Build the social justice bridge: participatory photography with the international group work community

ABSTRACT

“Build the Social Justice Bridge” was a participatory photography project that engaged international group workers in an assessment of group work as a social justice profession. Inspired by principles of photovoice research, the project invited social work students, educators, and practitioners from around the world to contribute photographs and brief narratives that represented the relationship between group work and social justice. The photographs were exhibited during the opening session of the 2018 Symposium of the International Association for Social Work with Groups (IASWG) in South Africa, where more than 200 participants from ten countries reflected on the meaning of the photos for the group work community. In viewing the photos, symposium participants identified a common vision of social justice as well as culturally-specific approaches to group work. Implications are drawn for the internationalization of professional knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• Group work
• social action
• social justice
• social work
• social work with groups
• international social work
• participatory photography
• photovoice

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the contributing photographers, the participants in the 2018 IASWG Symposium, and the Giyani Society for the Aged Choir.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.