Abstract
Memoirs are often written with a goal of inspiring readers, teaching a lesson, or demonstrating the author's perspective on a theme or topic. Dr. Ruth Brandwein's memoir, Pursuing Justice: One Woman's Life of Resistance and Resilience is aptly titled as she highlights the theme of resistance to oppression and injustice, teaches the reader lessons of the power of resilience, and ultimately inspires with the moving retelling of her life's struggles and accomplishments. Hers is a journey that is both dynamic and tumultuous.
Dr. Brandwein's dedication to justice runs deep; she clearly comes by this commitment naturally. Her family roots include grandparents who were greatly informed by the Jewish enlightenment in 19th century Europe. Her ancestors were immigrants, members of unions, democratic socialists, and people involved in strikes for better working conditions. Part I of Brandwein's memoir details her compelling family history.
Readers are immediately drawn into the memoir with a story that is gripping in relation to intimate partner violence, personal safety, and mental health. Themes of survival, education and advancement, politics, death and loss, intimacy, and social in/justice are established early in the book and continue throughout. There are a multitude of topics relevant for social work education at the graduate and undergraduate level within the memoir. While the topics are relayed with varying levels of depth, the author's narration of pivotal memories is embedded in key social and behavioral science concepts that would make for stimulating classroom conversation, debate, and additional research. Topics such as policy development, social work research, macro practice, leadership and organizational change, child welfare, poverty, women's rights, health care, and education all surface and play a part in this memoir.
It would be possible to use Pursuing Justice as a text or reader to link contemporary academic sources to the application of the work of social work. This memoir could be used as a bridge to support students’ consideration of the ways theories and concepts of social work and social justice manifest in the daily practice of social work. Brandwein's feminist approach to her family, research, teaching, and leadership, which consistently drives this memoir, would serve as a solid foundation upon which to center discussions of sexism, heterosexism, patriarchy, privilege, and more. The memoir could be used in a micro-focused classroom with a concentration on more of Dr. Brandwein's personal reflections and memories as well as in a macro- or policy-focused classroom with a concentration on her professional reflections and activities that have entailed initiatives focused on reducing inequity in social structures and social welfare processes. In today's socio-cultural context, where reality television and social media videos of peoples’ everyday lives are seen as both entertainment and education, a memoir such as Brandwein's can be viewed as the perfect tool to appeal to, and intrigue, a full classroom or an individual student. Creative faculty could use this book to help reinforce teaching regarding a multitude of concepts and practice approaches, such as participatory action research discussed on p. 161 during Brandwein's research trip to India. Or an instructor could reflect in the classroom on organizational change and feminist leadership as discussed in Chapter 10 during Brandwein's leadership as the Suffolk County, New York, Commissioner of Social Services. Pursuing Justice also provides an opportunity to discuss and explore in social work programs the treatment of subjects such as care for people seeking and undergoing abortions, HIV/AIDS, public assistance, and homelessness.
Certainly, there are some areas of the memoir where readers might want greater or lesser detail. At times the organization or presentation of the stories or memories may leave readers with questions. Despite some of these minor concerns, the reader is left with a sense that the contents and organization of materials are a manifestation of the most important experiences of Dr. Brandwein's development and life. The memoir, if used in the classroom, would also facilitate a discussion of the evolution of social work terminology and person-first language, as well as inclusive language within the profession. Because the memoir is very accessible, it would be easily understood by students at varying levels of sophistication.
When focusing only on the social work practice that spans Brandwein's career both in the academy and in professional practice, her pioneering work is something that is worthy of a reader's pause and reflection. This book would certainly be of interest to any feminist social work academic but also to professional social workers in macro practice as it speaks of key pioneers and moments in time and exemplifies the power of one to make an impact. The memoir makes it clear to the reader that the ripples of Brandwein's work can be felt across the globe. How fitting then that the waves of her work crash into each other as the review of Dr. Brandwein's memoir is published here in Affilia, the journal of which she was one of the founding mothers.
