Social Workers' Understanding of Bi-Culturalism and Its Cultural Differences in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

The chapter attempts to review some conceptualizations developed in the literature around the topic cultural appropriateness and examines how culture interacts with child abuse and domestic violence situations of ethnic migrant community. Also, the chapter highlights specific cultural knowledge of ethnic migrant community that the practitioners from different cultures need to deal with in society. The uniqueness of New Zealand is that it takes into account the discourse of the Treaty of Waitangi, history, racism, colonization, Matauranga Maori, etc. while the major focus of the concept cultural sensitiveness developed in multicultural context is on the differences between Western and non-Western cultural values and the legacy of their cultural norms and socio-economic context.