Ecosocial work examines and prioritizes interconnections between the environment and social justice. Our paper suggests that ecosocial work should work to stop practices that simultaneously harm the environment and marginalized peoples around the world. Using examples from the military, prisons, and disadvantaged communities, we show how both the environment and communities suffer at the hands of oppressive systems such as racism that influence institutions such as government and culture. We offer that ecosocial work and abolitionism (dismantling institutions that cause and sustain inequality and imagining and building new alternatives) have shared goals and complementary strengths and need to work together. To create a fairer world, we need to think of how systems of power and oppression that negatively impact both the environment and marginalized people can be challenged and disrupted. We end by encouraging social work researchers, educators, and practitioners to incorporate abolitionist ideas into their work.
Our speaker Amy Shackelford is originally from the United States. Amy has worked in a variety of social work settings over the course of her career. She completed her Bachelor of Social Work program at IUPUI in 2010 and went on to work as the community organizer for the Sustainable Library Citizens Coalition and then the Executive Director of Central Indiana Jobs with Justice, a coalition working to build class solidarity. After completing her dual Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health degrees, she relocated to Cape Town, South Africa to work at the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town for the next three years. While in South Africa, she assisted in developing community led programming for women with refugee and migration backgrounds. Following this experience, she worked as the Program Director at the Immigrant Welcome Center in Indianapolis, USA and as an adjunct professor at IUPUI where she taught Executive Leadership and Social Policy to Master of Social Work students. Currently, she is an Early Stage Researcher in the ASTRA project, which is funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 955518. The ASTRA consortium consists of leading European social work academics involved in sustainability transition research and two non-academic research organisations for environmental and economic sustainability. She is currently working on her PhD in Social Work at Jyväskylä University in Finland, where she is investigating concepts such as power, coalition building, decolonizing social work practice, and ecological justice.
Event takes place in the House of Wisdom and Zoom
We encourage you to take a moment away from your desk and participate on-site at the House of Wisdom (officially known as the Gardener's House, J-building), where coffee and tea will be served. However, remote participation is also possible.
To join the event remotely, use the link below (passcode 338861). In addition, use your own name as you join to be let in from the waiting room. You are warmly welcome!
