Using citizenship theory to challenge nationalist assumptions in the construction of international social work education

Abstract

I argue that international social work education is constructed using nationalist assumptions that define and limit practices of social care to nation-state boundaries. This is particularly true of the profession as it is practiced in (neo)liberal welfare states of the global north. Using citizenship theory I interrogate interpretations of liberal citizenship to illuminate and analyze its relationship to nationalist definitions of social work practice. I posit an alternative notion of citizenship that defines citizenship more broadly in terms of participation and belonging irrespective of nation-state boundaries and acknowledges the transnational realities of people, social issues and socio-economic hierarchies.