Teaching cultural humility for social workers serving LGBTQI Aboriginal communities in Australia

ABSTRACT

It is well documented that colonization and subsequent repressive policies have wrought devastating changes in the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia. Social workers are an essential group for improving social justice and self-determination for Australian Aboriginal people. The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) acknowledges that Aboriginal people make a unique contribution to the life of the nation and mandates that social work educational programs provide culturally responsive content that acknowledges the value and contributions of Aboriginal people. Social work educators need to embed this content without reinforcing stereotypes or being tokenistic. This is a challenge when teaching about intersecting identities, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI) Aboriginal people. We outline the terms used in this space and propose that cultural humility is an acceptable framework to consider. We introduce key conceptual terms used in LGBTQI Aboriginal communities. Finally, we provide recommendations for engaging with LGBTQI Aboriginal peoples.

KEYWORDS:

• Aboriginal
• LGBTQI
• cultural humility
• cultural responsiveness
• social work

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Kaiwarr and Keira for consulting on cultural sensitivity issues with the transgender and brotherboy/sistergirl communities. We also appreciate feedback from Richard, Claire and Camille on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bindi Bennett

Bindi Bennett is Senior Lecturer in Social Work, School of Social Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast.

Trevor G. Gates

Trevor G. Gatesis Senior Lecturer in Social Work, School of Social Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast