An event designed to foster critical education, research and practice in relation to critical social work and social transformation will run for its ninth year at York University.
On April 29, the School of Social Work presents its annual Critical Social work and Social Justice Research Symposium, and this year looks at the theme of “Interdisciplinary Conversations on Social Transformation and Critical Practices”.
The symposium showcases research by faculty, alumni, community members and students, and creates opportunities to engage in discussions relevant to practice, education, current social work theories and more.
Soma Chatterjee
Bonnie Freeman
The event runs 8:30am to 4:30pm in Ross Building S802, and features two keynote speakers: Soma Chatterjee, School of Social Work, York University; and Bonnie Freeman, School of Social Work, McMaster University.
Chatterjee will present her talk “A paradox or a productive contradiction? A proposal to historicize discourses and scholarship on skilled immigrants’ labour market integration” from 9:30 to 10:15am.
Her research looks at the labour market integration of skilled immigrants, and how through the notion/practice of skill-training, a specific ‘immigrant’ subject distinct from Canadian ‘nationals’ emerges.
She has a critical, post-modern lens on settlement and integration and hopes to open up a space for dialogue on the high skilled labour market as a major site for the exercise of exclusionary nationalism in Canada, and the Western world in general.
Freeman’s talk, “Re-Search is a Journey: Connecting to the Spirit & Ways of Knowledge”, will be presented from 12:45 to 1:30pm.
Freeman is Algonquin/Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Her work and research is rooted in connections with Six Nations, the Hamilton Aboriginal Community and other Indigenous communities throughout Canada and the United States.
Freeman’s dissertation research examined the journey of Six Nations Haudenosaunee youth, as they travelled on foot through their ancestral lands promoting the message of peace and unity and understanding the transformation of identity and well-being from the connection to land and culture, and self-determination.
The full program is available at http://bit.ly/1NBPGou. Log on to the website to register for the event.