BLACK SOCIAL-WORK STUDENTS AND PRACTITIONERS - SURVIVAL STRATEGIES

This paper sets out 20 explore some of the damage that has been sustai ned by black professionals working in social work and other welfare or ganisations. By employing the analogy of immigration, it argues that s ome of this damage has come about from the precarious position that bl ack people occupy in the margins of society and in the margins of the profession. This has often led black people to adopt unprofitable prof essional defences. The paper thus begins to identify a process of cult ural and psychological transformation that would entail a re-examinati on of our belief systems and therefore lead not only to our survival b ut also to our growth as black professionals.