KOL-LAB

Social Work as a Colonial Knowledge Archive? A History Lab on the (Post-)Colonial Heritage of Social Work as a Model of Historiographical Teaching Research

Project duration: 01/01/2023 - 31/12/2026

Principal investigator: Dr. Dayana Lau

Project staff: Fallon Tiffany Cabral, Dipl. Pol.; Rutlina Gonçalves Schenck B.A.; Maex Kühnert; formerly: Hannah Ferreira, Francis Ramírez-Cervantes

Partners:

• Hochschule RheinMain, Wiesbaden | BA Social Work: Prof. Dr. Wiebke Dierkes and Daniela Khanh Duyen Tran
• Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus Berlin | Social Pedagogy Programs: Silke Bauer (Cultural Education) and Sabine Sander (Archive)
• University of Hildesheim | MA Teacher Training: Dr. Z. Ece Kaya and Prof. Dr. Viola B. Georgi
• Philipps-University Marburg | BA Social Pedagogy and Interdisciplinary Study Projects: Prof. i.R. Dr. Susanne Maurer

Abstract:
The research project “Social Work as a Colonial Knowledge Archive?” investigates the entanglements of social work with German colonial rule and its effects between the 1880s and 1930s. The aim is to analyze the emergence of the profession in a colonial context and to make visible structures that continue to have an impact today. At the same time, the project seeks to explore the role of resistant Black people, People of Color, and (post-)colonial migrants as actors within social work. Making “hidden figures” and organizations visible is essential to break dominant, white-imagined narratives of social work, in which these individuals are usually portrayed only as “in need of help” or “passive.”

The project is based on teaching research projects in social work and educational training programs, in which students and pupils at five different locations conduct their own archival studies. They examine colonial continuities within their professions. Anti-racist workshops provide spaces for reflection to analyze ongoing colonial power relations and to contextualize them in relation to one’s own positionality. This violence is evident not only in historical documents but also in the learning settings themselves, which often center white perspectives.

A central methodological approach is the discourse-analytical examination of archival materials containing colonial knowledge stocks. Together with the participating pupils and students, postcolonial and resistant narratives are analyzed to initiate reflection processes for anti-racist and anti-colonialist education. The results of the project, including methodological concepts and selected archival documents, are prepared for teaching and made publicly accessible.

Funding: Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) 
The project is part of the Knowledge Network on Racism Research (WinRa).

Keywords: Colonialism, Feminism, Social Work History

Projektwebseite

Contact: kol-lab@ avoid-unrequested-mailsash-berlin.eu