Outlanders: Hidden Narratives from Social Workers of Colour (from Black & Other Global Majority Communities), Edited by Wayne Reid and Siobhan Maclean

Extract

The book creates a space for social work students, academics and practitioners of colour to construct narratives out of the historical, socio-cultural and political realities of their lives. The publication timely coincides with the existential threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic especially to people of colour, and the brutal killing on 25 May 2020, of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, by a white policeman in Minneapolis. It is therefore unsurprising that these events, as well as the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement worldwide, are echoed by most contributors to the anthology. Adopting a narrative approach, the book compels the reader to pay attention to the contributors’ stories, particularly the way the world appears to social workers of colour. It is divided into five logical and illuminating sections: Essays, Poetry, Stories, Reflections and Ruminations, while the last fifty-eight pages feature short biographies of the contributors as well as pre-press reviews by professional colleagues. Its uniqueness is reflective of the unequivocal acknowledgement of institutional, structural and direct racism experienced by people of colour in social work, despite authors’ unawareness of who else was contributing.