Behind the barbed wire fence, looking up at the concrete ceiling: Aboriginal “leadership” and considerations for social work

Bindi Bennett, Kelly Menzel and Liz Cameron

Chapter 17 in Research Handbook on Leadership in Social Work and Social Care, 2025, pp 217-228 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Indigenous leadership opportunities in institutions are often inadequately resourced, ill-conceived, and poorly evaluated and measured to the point that they can often be tokenistic. Usually, there is no real plan for us, as Blak scholars. Instead, higher education establishments abrogate their responsibilities for Aboriginal staff and positions and dump all the responsibility (and no power) on their under-resourced and understaffed Aboriginal workforce unit. They create silos in service delivery, which keeps institutional racism alive. This makes meaningful change and the transformation of effective Aboriginal leadership difficult, if not impossible. Social work as a profession has a role to play within higher education due to the profession's social justice and equity values. This chapter highlights the barriers present in leadership for Aboriginal Peoples and suggests strategies for allies, accomplices, co-conspirators, and social work as a profession, to assist us in breaking down and replacing the barbed wire that ring-fences the institution.

Keywords: Indigenous leadership; Social work; Blak scholars; Aboriginal Peoples (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035314485
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