UiS Open Journals (Univ. of Stavanger)
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7. Multiple Liminalitites in Early Anglo-Saxon England: Age, Gender and Religion
Get PDFLiminalities and ambiguities can be useful in identifying complex patterns in many areas of study. This paper examines two elderly burials from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery of Mill Hill, Deal, Kent in England. These two individuals display multiple liminalities, particularly with respect to their advanced age, gendered identities and in their potential religious beliefs. Their advanced age suggests they spent the last years of their lives in the knowledge that they were close to the ultimate transition: death. Moreover, being quite elderly has likely affected their gendered identities, rendering them muted, altered and/or de-gendered. The combination of their elderly status, their physical position in the cemetery and the phasing of their graves suggests they were the last two individuals buried at Mill Hill, possibly some considerable time after it had gone out of general use. Their graves are dated to the Final Phase or Conversion Period of Early Anglo-Saxon England when, among other changes, Christianity begins to become the dominant religion; this and the presence of an unexcavated cemetery nearby, with goods pointing to a later date than this one, suggests the possibility that these two individuals were the last pagans in their community. These are all factors which point to the multiple liminalities of the two individuals
Citizenship in social work in Brazil: Balancing universal rights and individual care
Get PDFEnglish Social work in Latin America is commonly associated with the struggle for citizenship, democracy, equality and universal access to social services, often with a strong political-ethical reference to structural change. Hence, the informal personal relations that have traditionally permeated many Latin American societies are often viewed as preventing social change and equality among their citizens.
This article discusses how the emphasis on universal rights and citizenship in the social services in Brazil represents a significant historical gain on the one hand, but an obstacle to providing social care on the other. With support from empirical data produced during fieldwork conducted among social workers in Brazil, the article shows that relations based on personal connections and relations outside the public sphere are vital to providing social care.
In professional practice, this seems to create a contradiction in social work. Fundamental values in social work, such as universal inclusion, respect and dignity are framed in an egalitarian discourse, but when implemented in practice, they are simultaneously dependent on the application of personal relationships associated with traditional hierarchical codes of interaction.
Therefore, in order to promote social inclusion and other fundamental values in social work, it is necessary to recognize the limits of an egalitarian and reductionist understanding of citizenship, and include the cultural practices of employing personal relations in the provision of social care. Due to historical and social legacies of exploitation and inequality, this paradox seems to receive scant attention in the dominant literature about social work in Brazil.
SpanishCiudadanía en trabajo social en Brasil: Equilibrando los derechos universales y el cuidado individualEl trabajo social en Latinoamérica se comúnmente asociado con la lucha por la ciudadanía, la democracia, la equidad y el acceso universal a los servicios sociales, frecuentemente con una referencia política y ética hacia el cambio estructural. Por tanto, la relación personal informal que tradicionalmente ha permeado muchas sociedades latinoamericanas es vista a menudo como un obstáculo para el cambio social y la equidad entre los ciudadanos. Este artículo debate acerca de cómo el énfasis en los derechos universales y la ciudadanía en los servicios sociales en Brasil, representa un avance histórico significativo, por una parte; pero a la vez un obstáculo para proveer cuidado social, por la otra. El artículo se apoya en datos empíricos producidos durante el trabajo de campo conducido con trabajadores sociales en Brasil, y muestra que las relaciones basadas en conexiones personales y fuera de la esfera pública, son vitales para la provisión de cuidado social. En la práctica profesional, esto parece crear una contradicción en el trabajo social. Valores fundamentales de la profesión, tales como inclusión universal, respeto y dignidad se hallan enmarcados en un discurso igualitario, pero cuando se implementan en la práctica, son simultáneamente dependientes de la aplicación de relaciones personales asociadas con los códigos jerárquicos y tradicionales de interacción. Por lo tanto, en aras de promover inclusión social y otros valores del trabajo social, es necesario reconocer los límites del entendimiento igualitario y reduccionista de la ciudadanía, e incluir prácticas culturales de empleo de relaciones personales en la provisión de cuidado social. Debido a los legados históricos y sociales de la explotación y la desigualdad, esta paradoja parece recibir escasa atención en la literatura dominante sobre el trabajo social en Brasil
 
Work division processes in social work with Cuban and Norwegian families
Get PDFEnglishThis paper explores the differences and similarities in three social work processes as viewed by social workers in Norway and Cuba. Contrasting social work processes in these exemplars of de-familialized and familialized welfare contexts offer insight into where social work practices can be governed by international and universal policy, and where context specific national policies may be more appropriate.
A qualitative study and thematic analysis based on four focus group interviews (two in each country), with a total of 19 social workers from the respective contexts, were conducted. An international validated vignette of a typical social work case was employed as a tool to help facilitate a group interaction and discussion.
The first is an engagement process: how social workers make their decisions on how, or if, to engage with clients. Both Cuban and Norwegian social workers will respond to a client in need, prioritizing children in particular.
A second process related to the social worker is needing to obtain a considered overview of the case. Norwegian social workers rely heavily on information about the case coming from the client, and formal rules restrict information flows between services. In Cuba, clients are important and the participation of the family is obligatory, with social workers drawing on a wide group of stakeholders to gather information.
The final process is one of distributing responsibility for care and support among the appropriate services and actors. In Cuba, social workers emphasize the family`s role in resolving the case. There is a cultural element here based on the role of the family, but a lack of state services and resources available for social workers in practice is also relevant. In Norway, the Welfare State presents more resources, although social workers refer instead to difficulties in coordination between services. Professionals are held to account in Cuba, whereas institutions take responsibility in Norway.
SpanishProcesos de división del trabajo en Trabajo social con familias en Cuba y Noruega. Este artículo explora las diferencias y similitudes en tres procesos del trabajo social a partir de la visión de trabajadores sociales de Noruega y Cuba. A partir de contrastar los procesos del trabajo social en estos casos ejemplares de contextos de bienestar de-familiarista y familiarista respectivamente, el artículo ofrece una visión de hasta dónde la práctica del trabajo social puede estar gobernada por políticas universales e internacionales, y hasta dónde lecturas más específicas según el contexto de las políticas nacionales puede ser más apropiado. Fue desarrollado un estudio cualitativo con un análisis temático basado en cuatro entrevistas a grupos focales (dos en cada país), con un total de 19 trabajadores sociales en ambos contextos. Par el estudio temático se utilizó una viñeta que valida un caso típico para el trabajo social, como herramienta que facilitó la interacción grupal y la discusión. El primer proceso identificado fue el de comprometimiento con el caso: este alude a cómo los trabajadores sociales toman sus decisiones sobre cómo se involucran, o incluso si lo hacen o no, con los clientes. Trabajadores sociales de ambos países responderán a un cliente que lo necesite, priorizando en particular a los niños. Un segundo proceso se relaciona con la necesidad de los trabajadores sociales de obtener una descripción adecuada del caso. Trabajadores sociales de Noruega se apoyan fuertemente en la información proveída por el cliente y en las reglas formales que restringen el flujo de información entre los servicios. Para el caso de los cubanos, los clientes son importantes, y la participación de la familia es vista como obligatoria, pero se apoyan en un amplio grupo de posibles interesados para recopilar información. El proceso final tiene que ver con la distribución de responsabilidades de cuidado y apoyo entre los servicios apropiados y los actores. En Cuba los trabajadores sociales enfatizan en el rol de la familia para la resolución de los casos. Aquí se aprecia un elemento cultural que refuerza la intervención de la familia, pero a la vez la escasez de servicios públicos o recursos para la práctica del trabajo social en familias. En Noruega, el Estado de Bienestar ofrece más recursos, pero los trabajadores sociales refieren en cambio dificultades para la coordinación de la variedad de servicios disponibles. Los profesionales en Cuba retienen más responsabilidad, mientras que en Noruega las instituciones toman más responsabilidades
1. Introduction - Across the Generations: The Old and the Young in Past Societies
Get PDFBackground for the publicatio
4. Grandparents in the Bronze Age?
Get PDFEvolutionary biology and ethnographic analogy suggest that grandparenting has been critical to the development of human life history and may even explain modern human longevity. However, the roles and functions of grandparents have not previously been investigated in later prehistoric contexts. Ethnographic studies show that grandparents take on an extremely wide range of roles worldwide, whether this is teaching knowledge and skills, providing childcare, or even taking on parental roles and titles. In many cases, grandparents play a critical role in the support and socialization of children. Understanding the roles of grandparents thus has the potential to transform our understanding of prehistoric household and family structures. Through a case study of the Early Bronze Age Traisental in Austria, I explore potential methods for identification of grandparents in the past, and consider the effects of social formations on grandparenting
Children and childhood in Chile: Social worker perspectives
Get PDFEnglishThis study explores understandings of children and childhood among 21 social workers from five child protection services in Chile. To help grasp multiple ideas about children and childhood, we use Q methodology and the ‘child visibility’ concept. The object is to explore dissimilar and/or similar views on child visibility among social workers and the characteristics of these viewpoints. The results reveal three distinct views on child visibility. Based on the characteristics of these perspectives, we have conceptualized the workers associated with them as: activists, buffers and experts. The activists vigorously seek children’s own perspectives, and produce an image of capable children with unique perspectives. The buffers and the experts, however, typically define children’s needs from their own perspectives. Nevertheless, through differing logics, the experts focus on children’s vulnerability and protection needs, while the buffers are more inclined to view children in terms of their contextual risk and on the margins in an underfunded child protection context. Despite these differences, there are shared viewpoints among the social workers, for example, by understanding children as relational. The results are discussed in light of current theory within childhood studies.
SpanishNiños e infancia en Chile: Perspectivas de los trabajadores sociales.Este estudio explora las concepciones que sobre los niños y la infancia desarrollan 21 trabajadores sociales de cinco servicios de protección infantil en Chile. Para comprender estas múltiples ideas, utilizamos la Metodología Q y el concepto de “visibilidad del niño”. El objeto es explorar perspectivas similares o diferentes respecto a la visión que tienen los trabajadores sociales sobre este grupo social, así como las características de esos puntos de vista. Los resultados revelan tres tipos de visión distintivos sobre los niños. Con base a las características de estas tres perspectivas, hemos conceptualizado a los trabajadores sociales asociados con ellas como: activistas, baluartes, y expertos. Los activistas buscan vigorosamente las perspectivas de los propios infantes y producen una imagen de que los niños poseen capacidades y perspectivas únicas. Los otros dos grupos, sin embargo, típicamente definen las necesidades de los niños desde sus propias representaciones. A través de lógicas distintas, los expertos se enfocan en la vulnerabilidad de los infantes y sus necesidades de protección; mientras los baluartes están más inclinados a ver a los niños en términos de sus propios riesgos contextuales, y en los márgenes de un contexto de protección infantil con financiación insuficiente. A pesar de estas diferencias, existen puntos de vista comunes entre los trabajadores sociales, por ejemplo, al entender a los niños en términos relacionales. Estos resultados son discutidos a la luz de las teorías actuales dentro de los estudios de la infancia
3. Personal Relationships between Co-buried Individuals in the Central European Early Bronze Age
Get PDFPeople were usually buried in single, individual graves in Early Bronze Age Austria and the surrounding areas, but there are some exceptions. In burials of two or more people, it is often the way that bodies were placed in relation to each other that suggests familiarity, if not family. This paper reviews the social relations expressed through co-burials, and aims to better understand relationships between couples, siblings, or parents and children. The chapter particularly highlights mother-child relationships and presents graves of pregnant women and graves of women and children buried together, in order to understand how such individuals were treated by their societies in death. Ages and age gaps between co-buried individuals reveal the most likely ages for life-transitions such as first motherhood and the addition of new family members. The analysis compares evidence from two different, but contemporary cultural groups (Únětice and Unterwölbing) to shed light on prehistoric gender relations, family structures and social organisation through the lens of the burial record
9. Together in Death: Demography and Funerary Practices in Contemporary Multiple Internments in Irish Medieval Burial Grounds
Get PDFContemporary multiple interment is a minority burial practice occasionally encountered in Medieval Christian burial grounds that is suggestive of the death of two or more individuals at the same time followed by a conscious decision by the living to bury those individuals together. The study reviews the evidence from thirty-one Irish burial grounds (spanning AD 300 to 1700) to explore the nature of the demographic combinations apparent in these contemporary multiple interments. Drawing upon information gleaned from contemporary historical sources, an attempt will be made to proffer possible scenarios to account for the different demographic configurations apparent in the burials. Funerary practices, in particular, positioning of the bodies, will be explored to see if insights can be gained concerning the nature of the potential social relationships that may have existed between those interred together in each grave. The findings from Ireland will be compared to those of studies of similar burials in Anglo-Saxon England
