Socialt arbejde og aktionsforskning i Grønland

Abstract

Socialforskningen i Gronland har gennem artier dokumenteret sociale problemer. Populaert sagt har socialforskningen i Gronland indtil for nylig kun bestaet af beskrivende, kvantitativ elendighedsforskning. Der eksisterer saledes (modsat fx socialforskning med canadisk inuit) stort set ikke nogen kvalitativ eller deltagerorienteret forskning om vilkar for indsatser og praksis i forhold til at handtere de sociale udfordringer. Der har saledes manglet sociologisk og handlingsorienteret praksisviden, der kan understotte professionel og organisatorisk kapacitetsopbygning i det socialpolitiske felt. Denne artikel handler om empowerment og aktionsforskning med socialarbejdere i Gronland og bygger pa Steven Arnfjords ph.d. projekt fra 2014. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Steven Arnfjord and John Andersen: Social Work and Action Research in Greenland Years of social science research in Greenland has documented a range of social problems in the country. However social research in Greenland has been limited to quantitative research that has focused only on misery. Contrary to what we have seen in Canadian Inuit research, there has been no qualitative nor participatory research into the concrete circumstances under which Greenlandic social workers deal with the social challenges they face daily. This article draws on a research project that, for the first time, employed exploratory interviews with social workers. Analysis of these interviews uncovered the social workers’ feelings of despair and their atomised sense of loneliness because of having no references to an external network of professionals (e.g. through a union). The research was then extended to an action research project, which set out to form a social workers union in order to create a sense of unity and professional group awareness within the profession. Keywords: Greenland, action research, empowerment, social work, social planning, marxism.