Doing Justice As a Path to Sustainability in Community Work
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DOING JUSTICE AS A PATH TO SUSTAINABILITY IN COMMUNITY WORK PROEFCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Tilburg, op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. Ph. Eijlander, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties aangewezen commissie in de Ruth First zaal van de Universiteit op dinsdag 9 februari 2010 om 14. 15 uur door Victoria ann Reynolds geboren op 21 march 1961 te Toronto, Ontario, Canada Promotores: Prof. Dr. Kenneth J. Gergen Prof. Dr. John B. Rijsman SUMMARY: DOING JUSTICE AS A PATH TO SUSTAINABILITY IN COMMUNITY WORK I believe that it is possible to stay alive and useful in community work that takes place in contexts of social injustices. Sustaining ourselves in this difficult and sometimes spiritually painful work becomes more possible when we are able to work in accord with our ethics, embrace a spirit of solidarity, and see our collective work as doing justice. In the frame of this writing, I describe the paths that have led me to this work from social justice activism. The clients I have worked alongside have impacted my work, particularly survivors of torture and political violence, and people of the downtown Eastside of Vancouver who are subjected to social injustices and extreme marginalization. I am the supervisor for counsellors, community workers, and practitioners who work in these contexts of social injustice, and it is my task to shoulder them up to be useful for the long haul. In Part I, I outline my ethical stance for doing justice. This stance is comprised of six Guiding Intentions. Centering Ethics helps us put our shared ethics at the center by taking positions against neutrality and for justice. Doing Solidarity means that we see all of our work towards justice as inter-connected and that we act collectively. Naming Power requires identifying injustices and taking positions that address abuses of power. It includes witnessing peoples' resistance to oppression, addressing privilege, and creating practices of accountability. Fostering Collective Sustainability acknowledges that we are meant to do this work together. We resist individualism, and invite collective social responsibility for a just society without putting the burden of an unjust society on the backs of individual workers. Critically Engaging with Language acknowledges the power of language, and commitments to using language in liberatory ways. It welcomes the language that occurs outside of words. Structuring Safety creates practices that invite safety into our work, informs us to act as allies where we are privileged, and to honour collaboration. In Part II, I outline the Solidarity Group practice that I created in response to both the contexts of injustice I worked in, and my longstanding commitment to this ethical stance for doing justice. The Solidarity Group promotes collective sustainability by nourishing workers connections with an ethic of doing justice in their work and their lives. It brings forward a spirit of social justice, and invites us to act in solidarity with the aim of creating an experience of community while contesting isolation and individualism. The center of the Solidarity Group is collective. I invite participants into group work that holds the entire group at the center as the resource. The supervisor is not the resource. The dialogue is organized around experiences which may include acts of justice, ethical struggles, startling successes, or painful losses. This is a different emphasis because we do not organize around "cases" or problems of individual workers. Solidarity Groups are inspired by Collaborative and Narrative therapies and are influenced by the innovative history of Reflecting Teams. In bridging activism and community work my hope is that the ethical stance of doing justice can make a contribution to our collective sustainability. As with clients, we do not want to be merely survivors of this ii complex work. We want to be of use, acting in accord with the ethics to which we are committed and fully alive across time. For David Walton 1959 -2005 Whose integrity, unapologetic-earnestness, and ethical ways of being continue to humble and inspire. And whose solidarity accompanies me on many paths to liberation, and in this writing. I have worked alongside survivors of torture and political violence and community workers in New Zealand, Australia, Dharamsala (India), Chile, and Canada. In Botswana, Africa, I worked and lived with political refugees. These good people are the heart of this work. iii Doing Justice as a Path to Sustainability in Community Work CONTENTS The Frame .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 i. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................... 1 ii. "Here We Are, Amazingly Alive, Against Long Odds" ................................................................................................... 1 iii. The Frame: The Clients, the Community Workers, the Supervisor, a Supervision of Solidarity ........................ 4 Part I. An Ethical Stance for Doing Justice: The Guiding Intentions ................................................... 17 1. Introduction to an Ethical Stance for Doing Justice: The Guiding Intentions ............................................................ 18 2. The Guiding Intentions ....................................................................................................................................................... 23 A. Centering Ethics .................................................................................................................................................................................. 23 B. Doing Solidarity .................................................................................................................................................................................... 33 C. Addressing Power ............................................................................................................................................................................... 47 D. Fostering Collective Sustainability ................................................................................................................................................... 62 E. Critically Engaging with Language ..................................................................................................................................................... 77 F. Structuring Safety ................................................................................................................................................................................. 95 3. Conclusion to an Ethical Stance for Doing Justice: The Guiding Intentions ............................................................ 108 Part II The Solidarity Group Practice ...................................................................................................... 109 1. Introduction to the Solidarity Group Practice ............................................................................................................. 109 2. Outline of the Solidarity Group ...................................................................................................................................... 110 3. The Solidarity Group: An Imagined Practice Example ............................................................................................... 112 4. The Spirit of the Solidarity Group Practice: The East Van Crew ............................................................................ 137 5. Furthering Talk on the East Van Crew's Solidarity Group ........................................................................................ 151 6. Following Threads of Intention: Focused Re-tellings from Solidarity Groups ...................................................... 156 7. Solidarity Notes: Letters from the Listening Witnesses ............................................................................................ 170 8. The Fluidity of the Solidarity Group: The Flow of Contexts and Formations ..................................................... 173 9. Furthering Talk from Within the Solidarity Group Practice ..................................................................................... 176 10. Other Solidarity Practices Informed by the Guiding Intentions ............................................................................. 179 A. The Solidarity Team ......................................................................................................................................................................... 180 B. People-ing the room ............................................................................................................................................................................. 183 C. The Supervision Witnessing Interview ......................................................................................................................................... 184 11. Conclusion to the Solidarity Group Practice ............................................................................................................. 189 Part III: Looking Back and Looking Ahead ............................................................................................