Language Discordant Social Work in a Multilingual World
The Space Between
- 142 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
Based on ethnographic observations of encounters between social workers and people with whom they do not have a shared language, this book analyzes the impact of language discordance on the quality of professional service provision.
Exploring how street-level bureaucrats navigate the landscape of these discretionary assessments of language discordance, language proficiency, and the need for interpreting, the book focuses on four main themes:
- the complexity of social work talk
- the issue of participation in language discordant meetings
- communicative interaction
- the issue of how clarification is requested when needed, and whether professionals and service users are able to reach clarity when something is unclear
Based on the findings presented on these different aspects of language discordant talk, the consequences of language discordance for social work are presented and discussed, focusing primarily on issues at the intersection of language, communication, power, dominance and subordination, representation, linguicism, and ultimately, human rights and human dignity.
It will be of interest to all social work students, academics and professionals as well as those working in public services and allied health more broadly.
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Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Half-Title Page
- Series Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: Social work in a multilingual world
- 2 Language discordant social work communication
- 3 Complexity of talk in social work meetings
- 4 Participation in social work meetings
- 5 Communicative interaction in social work meetings
- 6 Requesting clarification and reaching clarity
- 7 Social work and human dignity in the context of language discordance
- Index