Suchergebnisse

Children's experience of disability-related stigmatization is a central social justice issue across cultures. Yet children's voices are rarely heard by policy makers, and available programs for children with disabilities typically lack input from children's own experiences. This paper presents a cross-cultural case study of how three children with disabilities in Japan and the U.S. responded to stigmatization from their "typically-developing" peers. We choose these cases for in-depth examination to contextualize and deepen our understanding of themes identified from our larger, ethnographic study. Similar to the participants in our larger study, these elementary school-aged children experienced disability-related stigmatization, including teasing and bullying. They actively responded to reduce their immediate exposure to stigmatization. Some of these responses, however, created additional challenges. For example, children's physical fighting in response to teasing resulted in punitive discipline in the U.S. Children's avoidance of peers undermined academic achievement and psychosocial development, especially in Japan where peer groups are central contexts for education. Furthermore, children's responses to stigmatization often concealed their peer struggles or were misunderstood by educators, which delayed their access to appropriate support. We discuss social work implications for child-centered programs of support.

Abstract
This ethnographic study explores how Japanese immigrant and temporary resident parents support their children's acculturation to U.S. society. Anti-Asian hatred is a neglected social justice issue with a long history extending to hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the U.S. population includes an increasing number of Asian immigrants. Some of them, such as recent Japanese immigrants and temporary residents, are from majority groups in their countries of origin, and do not have cultural socialization practices to protect their children from racism and xenophobia. This article focuses on in-depth, individual interviews with 14 Japanese immigrant and temporary resident parents of children attending U.S. local schools. Parents described their cultural socialization as centering on developing a Japanese cultural self, for example, through participation in a Japanese supplementary school. Parents also reported experiences of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia, including social exclusion. However, they typically did not describe preparing children directly for responding to and coping with anti-Asian bias. Rather, they and their children took responsibility for bias directed against them, and avoided drawing attention to their differences. Authors discuss implications for how social workers can recognize distress in Japanese children and effectively support them and others experiencing similar acculturation challenges.

The 19th century roots of social work in social justice movements within immigrant communities continue to thrive in contemporary social work. Yet relatively little attention has focused on the challenges faced by Asian immigrants, currently the second largest immigrant group in the U.S. Indeed, Asians in the U.S. have long been stereotyped as a "model minority," perpetuating the myth that Asian children do not need special attention when acculturating to U.S. schools. Yet parents report obstacles to their children's acculturation, including racism. As part of a larger ethnography, this study examines how Japanese immigrant and temporary resident parents understand their children's acculturation to the U.S. We conducted in-depth, individual interviews with 14 Japanese immigrant and temporary resident parents of school-aged children. They discussed acculturation challenges centered on differences in the Japanese and U.S. cultural self, and how they modified their socialization practices to support their children's acculturation. Rather than employing Japanese child rearing practices that implicitly guide children by shaping their environment, parents shifted to explicit efforts to ensure their children's development of Japanese cultural selves in the U.S. Such practices, however, may result in children losing a sense of independence and autonomy important to both U.S. and Japanese cultural selves. These experiences of Japanese parents challenge the stereotype of Asians as a model minority. We discuss social work implications for culturally appropriate support for acculturation.

This article focuses on children's experiences of the evolving Japanese special education system. Relatively little disability research has focused on non-Western children, which restricts our understanding of the extent to which and how cultures vary in their responses to disability, and the impact of those differences on the developing child. 'Developmental disabilities' is a term used by Japanese educators to refer to various neurologically-based conditions which cause 'milder' difficulties with school functioning, for example, learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD), and Asperger's Syndrome. Public schools in Japan recently implemented formal special education services for children with developmental disabilities. Our previous ethnographic research at Greenleaf Elementary School described how educators and parents balanced new requirements to provide formal individualized services with traditional Japanese practices of educating and socializing children within peer groups, in part, through practices that encourage supportive peer relationships. Using a longitudinal, multiple case study design, we describe how three children with developmental disabilities experienced these socialization practices, focusing on their active, individual efforts to connect with peers. Prior to their involvement in special education, all three children struggled with peer relationships. Over time, they used opportunities provided by educators to connect with peers and find their Ibasho, a place where they felt comfortable and accepted, within their peer groups. Children developed relationships with peers through self-regulating contact with them, and through their specialized interests and play. Understanding the experiences and creative responses of children from diverse cultural and subcultural groups provides a unique perspective from which to view our own disability policies and practices.

This study reports on findings from 25 semi-structured, individual interviews with participants with visual, hearing, or mobility disabilities in India focusing on stigmatization and resilience, and how they are constructed within Indian sociocultural contexts. Participants' experiences of disability and stigmatization were alleviated or exacerbated by sociocultural issues, including socioeconomic status, caste, and gender hierarchy. A lack of family support and access to education further reinforced stigmatization. The case from India underscores the importance of addressing these intersectional issues, as well as stigmatization and resilience, to comprehensively support individuals with disabilities. Implications for practice, disability policies, theories, and research are discussed.

African American women share the common ground of surviving in a racially stratified society. Nonetheless, the diversity of their experiences emerges. This article contrasts the lived experiences of two elderly African American daughters of the Jim Crow South. Commonly shared social markers (race, gender, and historical and regional contexts) are held in contrast to their notably different social classes. Salient features of their diverse experiences corroborate the supposition that although all African American women encounter racism, social-class differences influence how racism is experienced. Family racial socialization pathways are conceptualized as reliance on personal resources versus reliance on personal defiance.

Abstract
Racial disproportionality in out-of-school suspensions is a persistent social justice issue in public schools. This article examines out-of-school suspensions of four black youths from the perspectives of the youths, their caregivers, and educators. The case involving David, a 14-year-old African American with a learning disability, illustrates the challenges of students experiencing the intersection of disability and race. The case involving George, a 14-year-old Liberian immigrant, illustrates how parents and teachers may form alliances around shared goals and values despite profound cultural differences in understanding of youths' misbehavior. The case involving Nina, a 12-year-old African American, illustrates how educators' failure to consider the context of her misbehaviors as responses to sexual harassment, along with their subsequent harsh punishment and failure to protect her, led to her disengagement from school. The case involving Craig, a 16-year-old African American, provides a glimpse into how the use of criminal justice language to refer to youths' misbehaviors can support the development of a criminalized self- and social identity. These cases illustrate the diversity of black students—including ability, disability, culture, and gender—and how events surrounding suspensions are interpreted by students, caregivers, and educators. Understanding such diversity will undergird implementation of effective alternatives to suspensions.

Ethnography affords social workers a powerful and unique vehicle for obtaining an in-depth, contextualized understanding of clients' perspectives and experiences necessary for effective social work practice and advocacy. It also carries relatively unique risks. Unlike other forms of social inquiry such as surveys, interviews and analysis of administrative databases, a hallmark of ethnographic research is sustained engagement in participants' lives. Unlike ethnographic inquiry in other disciplines, for example, in developmental psychology or anthropology, social work research has a strong social justice component. Hence, participants in social work ethnographies often are from vulnerable, marginalized or stigmatized groups and may have little exposure to research. We use several studies conducted in the US and globally as illustrative cases of both the opportunities and challenges of ethnography in social work. The first case highlights the understanding gained through ethnographic inquiry necessary for designing culturally-sensitive interventions, as well as the risks these in-depth, engaged methods may pose to traumatized and marginalized participants. The second case illustrates the valuable interplay of insider and outsider perspectives in ethnography for international social work, as well as the challenges of communicating with participants, many of whom have significant unmet needs about complex and unfamiliar role boundaries. The third case illustrates the importance to social work practice of cross-cultural conversations, as well as the ethical challenges of entering into the lives of stigmatized individuals. Strategies for maximizing the opportunities and minimizing the risks of ethnography in social work research are discussed.