This edited collection focuses on Africentric social work practice, providing invaluable assistance to undergraduate students in developing foundational skills and knowledge to further their understanding of how to initiate and maintain best practices with African Canadians. In social work education and field practice, students will benefit from the depth and breadth of this book’s discussions of social, health and educational concerns related to Black people across Canada. The book’s contributors present a broad spectrum of personal and professional experiences as African Canadian social work practitioners, students and educators. They address issues that African Canadians confront daily, which social work educators and potential practitioners need to understand to provide racially and culturally relevant services. The book presents students with an invaluable opportunity to develop their practical skills through case studies and critical thinking exercises, with recommendations for how to ethically and culturally engage in African-centred service provision.

Dr. Mullings is an Associate Professor and Interim Associate Dean Undergraduate Programs at Memorial University, School of Social Work. She is also an independent anti-racist consultant and trainer. Her scholarly interests fall under the umbrella of Anti-Black racism and Critical Race theoretical orientation through which she explores topics including decolonizing post-secondary education, anti-Black racism, Black mothering and Black parenting, health and social needs of older Black Caribbean Canadian elders, racialized LGBTQ people, older immigrants, settlement and integration in small urban centres, rural and remote areas, and racist human rights policy.

Delores V. Mullings' profile page

Jennifer Clarke is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Ryerson University. She is also a registered social worker with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, consultant, and clinical anti-racism trainer whose practice is centred in Africentric, trauma-informed, and anti-Black racism perspectives. Her teaching and research are grounded in anti-oppression, anti-racism, and anti-Black racism perspectives through which she explores and deconstructs the colonial, racial, and gender power relations in social work education and practice. She is the recipient of several research grants and awards, and a Co-Editor of the recently published book Todays Youth and Mental Health: Hope, Power and Resilience (2018). She has also published numerous journal articles and book chapters on Black families and child welfare, gun violence loss and trauma, newcomer youth, and social work education and practice.

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Dr. Thomas Bernard has had a long and distinguished career in the field of social work. Dr. Thomas Bernard has worked in mental health at the Nova Scotia Hospital, in rural community practice with the Family Services Association, and since 1990, has been a professor at the Dalhousie School of Social Work, where she has held the position of Director since 2001. She is a Founding Member of the Association of Black Social Workers and is its current President, a member of the Board of Directors of Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, and a previous member of the Board of Accreditation of the Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work. Dr. Thomas Bernard has received numerous awards, certificates and recognition over the years for her trendsetting work. Some of her awards include the Ron Stafford Memorial Award from the Nova Scotia Association of Social Work for effective community leadership and development work. She also received the Canada 125 medal for outstanding contributions to the country, and Dr. Thomas Bernard was awarded the Order of Canada Award by Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson in June 2005.

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Dr. David Este is a Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary. He has published in the areas of immigration; historical and contemporary experiences of people of African descent in Canada and mental health. In 2019, David was part of a team that received the Governor General’s Award in History for Community Programming for the documentary entitled, We Are the Roots: Black Settlers and Their Experiences of Discrimination on the Canadian Prairies. He also received from the Canadian Association of University Teachers’ Lee Lorch Award for excellence in teaching, research and service to the University of Calgary to the profession of social work, and to the community.

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Dr. Sulaimon Giwa is an Assistant Professor in the School Social Work with a cross appointment to the Department of Sociology (Police Studies) at Memorial University. He is the Endowed Chair in Criminology and Criminal Justice at St. Thomas University. His applied research program and professional activities centralize critical race transformative pedagogies and theories as frameworks and analytic tools for social justice and equity. His research interests are in the areas of race and sexuality, critical social work pedagogy, anti-Black racism/oppression and the criminal justice system.

Sulaimon Giwa's profile page