Reflections on and of Self in South Africa

Abstract

For social workers who are working within a discipline associated with social control an awareness of one’s social location and the impacts thereof is critical. This is particularly true in South Africa, where issues of power, race and class have been overtly contested over centuries. However, the South African literature largely overlooks the necessity of such examination, ignoring issues of power and domination in the social work relationship. I offer my own auto-ethnographic reflections as a South African social worker and researcher, living in Canada, critically examining how power was negotiated. The issues raised here may be relevant for those examining their practice in other contexts. Further, these reflections are useful in the international social work discourse, particularly to researchers engaging in transnational endeavours.