Addressing global social relationships in transnational social work research processes and institutions

Abstract

In the last two decades, scholars and practitioners have adopted the term ‘transnational social work’ to capture the complexity of cross-border flows and their effects on people. This paper pursues the idea of transnational social work research (TSWR), specifically seeking research practices that are promising for promoting social justice in the face of global challenges. We argue that when powerful institutions set research priorities, they may obscure local concerns and reproduce unequal social relations and global inequalities. We begin by describing how transnational social work bodies have understood ‘social justice’ and the theoretical underpinnings that support it. We then propose a definition of TSWR and discuss what populations and topics comprise the transnational sphere as well as the analytical commitments signalled by the term ‘transnational.’ We illustrate how TSWR can play a transformative role by discussing challenges that we have faced to our social justice commitments as researchers in the transnational sphere. Finally, we propose promising strategies for conducting TSWR that address power imbalances within social work research and the transnational arena.

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