysis of 50 years of articles on Indigenous and immigrant Australians in the journal and its predecessors. The analysis critically evaluates the published accounts of cross-cultural social work research, policy and practice and identifies the meanings these articles convey of race and ethnicity in Australian professional identity and practice. The analysis found little published analysis of social work practice with Indigenous Australians and that articles written about Indigenous Australians are either more negative or more positive than the generally approving tone of articles about immigrants. Only one or two articles in either category proposed a structural or community development approach to practice. Anthony McMahon is Senior Lecturer and Head of School, School of Social Work and Community Welfare, James Cook University, Townsville. E-mail: [email protected] An early draft of this paper was given at the AASWWE Conference, Cairns, 1998.

Upload: anthony-mcmahon

Post on 06-Jul-2016

212 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

172 Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3

Keywordsimmigrants, indigenous, publishing

IntroductionPublished literature, especially in a nationaljournal, is important to a professionalassociation. Published literature has thepower to establish the issues in a disciplineand to legitimise the parameters of debate(Spender 1981).

‘Journals have generally been regarded asa prime means of documenting anddisseminating the current knowledge base

and scholarly output of a profession’ (Ryan & Martyn 1996; p. 19).

Analysis of journal articles allows the readerto assess the contribution of the journal toprofessional knowledge and practice.Australian Social Work, as the professionaljournal of the Australian Association ofSocial Workers, is a social work journal ofinternational significance and is named bythe National Association of Social Workersin the United States as one of the 200 coresocial work journals in the world (NationalAssociation of Social Workers 1997). It istherefore a prime site for an archaeologicaldig into the knowledge base of Australiansocial work. While hindsight may appear alittle unfair to previous writers, it doesprovide a critical lens with which to see thevalues inherent in the published articles.The aim of this study was to analyseAustralian Social Work over 50 years andmake a judgement about the importance

Writing diversity: ethnicity and race inAustralian Social Work, 1947–1997Anthony McMahon

In 1997, Australian Social Work celebrated 50 years of publication. This paperprovides a content and discourse analysis of 50 years of articles on Indigenous andimmigrant Australians in the journal and its predecessors. The analysis criticallyevaluates the published accounts of cross-cultural social work research, policy andpractice and identifies the meanings these articles convey of race and ethnicity inAustralian professional identity and practice. The analysis found little publishedanalysis of social work practice with Indigenous Australians and that articleswritten about Indigenous Australians are either more negative or more positive thanthe generally approving tone of articles about immigrants. Only one or two articlesin either category proposed a structural or community development approach topractice.

Anthony McMahon is Senior Lecturer and Head of School,School of Social Work and Community Welfare, JamesCook University, Townsville.E-mail: [email protected] early draft of this paper was given at the AASWWEConference, Cairns, 1998.

and meaning of race and ethnicity inAustralian social work as portrayed in thenational journal.

In 1997, the journal Australian SocialWork celebrated 50 years of publication.Lawrence (1997) and Gaha (1993) agreethat the journal began with the VictorianBranch’s publication of Forum in 1947. The50-year period since the Second World Warcoincides with mass immigration which haschanged the face of Australia and withmomentous changes to the status, legalrights and wellbeing of IndigenousAustralians. Over this time, social policieshave changed from protection andassimilation to self-determination,multiculturalism and reconciliation. Howhave writings in the official journal of theAustralian Association of Social Workersportrayed the social and political changesof the last 50 years, especially in regard toIndigenous and immigrant Australians?What has been the social work response tothese developments in a professionaljournal that ‘seeks to promote the interestsof the profession in Australia and to reflectthe current thinking about and by theprofession,’ as the inside back cover ofeach journal states? What have social workauthors recommended about social workpractice with Indigenous and immigrantAustralians?

Research methodsAustralian Social Work traces its origins tothe first edition of Forum published inDecember 1947 by the Victorian branch ofthe newly formed Australian Association ofSocial Workers (Gaha 1993; Lawrence1997). In 1951, Forum became the journal

of the Association as a whole (Lawrence1997). In undertaking the research for thispaper, I have made extensive use of theindex compiled by Gaha (1993).

The research for this paper wasundertaken in two parts. The first was acontent analysis of journal articles toidentify systematically specificcharacteristics of the manifest content ofthe articles. Content analysis is a methodfor measuring the occurrence of selectedterms within a text or texts. This approach isuseful for determining trends or patterns,tracing developments over time andinferring cultural change, values andinterests (Tripodi & Epstein 1980). ‘Codingthe visible, surface content in a text iscalled manifest coding’ (Neuman 2000, p. 275).

The focus of the content analysis wasarticles that described research, policy andpractice with Indigenous and immigrantAustralians. All articles published from 1948were reviewed by a physical search of thematerial with the exception of TheAustralian Journal of Social Work, Volume14, Issue 2 of 1961 which was missing fromthe two university libraries accessed.However, a cross-check with Gaha (1993)confirmed that none of the articles in thisnumber appear relevant to the research.Editorials were included in the analysis butletters and book reviews were not. Therewere a number of cross-cultural initiativesmentioned in newsletter sections of thejournal, but only the merest details weregiven. Excluded news reports include newsabout ‘the Aboriginal Group of Victoria(who) are interested in developing socialservices for Aboriginals throughout Victoriaand have been in touch with the Councilabout it’ (Anonymous 1949), and an

Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3 173

announcement of the establishment of abranch of the International Social Servicefor migrants (Anonymous 1955). Alsoexcluded were articles that merelymentioned Indigenous and immigrantAustralians in passing without addressingthem. Examples of excluded articles werethose with the briefest of comments such asMcCouat (1971) who mentions Aboriginalpeople in passing as an example of non-normative child-rearing, Donovan (1958, p. 7) who remarks on ‘the influx of postwarmigrants into the district, (mainly SouthernEuropeans & Maltese)’ & Mitchell (1955)who gives the impression that ‘languagedifficulties’ with migrants can be solved bya bit of miming. Interestingly, although notfulfilling the criteria for inclusion in thesurvey, three articles in 1956, two from awell-known anthropologist (Strehlow 1956a,1956b) on South-East Asian society andpolitics and another (Martin 1956) on thevarieties of human societies, pointed to ageneral recognition of cross-culturalawareness.

The second part of the research was acritical discourse analysis of the articlesidentified in the first part. While contentanalysis may tell a researcher how manytexts of a particular type there are,‘discourse theory examines the language,knowledge, myths, and assumptions thatunderpin a particular manifest position’(Rojek et al. 1988; p. 8). Critical discourseanalysis focuses on texts as having afunction in forming and shaping practiceand was used in this research to examinethe implicit influences of these social worktexts on social work practice. Thus, inresearching the relationships betweensocial work texts and social work practicethere is a need to try and make explicit

what Fairclough calls the ‘ideological andhegemonic effects’ portrayed in patterns(themes) of knowledge and beliefs, socialrelations and social identities (1992, p. 238).

The units for analysis were the identifiedarticles. Each article was considered withinthe contexts of whether it applied toIndigenous or immigrant practice andwhether it could be classified as an articleabout research, policy or practice. Eacharticle was further analysed to clarify therelationships between the language used inthe article and the cues that languageprovided to wider social and culturalstructures (Titscher, Meyer, Wodak & Vetter2000). After this process of interpretation,the stage of explanation sets out theassumptions about culture, socialrelationships and social identitiesincorporated in the texts, specifically ‘interms of their contribution to struggles tosustain or change these power relations’(Fairclough 1992, p. 166).

FindingsThe literature search found 16 articles onIndigenous Australians and 27 onimmigrants. The authors, dates andcategories are set out in Table 1. Table 1shows that there were 42 articles publishedover 50 years, less than one a year. Onearticle, Williams (1971), is counted in bothIndigenous and immigrant categories as itdeals with both groups. Seven articles(16.6%) were published in 1990 in a singleissue of the journal. While the first article onimmigrants was published in 1949, the firstarticle on Indigenous Australians was notpublished until 1966, nearly 20 years afterthe journal started.

174 Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3

Table 2 shows the distribution over timeof the articles published in Australian SocialWork and its predecessors.

Over time, there appears to be a definitetrend to publish more articles on immigrant/multicultural topics but there is only a slighttrend to publish articles on IndigenousAustralians. (This situation has not changedin the years since the 50th anniversary.)Appendix 1 sets out the full bibliographicdetails of each of the articles surveyed.

Social work and IndigenousAustraliansIt was impossible to read 50 years ofarticles about Indigenous Australianswithout having in the back of one’s mind the

apology that the Australian Association ofSocial Workers (AASW) so rightly gave oversocial workers’ part in the sufferings of theStolen Generations (HREOC 1997). Therewere 16 articles published on IndigenousAustralians. Only two articles mentionedTorres Strait Islanders and both articles

Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3 175

Table 1. List of articles by author, year and category (1947–1997)

Research Policy Practice

Indigenous Gale 1966, 1968 Tomlinson 1986 Downing 1969Carter et al. 1970a, 1970b McMahon 1997 Jackson 1974Williams 1971 Webber 1978Gale and Wundersitz 1986 McMahon 1990O’Connor 1993 Freedman and Stark 1993

Trevallion 1993Crawford 1997

Immigrant Legh 1968 Fancourt 1949 Heney 1952Williams 1971 Anon. 1957 Oswald 1965Smyrnios and Tonge 1981 Cox 1990 Watkins 1971Callan and O’Hanlon 1982 Swensen 1995 Rodopoulos 1975Cox 1983a, 1983b Lewis 1979Barnett and Cricelli 1990 Lim 1979Westbrook and Legge 1990 Lewis 1981Kidson 1993 Hetzel 1988

Chu and Carew 1990Lane 1990Nguyen 1990, 1993Brown 1992Nguyen-Carrington 1992

Table 2. Decade of publication of journalarticles (n=42)

Decade Indigenous Immigrant Total

1940s – 1 11950s – 2 21960s 3 2 51970s 5 5 91980s 2 6 81990s 6 11 17Total 16 27 42

were from Queensland: One paper was aneditorial (Trevallion 1993) by a Torres StraitIslander reminding readers of Torres StraitIslanders’ existence and the other was ahistory/research paper on Queensland childwelfare (O’Connor 1993). Interestingly, inthe light of the Stolen Generations report,nine of the 16 articles were aboutIndigenous children.

The 16 articles fall into three categories(see Table 1): seven provided researchfindings about Indigenous Australians (Carter et al. 1970a; Gale 1966, 1968,1970b; Gale & Wundersitz 1986; O’Connor1993; and Williams 1971); two articles wrote about policy towards IndigenousAustralians (McMahon 1997 and Tomlinson1986) and seven articles emphasised social work practice with IndigenousAustralians (Downing 1969; Jackson 1974;Webber 1978; McMahon 1990; Freedman &Stark 1993; Trevallion 1993 and Crawford1997). It was not until 1969, 22 years afterpublication began, that the first publicationdealing with practice, which, interestingly,urged a community organisation approach(Downing 1969), was published.

There was a significant difference in theemphasis and language used between theresearch and the practice articles. Partly,this may be a product of age, as five of theseven research articles were publishedbefore 1971, but some of the researcharticles used language that could be seenas disparaging in descriptions ofIndigenous people. Examples include suchphrases as, ‘social disorganisation appearsto be a cultural trait of the urbanisedAboriginal ’ (Williams 1971, p. 14) and ‘itwas obvious that the concept of research

was too abstract for the part-aboriginalpeople’ (Carter et al. 1970a, p. 29). Incontrast, the language and mode ofdiscourse of the practice articlesrepresented Indigenous peoples as havingpolitics of resistance, agency and power in their own lives. One reason for thisdifference may be that the authors ofpractice articles drew from their ownexperience of living and working withIndigenous people or were Indigenousthemselves. Freedman and Stark (1993,p.30), for example, said ‘their primaryloyalty was to the Koorie community’ andthis point of view was reflected in the other practice articles. Of the seven articles on practice, three (Webber 1978;Trevallion 1993; Crawford 1997) wereconcerned to inform readers how to actsensitively and appropriately withIndigenous people. The other four articlessituated practice with Aborigines within an anti-racist, structural framework with a goal of social transformation. Both thearticles that dealt with policy (Tomlinson1986; McMahon 1997) had much the same goal.

Generally, the articles on IndigenousAustralians tended to reflect social policiesrather than challenge them. Social andpolitical policies for Indigenous Australianshave changed over time from assimilationduring the years 1949–1972 to self-management and self-determination from1972 to date, then to the land rightscampaigns 1971–1983 and the legal rightscampaigns from 1983 to the present time(Reynolds 2000). Most, but not all (seeO’Connor 1993), of the research articlescome from an assimilationist perspective

176 Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3

that imposes a framework of moralregulation on the Indigenous peopleresearched. The practice articles tend toemphasise Indigenous self-managementand, in one case (Crawford 1997) landrights. The Stolen Generations werementioned in five articles (Gale 1968;Tomlinson 1986; Freedman & Stark 1993;O’Connor 1993; McMahon 1997) andIndigenous people’s negative view of socialworkers/welfare workers is mentioned infour other articles (Carter et al. 1970a;1970b; Crawford 1997; Gale 1966). Theprocess of Reconciliation was notmentioned at all. Inescapably, social work’shistorical links with Indigenous Australians,both the positive and the negative, needs alarger place in the national journal.

Social work and immigrantAustraliansIn categorising the 27 articles on immigrantAustralians in the same way as the articleson Indigenous Australians, there are somesignificant differences to be noted.Proportionately, there were fewer articles on research in this category than onIndigenous Australians. Four of the nineresearch articles were published in the1980s and a further three in the 1990s. This is in sharp contrast to research onIndigenous Australians that tended to bepublished mainly in the 1960s and 1970s.The tone of the language in the researcharticles is different from some researcharticles on Indigenous Australians. Withoutexception, the language and the mode of

discourse on articles that reported researchon immigrant Australians was respectful,inclusive and non-pathological. Racistlanguage appeared to be absent fromthese publications and reference was made to multiculturalism, cultural diversityand support. Even the earliest article(Williams 1971) positively contrasted the cohesive migrant families with thedisorganised Aboriginal and ‘Australian’families.

There were 15 articles that proposed ordescribed social work practice withimmigrant Australians. Like the researcharticles, the language and mode ofdiscourse, with one exception (Oswald1965), was positive, non-pathologising andinclusive. Thirteen of the 15 articles took aculturally sensitive stance that asks theworker to be sensitive to and respectful ofcultural differences. Only one article (Lane1990) took a social change, anti-raciststance although Rodopoulos (1975) urgedsome structural change. The overallimpression from these articles is thatpractice is seen as empathic intervention oraddressing individual oppression withoutmuch concern for oppressive socialstructures.

Practice articles were fairly evenlydivided between articles on refugees (7)and other immigrants (8). Five of the sevenarticles on refugees were about Vietnamesemigrants and seven of the 27 articles (26%)were about Vietnamese Australians. Therewere only three articles that dealt withpolicy. Interestingly, in view of recentdebates about child migration, the earliestarticle about immigrants wrote aboutGovernment policy on British child migrants

Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3 177

(Fancourt 1949). Articles tended to reflectuncritically the social policies of the daywhether they were assimilation ormulticulturalism. Thus those written during atime of assimilation chose an assimilationiststance while the article written morerecently (Cox 1990) emphasised culturaldiversity.

Theme 1: Social work’ssilence about IndigenousAustraliansThere were 16 articles published over 50 years on Indigenous Australians, only1.71% of the 934 articles published. Thesmall number of articles in Australian SocialWork on working with Indigenous people isintriguing when one considers the fleetingreferences in early issues of Forum aboutworking with Aborigines, by the recentapology of the AASW for social workers’part in the Stolen Generations, by thegrowing numbers of Indigenous socialworkers and by the fact that many non-Indigenous social workers work in jobs thatbring them into contact with IndigenousAustralians. It appears unlikely that thesmall number of published papers implieseither a disinterest in the profession inworking with Indigenous people or the ideathat working with Indigenous Australians isoutside mainstream social work practice.Why, then, is there so little analysis of thepractice that undoubtedly takes place?Histories of Australian social work(Lawrence 1965; Martin 1990) make nomention of social work with Indigenouspeople. The situation is reminiscent ofStanner’s (1969) evocation of the absenceof Aboriginal people from Australianhistories as The Great Australian Silence.

Theme 2: A binary stancetowards Indigenous peopleWhen we look at what has been written inAustralian Social Work over the 50 yearssurveyed, the few publications reviewedportray a binary stance towards IndigenousAustralians. Half the articles pathologiseIndigenous people as passivevictims/objects of others’ actions; the otherhalf sees Indigenous people as resilientagents of their own destinies. The articlesthat emphasise Indigenous Australians asdisplaying politics of resistance, agencyand power in their lives begin to addressthe general lack of a critical perspective inthis literature. As well, there is a notablecontrast between articles written aboutIndigenous Australians and those writtenabout immigrant Australians. Articles writtenabout Indigenous Australians are eithermore negative or more positive than thegenerally approving tone of articles aboutimmigrants. Perhaps, working withIndigenous peoples was seen in binaryterms as either working in a social ordermodel with those who are consideredhopeless or working with a commitment tosocial change for those who are oppressed.Jackson (1974) said as much in 1974.

Theme 3: Social work withimmigrants as assimilationThe 27 social work publications presentedas very welcoming and tolerant ofimmigrants. Ethnic-sensitive practice, whichcharacterises these publications, is amethod of practice that seeks to enhancethe worker’s positive regard for ethnicclients and to ensure that the worker issensitive to and attentive of cultural

178 Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3

differences that may hinder communication(Schlesinger & Devore 1995). Certainly, thelanguage of these articles is generally notthe language of pathology and deficit butthe language of strength and resilience.

However, these 27 articles presented anunproblematic view of Australian society,presume that readers are ‘mainstream’Australians and that the purpose of thearticles is to assist mainstream socialworkers to do their jobs sensitively. Thisview therefore while placing immigrants asculturally different, also places them asalien others within Australian society, asociety into which social workers will,according to the literature, sensitivelyintroduce them. Only one article (Lane1990) really moved beyond cultural identity‘to address needs and increasedaccessibility to services’ and to overcome‘social alienation, racial tension andneighbourhood conflict ’ (p. 37). In the otherarticles, there is little analysis of theintersections of class and gender with raceand ethnicity which more accurately reflectthe materiality of people’s lives (Rattansi1992).

Diversity as a basis forpracticeAs this article stated at the beginning,literature published in a nationalprofessional journal allows the reader toassess the contribution of the journal toprofessional knowledge and practice. For over 50 years, Australian Social Workand its predecessors have publishedarticles on cross-cultural practice. While the articles reviewed in this paper have generally reflected rather than

challenged the social and politicalcircumstances in which they and theirsubjects lived, Australian social workers are now being urged by the NationalPresident to portray the diversity ofAustralian values, ideals and experience as a basis for practice.

‘The challenge that is presented to(Australian) social work is that of identifyingemergent areas of oppression as theyoccur rather than recognising them afterthey have been firmly embedded in ourstructures. A discourse that hears thevoices of lived experience as well as an analysis of structural factors makes this proactive recognition of concernspossible‘ (Gaha 1999; p. 3).

How, then, are we going to write the next 50 years? One starting point might be towrite about social work so as to betterreflect contemporary Australian identities.While a number of writers on immigrantAustralians self-identified as migrants,refugees or the child of migrants only oneIndigenous writer identified herself as such (Trevallion 1993) and this was in aneditorial deploring the non-recognition ofTorres Strait Islanders in Australian socialwork. Central to the identity of Australiansocial work must be the voices of all thosewho make up the profession (Gaha 1999). Itis worth noting that the new Code of Ethicsemphasises Indigeneity and diversity assites and modes of practice. In illustration,Luke and Luke (1998), in the related field ofeducation, make the point that interracialfamilies, as a site for the construction ofidentities and practices of new ethnicities,now require ‘theoretical and practicalmodels and vocabularies beyond thoseoffered by the postwar literature on

Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3 179

immigration and multiculturalism’ (Luke &Luke 1998; p. 749).

With some exceptions, the articlespublished over the last 50 years generallyemphasised agency, diversity, resilience,resistance and power. They were couchedin the languages of cultural sensitivity andanti-racism. This is social work practice that supports people’s strengths. But hardly any of the articles challenged thepolicy or political contexts in which practicewas taking place. Of course, it would beunrealistic to expect every article to do thatbut it is significant that so few did over the50 years. Perhaps in the next 50 years, weneed to read articles that are not onlysensitive to individuals and groups but also more responsive to and critical ofinstitutional and policy contexts. To focus on culturally sensitive and anti-racist socialwork with individuals and groups isnecessary but these approaches are nolonger sufficient to express the complexrealities of Australian cross-cultural socialwork practice. One public commentatorsays that Indigenous issues,multiculturalism and immigration are threesites where the new ideological divides inAustralian society and politics are to befound (Semper 1998). While these issueshave not been that prominent in AustralianSocial Work and its predecessors,contemporary discussions of Indigenousrights and welfare and the lengthy andpunitive detention of refugees show thatdiversity, ethnicity and race are as likely tobe as significant in the future of the nationas they have been in the past. They willtherefore be just as central to Australiansocial work practice.

ReferencesANON. (1949), Report on Victorian Council for SocialService. Forum, 3 (2), 7.

ANON. (1955), An Australian branch of InternationalSocial Service founded. Forum, 8 (1), 28–29.

CARTER J, KOCE S & VAUGHAN I (1970a), Pre-SchoolPart-Aboriginal Children on Two Reserves in WestAustralia: A Dietary, Medical Bio-Chemical and Socio-Economic Survey, Part I. Australian Journal ofSocial Work, 23 (1), 27–30.

CARTER J, KOCE S & VAUGHAN I (1970b), Pre-School Part-Aboriginal Children on Two Reservesin West Australia: A Dietary, Medical Bio-Chemical andSocio-Economic Survey, Part II. Australian Journal ofSocial Work, 23 (2), 12–25.

COX D (1990), Editorial : Social Work andMulticulturalism, Australian Social Work, 43 (3), 2.

CRAWFORD F (1997), No Continuing City: APostmodern Story of Social Work. Australian SocialWork, 50 (1), 23–30.

DONOVAN F (1958), The social work in a municipalsetting. Forum, 11 (2), 7–13.

DOWNING JH (1969), Community Organization Projectfor the Development of Aborigines in an Area Northand North-East of Alice Springs. Australian Journal ofSocial Work, 22 (1), 27–30.

FAIRCLOUGH N (1989), Language and Power.Longman, London.

FAIRCLOUGH N (1992), Discourse and SocialChange. Polity Press, Cambridge.

FANCOURT MISS (1949), Child migration. Forum, 3(2), 7–8.

FREEDMAN L & STARK L (1993), When the WhiteSystem Doesn’t Fit. Australian Social Work, 46 (1),29–36.

GAHA J (1993), Australian Social Work Index (diskcopy). AASW, Hawker, ACT.

GAHA J (1999), Promoting Inclusion, RedressingExclusion: the Social Work Challenge. Norma ParkerAddress 1999. Australian Association of SocialWorkers, Brisbane.

GALE F (1966), Aborigines and the Normal SocialWelfare Channels. Australian Journal of Social Work,19 (2), 5–9.

GALE F (1968), Foster Homes for Aboriginal Children,Australian Journal of Social Work, 21 (1), 8–14.

180 Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3

GALE F & WUNDERSITZ J (1986), Aboriginal Visibilityin the System. Australian Social Work, 39 (1), 21–26.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIESCOMMISSION (1997), Bringing Them Home: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Children from their Families.Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission,Sydney.

JACKSON A (1974), A Systems Approach to theAnalysis of Work Style in Aboriginal Affairs. AustralianSocial Work, 27 (3), 25–29.

LANE M (1990), Community Work with ImmigrantGroups. Australian Social Work, 43 (3), 33–38.

LAWRENCE RJ (1965),Professional Social Work inAustralia. Australian National University, Canberra.

LAWRENCE J (1997), Editorial. Australian Social Work,50 (4), 2.

LUKE C & LUKE A (1998), Interracial Families:Difference within Difference. Ethnic and Racial Studies,21 (4), 728–754.

MARTIN JI (1956), Anthropology and Social Work.Forum, 9 (2), 18–25.

MARTIN EMW (1990), Gender, Demand and Domain:The Social Work Rrofession in South Australia 1935–80.PhD Thesis, University of Melbourne, Melbourne.

MCCOUAT M (1971), On Prejudice and Socialization:Towards Social Work Action. Australian Social Work, 24 (3 & 4), 13–19.

MCMAHON T (1990), Social Work and Aborigines.Australian Social Work, 43 (3), 11–14.

MCMAHON A (1997), Child welfare and the StolenGenerations: Time for a rethink. Australian Social Work,50 (4), 87–89.

MITCHELL E (1955), Some Aspects of a HousingOfficer’s Work. Forum, 8 (1), 15–22.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS.(1997),An Author’s Guide to Social Work Journals, 4th edn. National Association of Social Workers,Washington, DC.

NEUMAN WL (2000), Social Research Methods 4th edn. Allyn and Bacon, Boston.

O’CONNOR I (1993), Aboriginal Child Welfare Law,Policies and Practices in Queensland: 1865-1989.Australian Social Work, 46 (3), 11–22.

OSWALD M (1965), Detached Work amongstAdolescent Groups. Australian Journal of Social Work,18 (1), 8–14.

RATTANSI A (1992), Change of Subject? Racism,Culture and Education. In: Donald J & Rattansi A.‘Race’, Culture and Difference. Sage, London, 11–48.

REYNOLDS H (2000), Indigenous Social Welfare: From a Low Priority to Recognition and Reconciliation.In: McMahon A, Thomson J & Williams C (eds.)Understanding the Australian Welfare State: KeyDocuments and Themes. Tertiary Press, Croydon,Victoria, pp. 97–109.

RODOPOULOS LS (1975), Social Work with GreekMigrants: A Personal Experience of the Issues andDilemmas. Australian Social Work, 28 (1), 45–50.

ROJEK C, PEACOCK G & COLLINS S (1988), SocialWork and Received Ideas. Routledge, London.

RYAN M & MARTYN R (1996), Writing about SocialWork Education: A Content Analysis of AustralianJournal Articles 1983–93. Australian Social Work, 49 (4), 19–23.

SCHLESINGER EG & DEVORE W (1995), Ethnic-Sensitive Practice: The State of the Art. Journal ofSociology and Social Welfare, 22 (1), 29–58.

SEMPER E (1998), What’s right, who’s left? TheWeekend Australian, March 7–8, pp. 32–33.

SPENDER D (1981), The gatekeepers. In: Roberts, H. Doing Feminist Research. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, pp. 186–202.

STANNER WEH (1969) After the Dreaming: The 1968Boyer Lectures. Australian Broadcasting Commission,Sydney.

STREHLOW TGH (1956a), Friendship with South-EastAsia: A Cultural Approach, Part I. Forum, 9 (1), 8–18.

STREHLOW TGH (1956b), Friendship with South-EastAsia: A Cultural Approach, Part II. Forum, 9 (2), 3–14.

TITSCHER S, MEYER M, WODAK R & VETTER E(2000), Methods of text and discourse analysis. Sage,London.

TOMLINSON J (1986), Aboriginalising Child Care.Australian Social Work, 39 (1), 33–36.

TREVALLION I (1993), Editorial: International Year ofthe World’s Indigenous People: working with TorresStrait Islander People. Australian Social Work, 46 (2), 2.

TRIPODI T & EPSTEIN I (1980), The use of contentanalysis to monitor social work performance’. In:Tripodi T (ed.), Research Techniques for Clinical SocialWorkers. Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 103–120.

WEBBER DL (1978), Case Studies for AboriginalFieldworkers and Administrators. Australian SocialWork, 31 (1), 21–26.

WILLIAMS R (1971), Cultural Gap Among PrimarySchool Children. Australian Journal of Social Work, 24 (1), 9–15.

Article accepted for publication March 2002.

Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3 181

Appendix I: Bibliographicdetails of surveyed articles(1947–1997)ANON. (1957), Report: The EighthCitizenship Convention, January 22nd–25th,1957. Forum, 10 (1), 26–37.

BARNETT K & CRICELLI M (1990), Caringfor Caregivers : The Multicultural RespiteCare Project. Australian Social Work, 43 (3), 39–43.

BROWN P (1992), Using a Group Processin the Teaching of Cultural Awareness forStudents in a Multicultural Society.Australian Social Work, 45 (4), 3–8.

CALLAN VJ & O’HANLON B (1982), The Development of an Ethnic WelfareAssociation. Australian Social Work, 35 (4),33–37

CARTER J, KOCE S & VAUGHAN I (1970a),Pre-School Part-Aboriginal Children on TwoReserves in West Australia: A Dietary,Medical Bio-Chemical and Socio-EconomicSurvey, Part I. Australian Journal of SocialWork, 23 (1), 27–30.

CARTER J, KOCE S & VAUGHAN I (1970b), Pre-School Part-Aboriginal Children on TwoReserves in West Australia: A Dietary,Medical Bio-Chemical and Socio-EconomicSurvey, Part II. Australian Journal of SocialWork, 23 (2), 12–25.

COX D (1990), Editorial : Social Work andMulticulturalism, Australian Social Work, 43(3), 2.

CHU KF-Y & CAREW R (1990),Confucianism: Its Relevance to Social Workwith Chinese People. Australian SocialWork, 43 (3), 3–9.

COX D (1983a), Religion and the Welfare ofImmigrants. Australian Social Work, 36 (1), 3–10.

COX D (1983b), Welfare Services in aMulticultural Society, Australian Social Work,36 (3), 10–17.

CRAWFORD F (1997), No Continuing City: A Postmodern Story of Social Work.Australian Social Work, 50 (1), 23–30.

DOWNING JH (1969), CommunityOrganization Project for the Development ofAborigines in an Area North and North-Eastof Alice Springs. Australian Journal ofSocial Work, 22 (1), 27–30.

FANCOURT MISS (1949), Child migration.Forum, 3 (2), 7–8.

FREEDMAN L & STARK L (1993), When theWhite System Doesn’t Fit. Australian SocialWork, 46 (1), 29–36.

GALE F (1966), Aborigines and the NormalSocial Welfare Channels. Australian Journalof Social Work, 19 (2), 5–9.

GALE F (1968), Foster Homes for AboriginalChildren, Australian Journal of Social Work,21 (1), 8–14.

GALE F & WUNDERSITZ J (1986),Aboriginal Visibility in the System. AustralianSocial Work, 39 (1), 21–26.

HENEY H (1952), Migrant Assimilation: The Secondary School Age Group. Forum,6 (1), 11–13.

HETZEL S (1988), The Establishing of aMulti-cultural Community Health Centre.Australian Social Work, 41 (4), 32–34.

JACKSON A (1974), A Systems Approachto the Analysis of Work Style in AboriginalAffairs. Australian Social Work, 27 (3),25–29.

KIDSON S (1993), Exploratory Study of theNeeds of Refugee Survivors of Torture andTrauma in South Australia. Australian SocialWork, 46 (4), 35–40.

182 Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3

LANE M (1990), Community Work withImmigrant Groups. Australian Social Work,43 (3), 33–38.

LEGH KA (1968), Study of YugoslavMigrants in the Major Psychiatric Hospitalsin the Sydney Metropolitan Area. AustralianJournal of Social Work, 21 (1), 2–7.

LEWIS PG (1979), Hosting of Indo-ChinaRefugees and Migrants: VolunteerInvolvement in Resettlement. AustralianSocial Work, 32 (2), 25–33.

LEWIS PG (1981), Some Psycho-SocialFactors Observed in the Resettlement ofIndo-China Refugees. Australian SocialWork, 34 (1), 15–19.

LIM S (1979), Service Delivery to Indo-Chinese Refugee Children – The SouthAustralian Experience. Australian SocialWork, 32 (3), 41–46.

MCMAHON T (1990), Social Work andAborigines. Australian Social Work, 43 (3),11–14.

MCMAHON A (1997), Child welfare and theStolen Generations: Time for a rethink.Australian Social Work, 50 (4), 87–89.

NGUYEN T (1993), Parents and NaughtyChidren: Two Vietnamese Perspectives onConduct Disorder and their Implications for Intervention. Australian Social Work, 46 (3), 50–53.

NGUYEN U (1990), Working with Indo-Chinese Refugees in Malaysia: FirstAsylum Camps – A Social WorkPerspective. Australian Social Work, 43 (3),27–32.

NGUYEN-CARRINGTON U (1992)Counselling Indochinese Refugee WomenRape Survivors. Australian Social Work, 45 (3), 19–25.

O’CONNOR I (1993), Aboriginal ChildWelfare Law, Policies and Practices inQueensland: 1865-1989. Australian SocialWork, 46 (3), 11–22.

OSWALD M (1965), Detached Workamongst Adolescent Groups. AustralianJournal of Social Work, 18 (1), 8–14.

RODOPOULOS LS (1975), Social Work withGreek Migrants: A Personal Experience ofthe Issues and Dilemmas. Australian SocialWork, 28 (1), 45–50.

SMYRNIOS KX & TONGE B (1981),Immigrant Greek Mothers : The Anxiety of Change. Australian Social Work, 34 (2), 19–24.

SWENSEN G (1995), Female GenitalMutilation and Human Rights. AustralianSocial Work, 48 (2), 27–33.

TOMLINSON J (1986), Aboriginalising ChildCare. Australian Social Work, 39 (1), 33–36.

TREVALLION I (1993), Editorial:International Year of the World’s IndigenousPeople: working with Torres Strait IslanderPeople. Australian Social Work, 46 (2), 2.

WATKINS G (1971), The Meaning of aPregnancy to the Single Greek Migrant Girl. Australian Journal of Social Work, 24 (1), 23–27.

WEBBER DL (1978), Case Studies forAboriginal Fieldworkers and Administrators.Australian Social Work, 31 (1), 21–26.

WESTBROOK MT & LEGGE V (1990),Ethnic Residents in Nursing Homes: A Staff Perspective. Australian Social Work,43 (3), 15–26.

WILLIAMS R (1971), Cultural Gap AmongPrimary School Children. Australian Journalof Social Work, 24 (1), 9–15.

Australian Social Work/September 2002, Vol. 55, No. 3 183