Race matters: (Re)thinking the significance of race and racial inequalities in community development practice in Australia
Abstract
In Australia, discussions of race, racism and racial inequalities remain contentious debates. The dominant discourses around these issues focus on and often seek to silence racism or diminish its occurrence in the society, in other words: deflections and denial of racism dominate. Such denials and deflections belie the lived experiences of racism among racial(ised) minorities. Perhaps not surprisingly therefore, within such a context, there is a paucity of research on how community development practice engages with issues of race, racialisation, racism and racial inequalities. Little is known about how community development practitioners work with/in racially diverse communities or the extent to which Australian community development practice employs a ‘race lense’ in its practice. The discussions in this paper therefore emanate from an understanding that ‘colour (race)-blind’ practice still dominates community development work in Australia. The main contention is that unexamined colour-blind practice has the potential to reproduce systemic racism or systems of racial inequalities. The question informing this paper therefore, is: what is the significance of race in community development practice in Australia? To address this question, the paper centres “the experienced reality of lived racism” (Essed, 1991, p. vii) by black African migrants in Australia - which highlight the pervasiveness of racism in their everyday lives - to argue the need for conversations and considerations about race and inclusion within the field of community development. In the end, the discussions in this paper will raise important questions about the significance of race in community development practice in Australia and the consequences of race-blind practice and colour-mutism when working with/in ethnic and racially diverse communities. Perhaps more importantly, the paper contributes to ‘courageous conversations’ about how community development practitioners can work effectively across ethnic and racial boundaries without (re)producing systemic structures of racial inequalities.References
Allred, K. (2017). Lady Gaga And The Problem With ‘Non-Racist’ White People: White people need to talk about her response to Charlottesville. Huffington Post, 17 August 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lady-gaga-the-problems-with-non-racist-white_us_59960aeee4b033e0fbdec279, accessed 9 November 2018
Arshad, R. n.d. Anti - Racist Community Work: A Radical Approach, http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/malcolm1.html, accessed 17 Nov 2018
Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change (2004). Structural Racism and Community Building. http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/aspeninst3.pdf, accessed 18 November 2018
Augoustinos, M., & Every, D. (2007). The language of “race” and prejudice: A discourse of denial, reason, and liberal-practical politics. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 26, 123-141.
Augoustinos, M., & Every, D. (2010). Accusations and denials of racism: managing moral accountability in public discourse. Discourse & Society, 21, 251-256.
Babacan, H. (2008, December). Addressing denial: The first step in responding to racism. In N. H. Babacan & N. Gopalkrishnan (Eds.), Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Racisms in the New World Order (pp. 1-10). Pelican Waters, QLD: University of the Sunshine Coast.
Boulet, J. (2017). Thematic Editorial: Community development and asylum seekers, refugees and migrants: how are we going?, Refugees, Asylum Seekers & Migrants, New Community 15, 60 (l4), 5-6
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2010). Racism Without Racists, Colour-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States (3rd Edition). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield
Bowler, R. (2008). Critical youth and community work and its struggle with white standards. In Craig, G. (Ed.) Community organising against racism: 'Race', ethnicity and community development. Bristol: Bristol University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt22p7kd6, pp. 41-60
Cheung, C. K., & Kam, P. K. (2010). Bonding and bridging social capital development by social workers. Journal of Social Service Research, 36(5), 402-413.
Claridge, T. (2018). What is Bridging Social Capital? https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/what-is-bridging-social-capital/, accessed 15 August 2018
Craig, G. (Ed.). (2018). Community organising against racism: 'Race', ethnicity and community development. Bristol: Bristol University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt22p7kd6
de Vries, L., Roman, M & Briskman, L. (2018). Building strengths in asylum-seeker communities in Australia. In Craig, G. (Ed.) Community organising against racism: 'Race', ethnicity and community development. Bristol: Bristol University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt22p7kd6, pp. 231-244
Dunn, K. M., Pelleri, D., & Maeder-Han, K. (2011). Attacks on Indian students: the commerce of denial in Australia. Race & Class, 54, 71-88.
Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology 78 (6): 1360-80.
Green, C. (n.d.). Colour-blind vs antiracist. https://blogs.hope.edu/getting-race-right/our-context-where-we-are/the-history-we-inhaled/color-blind-vs-anti-racist/, accessed 9 November 2018
Hage, G. (1998). White nation: Fantasies of White supremacy in a multicultural society. Annandale, Australia: Pluto Press.
Hawkins, R. L. & Maurer, K. (2012) Unravelling Social Capital: Disentangling a Concept for Social Work. British Journal of Social Work, 42, 353–370
Hodson, G. (2016). Being Anti-Racist, Not Non-Racist: The importance of opposing prejudice, not simply inhibiting its expression. Psychology today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/without-prejudice/201601/being-anti-racist-not-non-racist, accessed 3 March 2018
Hollinsworth, D. (no date). Addressing Racism in organizations and communities. https://www.lowitja.org.au/sites/default/files/docs/Hollinsworth.pdf, accessed 16 September 2018
Horsford, S. D. and McKenzie K. B. (2008). ‘Sometimes I feel like the problems started with desegregation’: Exploring Black superintendent perspectives on desegregation policy. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 21(5), 443–455
King, L. (2016). Black history as anti-racist and non-racist: An examination of two high school history textbooks. In Husbands, T. (Ed). But I don’t see colour: The Perils, Practices, and Possibilities of Antiracist Education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp. 63-79
King, L. J. & Chandler, (2016). From Non-racism to Anti-racism in Social Studies Teacher Education: Social Studies and Racial Pedagogical Content Knowledge. In A.R. Crowe, A. Cuenca (Eds.). Rethinking Social Studies Teacher Education in the Twenty-First Century, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, pp. 3-21
Kwansah-Aidoo, K and Mapedzahama, V. (2018a) “There is Really Discrimination Everywhere”: Experiences and Consequences of Everyday Racism Among the New Black African Diaspora in Australia. The Australasian Review of African Studies, 39(1), 81-109
Kwansah-Aidoo, K. and Mapedzahama, V. (2018b) Black bodies in/out of place? Afrocentric perspectives and/on racialised belonging in Australia, The Australasian Review of African Studies, Special volume: “Race, Racism, Difference and the ‘new’ African diaspora in Australia” Special Editorial, 39 (2), 95-121
Kwansah-Aidoo, K. & Mapedzahama, V. (2018c) Towards Afrocentric Counternarratives of Race and Racism in Australia. The Australasian Review of African Studies, Special volume: “Race, Racism, Difference and the ‘new’ African diaspora in Australia” Special Editorial, 39 (2), 6-18
Larsen, L., Harlan, S. L., Bolin, B., Hackett, E. J., Hope, D., Kirby, A., Nelson, A, Rex, T. R.
& Wolf, S. (2004). Bonding and bridging: Understanding the relationship between social capital and civic action. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 24(1), 64-77.
Lathouras, A. & Ross, D. (2018) Benarrawa Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Solidarity Group: working to reduce the deleterious effects of racism through structural community development. In Craig, G. (Ed.) Community organising against racism: 'Race', ethnicity and community development. Bristol: Bristol University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt22p7kd6, pp. 215-229
Manning, B. & Ohri, A. (2011). Racism: the response of community work. In Craig, G., Mayo, M., Popple, K., Taylor, M. and Shaw, M (Eds.). The community development reader: History, themes and issues. Chicago: Policy Press
Majavu, M. (2018) “AfriForum and the white international”, Newframe October 18, 2018, https://www.newframe.com/afriforum-and-white-international, accessed 17 August 2018
Mapedzahama V., Rudge T., West, S. & Kwansah-aidoo, K. (2018). Making and maintaining racialised ignorance in Australian nursing workplaces: The case of black African migrant nurses, The Australasian Review of African Studies, Special volume: “Race, Racism, Difference and the ‘new’ African diaspora in Australia” Special Editorial, 39 (2), 48-73
Mapedzahama, V. & Kwansah-Aidoo, K. (2017) Blackness as burden? The lived experience of black Africans in Australia, Sage Open, available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2158244017720483
Mapedzahama, V., & Kwansah-Aidoo, K. (2014). Black on Black: Insider positionality and the Black African migrant research experience in Australia. In L. Voloder & L. Kirpitchenko (Eds.), Insider research on migration and mobility: International perspectives on researcher positioning (pp. 169-186). London, England: Ashgate Publishers.
McCorkell, J.A. and Myers, K. (2003). What difference does difference make? Position and privilege in the field. Qualitative Sociology 26 (2), 199-231
Nieman, A. (2006). Social capital and social development. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 42(2) 163-172.
Price-Robertson, R. & McDonald, M. (2011). Working with Indigenous children, families, and communities: Lessons from practice, Communities and Families Clearinghouse Australia Practice Sheet
Rood, C. (2016). Anti Racism vs Non Racism, http://thenextfamily.com/2016/01/do-you-know-the-difference-from-anti-racism-to-non-racism/, accessed 17 November 2018
Solórzano, D.G & Yosso, T. J (2002). ‘Critical Race Methodology: CounterStorytelling as an Analytical Framework for Education Research’, Qualitative Inquiry, 8 (1) 23-44
Stratton, J. (2006). Two rescues, one history: Everyday racism in Australia. Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, 12, 657-681
Taylor, R. (2017). Australia’s indigenous people face ‘deeply disturbing’ racism, U.N. envoy says, p. 10., https://www.wsj.com/articles/australias-indigenous-people-face-deeply-disturbing-racism-u-n-envoy-says-1491218495, accessed 10 July 2018
Upegui-Hernandez, D. (2009). Double-consciousness: A journey through the multiplicity of personal and social selves in the context of migration. In J. L Chin (Ed.), Diversity in mind and in action (pp. 129-148). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO
Zhang, S., Anderson, S. G., & Zhan, M. (2011). The differentiated impact of bridging and bonding social capital on economic well-being: An individual level perspective. Journal of. Sociology and Social Welfare, 38(1), 119-142
Žižek, S. (2008). Violence: Six sideways reflections, London: Profile Books
