scholarly journals Epistemic Injustice: Towards Uncovering Knowledge of Bisexual Realities in Social Work Research

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 563-582
Author(s):  
Gio Iacono
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Population Group ◽  
Minority Population ◽  
Epistemic Injustice ◽  
Minority Status ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Gender Diverse ◽  
And Gender

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals experience health risks, with bisexuals experiencing higher levels of health risk compared to heterosexuals, gays and lesbians. These disparities are often attributed to stressors related to minority status. While similarities among LGBTQ experiences exist, it is plausible that bisexuals experience unique forms of marginalization, which may help explain the documented health disparities. Bostwick and Hequembourg highlight unique forms of marginalization that bisexuals experience vis-a`-vis microagressions, falling within the realm of the epistemic. Fricker’s work on epistemic injustice emphasizes marginalization particularly as it is related to knowledge and experience. Drawing on this scholarship, this paper provides a review of existing literature on the bisexual experience, and a discussion to provide a critical lens on bisexual marginalization in society and the minimal attention received in social work research. Approaches to increase bisexual visibility and attention in social work research will be discussed. Some approaches include: developing a queer theoretical perspective in practice and research to allow for greater problematization of social categories; and making a concerted effort to promote research that is inclusive of minority populations within the sexual and gender minority population group. This might include groups with intersecting points of marginalization, such as racialized and gender diverse individuals.

Epistemic Injustice and Judicial Discourse on Transgender Rights in India: Uncovering Temporal Pluralism

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-49
Author(s):  
Dipika Jain ◽  
Kimberly M. Rhoten
Keyword(s):  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Epistemic Injustice ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Gender Binary ◽  
Gender Diverse ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Judicial Discourse ◽  
And Gender

This article examines how efforts at legal legibility acquisition by gender diverse litigants result in problematic (e.g., narratives counter to self-identity) and, at times, erroneous discourses on sex and gender that homogenize the litigants themselves. When gender diverse persons approach the court with a rights claim, the narrative they present must necessarily limit itself to a normative discourse that the court may understand and, therefore, engage with. Consequently, the everyday lived experiences of gender diverse persons are often deliberately erased from the narrative as litigants mould themselves into the pre-existing normative legal categories of gender and sex. As a result of such mechanisms, the article finds that gender diverse litigants face epistemic injustice in the courts as their legal legibility is constructed within a constraining gender binary paradigm of judicial discourse. The article explores the trajectory of transgender rights in India, through an analysis of case law prior to and post the landmark NALSA decision, to understand how the approach to transgender rights and identities has been shaped by and shapes, in turn, normative conceptions of gender. The article argues for the incorporation of temporal pluralism into the law that would allow courts to hear gender diverse litigant accounts premised on contemporary gender diversity beyond the binary (rather than incontestable prior understandings based in past precedent), which would better account for such social injustices.

Hidden and ignored: Older sexual and gender minorities in New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-109
Author(s):  
David Betts ◽  
Jane Maidment ◽  
Nikki Evans
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minorities ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Gender Minorities ◽  
Social Work Practitioners ◽  
Mainstream Society ◽  
And Gender

This article explores the experiences of a frequently ignored and underrepresented population in social work research – older sexual and gender minorities. Reporting on findings from a larger research project with older LGBTQ+ people in New Zealand, thirty-one participants between the ages of 60 and 80 were interviewed about their experiences of social connectedness, stigma, and discrimination. Findings highlight that older sexual and gender minorities were twice made invisible. They felt excluded by mainstream society based on their age, as well as their sexual and gender identities. Implications include a need to incorporate intersectional perspectives when working with both older adults and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Social work practitioners also need to consider the multifaceted and compounding identities of their clients with diverse experiences.Keywords: sexual and gender minorities; older adults; New Zealand; invisibility; social work

scholarly journals Orientalist Social Work

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barzoo Eliassi
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Gender Relations ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
World Views ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Swedish Society ◽  
Dominant Society ◽  
And Gender

This aim of this article is to critically examine how the concept of culture is used in Sweden to explain the “failure” or the difficulties that Muslim immigrant families are experiencing with regards to their integration into the dominant society. Whereas, the Swedish society is often represented as ‘modern’, ‘progressive’, and ‘democratic’, immigrants with Muslim backgrounds are predominately described as ‘traditional’, ‘authoritarian’ and ‘pre-modern’. There is a widely held idea within Swedish social work research that immigrant families and the white mainstream Swedish society are situated within two different value systems with different world-views regarding family and gender relations. Due to this entrenched binary opposition, Orientalism becomes constitutive to social work research and practices.

Disrupting knowledge in the arts: encountering the colonial other through performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-403
Author(s):  
Mirna Carranza
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Women Immigrants ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Migration Analysis

‘We are not the Others’ is an artful representation of women’s migration stories woven together through a series of spoken vignettes, developed from social work research. This way of seeing lived experience is useful as it enhances knowledge that may not be ascertained in the social work encounter. These learnings provide feedback on services and the hazards of Canada. The article begins with a discussion of the colonial other in relation to migration. Analysis is centred on the questions: how does the performance of the colonial ‘other’ invoke the desire to contest women immigrants’ belonging? How does the display of migration and racialisation grant silent permission to demarcate who belongs? This article takes up how this knowledge is seen and challenged by viewers, which provides insight for social workers into how the terrain of belonging is mediated by racialisation and gender.

Mainstreaming Gender: An Examination of Feminist Methodology in Social Work Research

Social Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie R Lauve-Moon ◽  
Shelby Enman ◽  
Vanessa Hentz
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Feminist Methodology ◽  
Structural Inequality ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Work Goals

Abstract Despite gender being central to any given social issue and the profession of social work’s commitment to social justice, gender and gender inequality remain tangential to mainstream social work goals as partially indicated by the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative led by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. Feminist methodologists prioritize the investigation of gender inequality by elevating the voices of oppressed groups, particularly women, using qualitative and mixed-methods studies, focusing on structural social change, and emphasizing the need for intersectional inquiry. Feminist and other critical methodologies frame structural inequality as central to the examination of all social issues and research questions. This study investigates the extent to which gender and gender inequality are investigated in mainstream social work research. Specifically, drawing on 404 research articles from three mainstream social work journals, this research relies on content analysis to demonstrate the dearth of studies examining gender and gender inequality in mainstream social work research. This work also presents opportunities for social workers to position gender as central to understanding persisting structural inequalities of the 21st century and work toward a more equitable social order.

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