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This article addresses the complexities and dynamics of promoting social change with marginalised communities in the Global South. It builds empirically on a social work ethnographic study about the change process(es) and development of women's social position in rural Nepalese communities. The research results suggest that the tools to promote ethically sustainable social change are based on decolonial and transnational feminist solidarity and its different, overlapping forms: solidarity through dialogue, alliance and exchange. The study argues that international social work and community development need to strengthen the approaches that recognise and deconstruct white and economic power dominance within their research, theory and practice. The research produces knowledge on a context-sensitive transnational solidarity praxis, which contributes to the discussion on social justice and ethicality in international development and social work paradigms.

While one can cite a wide range of local and international development co-operation promoting social change in the social position of women in Nepal, one also sees changes arising from local communities themselves. Local and international concepts of change do not always coincide; indeed they sometimes clash. The need for change and development in women's social position is a given in development discourses, yet the definitions of change and development are complex, incorporating as they do colonial and imperial power structures intertwined with local hierarchies and inequalities. Alongside these considerations, one finds traditional elements that support women's wellbeing and social change in communities, yet are not always recognised in development discourses and practices. In this ethnographic inquiry in the field of social work, I analyse the change process(es) in the women's social position in Nepalese rural communities. I view social change as a complex transition towards multiple goals with varying rhythms. My analysis lies at the intersections of the international and local, and conceptual and practical knowledge bases. The study seeks to contribute to the discussion on international social work, with particular emphasis on decolonising and feminist approaches. My main research question is: How can one promote ethically sustainable social change processes with the women in globally and locally marginalised communities? I also ask how is the women's social position in Nepalese rural communities shaped at the intersection of traditions and transition; how do the global and local driving forces reshape the women's social position; and how are the women's perspectives and environments that promote the transition in their social position related to the international paradigms of development and social change. My analytical focus is on the activism and perspectives of the women participating in the research in their particular environment and their links with communal and societal structures and international politics. My primary research material consists of the data collected in six months of ethnographic fieldwork (from 2012 to 2013) and in return visits to Nepal totaling an additional month (in 2014, 2015 & 2016) working with two women's communities in rural Nepal. The research encounters took place in the communities' daily contexts and the registered organisations that local women had established. The data include group, pair and individual discussions with the women, as well as my participatory observation. The study takes account of the women's perspectives from multiple social positions, from both the centres and the margins of the communities. My earlier experiences with communities elsewhere in Nepal, gained in seven different periods of living and working in the country (during 2005–2011), provided in-depth background knowledge of the context. Throughout the study I reflect on questions of ethical knowledge production and epistemological hierarchies and privileges. The research also discusses how equality and social justice are promoted within social work research, on the level of both ideology and practice. The findings illustrate that the women assumed diverse roles and positions in their communities and daily settings. These positions were actualised in the women's social relationships and communal roles—as wives, daughters-in-law, mothers, 'sisters', community activists and leaders—as well as in their duties and responsibilities—maintaining the household, nurturing, ensuring survival, and representing culture and religion. The analysis indicates that the women were subject to multiple social restrictions but that they also played an essential role in their communities, one which expanded to bringing about transformations. The women's aims in and tools for producing social change were diverse and linked to their daily realities and traditions as well as to their close relation to the land and spirituality. Their goals culminated on a concrete level in improving their means of livelihood and fighting poverty, and on an abstract level in their being seen and heard. The research highlights the value of the traditions that supported the women's wellbeing and of the cultural and religious practices and ideologies that they sought to maintain. It also underscores the importance of taking these elements into account in development discourses and practices. I reflect on the women's perspectives in the light of feminist and decolonising theorisation. This theoretical analysis led me to identify five goals of the transition in the women's social position: decolonisation of subjectivities, renegotiation of social hierarchies, decolonisation of epistemologies, feminisation of the economy, and redistribution of space. Achieving these aims requires critical reflection on global and local power imbalances and recognition of the hierarchies between the different actors within the transition process. The research indicates that the focal transition in the women's social position was pervaded by power imbalances that created ruptures and transgressions in social, gendered, spatial and epistemological dimensions. The study argues that changes towards greater social justice can be achieved by bridging the gaps between the epistemologies from the Global South and North, centers and margins, practice and theory as well as spirituality and rationality. The research prompts the conclusion that ethically sustainable change in women's social position in the global and local margins is promoted by solidarity that includes dialogue, alliance and exchange, on both the conceptual level and in practice. The inquiry provides insights on the value of striving for holistic inclusion and of respect for diversities as a basis for locally relevant and contextually specific social work practice.

While one can cite a wide range of local and international development co-operation promoting social change in the social position of women in Nepal, one also sees changes arising from local communities themselves. Local and international concepts of change do not always coincide; indeed they sometimes clash. The need for change and development in women's social position is a given in development discourses, yet the definitions of change and development are complex, incorporating as they do colonial and imperial power structures intertwined with local hierarchies and inequalities. Alongside these considerations, one finds traditional elements that support women's wellbeing and social change in communities, yet are not always recognised in development discourses and practices. In this ethnographic inquiry in the field of social work, I analyse the change process(es) in the women's social position in Nepalese rural communities. I view social change as a complex transition towards multiple goals with varying rhythms. My analysis lies at the intersections of the international and local, and conceptual and practical knowledge bases. The study seeks to contribute to the discussion on international social work, with particular emphasis on decolonising and feminist approaches. My main research question is: How can one promote ethically sustainable social change processes with the women in globally and locally marginalised communities? I also ask how is the women's social position in Nepalese rural communities shaped at the intersection of traditions and transition; how do the global and local driving forces reshape the women's social position; and how are the women's perspectives and environments that promote the transition in their social position related to the international paradigms of development and social change. My analytical focus is on the activism and perspectives of the women participating in the research in their particular environment and their links with communal and societal structures and international politics. My primary research material consists of the data collected in six months of ethnographic fieldwork (from 2012 to 2013) and in return visits to Nepal totaling an additional month (in 2014, 2015 & 2016) working with two women's communities in rural Nepal. The research encounters took place in the communities' daily contexts and the registered organisations that local women had established. The data include group, pair and individual discussions with the women, as well as my participatory observation. The study takes account of the women's perspectives from multiple social positions, from both the centres and the margins of the communities. My earlier experiences with communities elsewhere in Nepal, gained in seven different periods of living and working in the country (during 2005–2011), provided in-depth background knowledge of the context. Throughout the study I reflect on questions of ethical knowledge production and epistemological hierarchies and privileges. The research also discusses how equality and social justice are promoted within social work research, on the level of both ideology and practice. The findings illustrate that the women assumed diverse roles and positions in their communities and daily settings. These positions were actualised in the women's social relationships and communal roles—as wives, daughters-in-law, mothers, 'sisters', community activists and leaders—as well as in their duties and responsibilities—maintaining the household, nurturing, ensuring survival, and representing culture and religion. The analysis indicates that the women were subject to multiple social restrictions but that they also played an essential role in their communities, one which expanded to bringing about transformations. The women's aims in and tools for producing social change were diverse and linked to their daily realities and traditions as well as to their close relation to the land and spirituality. Their goals culminated on a concrete level in improving their means of livelihood and fighting poverty, and on an abstract level in their being seen and heard. The research highlights the value of the traditions that supported the women's wellbeing and of the cultural and religious practices and ideologies that they sought to maintain. It also underscores the importance of taking these elements into account in development discourses and practices. I reflect on the women's perspectives in the light of feminist and decolonising theorisation. This theoretical analysis led me to identify five goals of the transition in the women's social position: decolonisation of subjectivities, renegotiation of social hierarchies, decolonisation of epistemologies, feminisation of the economy, and redistribution of space. Achieving these aims requires critical reflection on global and local power imbalances and recognition of the hierarchies between the different actors within the transition process. The research indicates that the focal transition in the women's social position was pervaded by power imbalances that created ruptures and transgressions in social, gendered, spatial and epistemological dimensions. The study argues that changes towards greater social justice can be achieved by bridging the gaps between the epistemologies from the Global South and North, centers and margins, practice and theory as well as spirituality and rationality. The research prompts the conclusion that ethically sustainable change in women's social position in the global and local margins is promoted by solidarity that includes dialogue, alliance and exchange, on both the conceptual level and in practice. The inquiry provides insights on the value of striving for holistic inclusion and of respect for diversities as a basis for locally relevant and contextually specific social work practice. ; Naisten sosiaalisen aseman muutos on yksi keskeisimmistä tavoitteista kansallisessa ja kansainvälisessä kehitysyhteistyössä, joka vaikuttaa laajasti Nepalissa. Samaan aikaan paikallisyhteisöt edistävät sosiaalista muutosta ruohonjuuritasolla. Eri tasoilla ajetun muutoksen suunnat, keinot ja tavoitteet ovat moninaiset, ja ne ovatkin usein ristiriitaisia keskenään. Ne sisältävät myös kolonialistisia ja imperialistisia valtarakenteita, jotka kietoutuvat paikallisiin hierarkioihin ja epätasa-arvoon, mikä monimutkaistaa muutoksen dynamiikkaa. Monimutkaisuutta lisää se, että kulttuuristen ja uskonnollisten perinteiden merkitys naisten ja yhteisöjen hyvinvoinnissa sekä muutoksen taustavoimana usein sivuutetaan kehitysyhteistyön keskusteluissa ja käytännöissä. Tässä sosiaalityön etnografisessa tutkimuksessa analysoin naisten sosiaalisen aseman muutosprosesseja sekä niiden tavoitteita nepalilaisissa maalaisyhteisöissä. Tutkimus tarkastelee sosiaalista muutosta kompleksisena siirtymänä, jolla on moninaisia suuntia. Samalla se valottaa keinoja muutoksen eettiseen ajamiseen. Osallistun tällä tutkimuksella kansainvälisen sosiaalityön keskusteluihin painottaen erityisesti dekoloniaalista ja feminististä lähestymistapaa. Analyysini paikantuu paikallisen ja kansainvälisen tason sekä teoreettisen ja käytännöllisen tiedon risteyskohtiin. Tutkimukseni tehtävänä on tuottaa tietoa siitä, miten eettisesti kestävää sosiaalista muutosta voidaan edistää paikallisesti ja globaalisti marginalisoitujen naisten rinnalla. Etsin vastausta tähän kolmella yksityiskohtaisemmalla kysymyksellä: 1) Millaiseksi naisten sosiaalinen asema muodostuu perinteiden ja muutosten risteyskohdassa; 2) Miten globaalit ja paikalliset muutosvoimat risteävät naisten sosiaalisen aseman muutoksessa; 3) Miten naisten omat näkemykset ja ympäristöt, jotka ajavat sosiaalista muutosta, suhteutuvat kansainvälisiin keskusteluihin kehityksestä ja sosiaalisesta muutoksesta. Tutkimukseni analyyttinen fokus on naisten kokemuksissa sekä niiden yhteydessä yhteiskunnallisiin rakenteisiin ja kansainväliseen politiikkaan. Olen tuottanut ensisijaisen tutkimusaineistoni kuuden kuukauden etnografisessa kenttätyössä (2012–2013) sekä uudelleen vierailuilla yhteensä kuukauden ajan (vuosina 2014, 2015 ja 2016) kahdessa naisten yhteisössä Nepalin maaseudulla. Tutkimuskohtaamiset paikantuivat yhteisöjen arkikonteksteihin sekä paikallisten naisten rekisteröimiin ja johtamiin organisaatioihin, joiden tavoitteena oli edistää kylien kehitystä ja parantaa naisten asemaa. Empiirinen aineisto on tuotettu naisten ryhmä-, pari- ja yksilöhaastatteluilla sekä osallistuvalla havainnoinnilla. Tutkimukseen osallistuneet naiset asemoituivat sekä yhteisöjen keskiöihin että marginaaleihin. Tutkimusta edeltävät kokemukseni Nepalissa vuosilta 2005–2011 seitsemän eri jakson ajan toimivat kenttätyöni kontekstuaalisena ja kulttuurisena taustana. Eettisen tiedontuottamisen sekä epistemologisten hierarkioiden ja etuoikeuksien kysymykset ovat olleet keskeisiä pohdintojani läpi tutkimusprosessin. Niihin liittyy olennaisesti kysymys, miten tasaarvo ja sosiaalinen oikeudenmukaisuus kietoutuvat osaksi sosiaalityön tutkimusta käytännöllisellä ja ideologisella tasolla. Tutkimus osoittaa, että naiset saivat moninaisia rooleja ja asemia heidän yhteisöissään ja arjessaan. Nuo roolit ja asemat toteutuivat naisten sosiaalisissa suhteissa – vaimoina, miniöinä, äiteinä, 'siskoina', yhteisöaktivisteina ja johtajina – sekä tehtävinä ja vastuina – kodinhoitajina, hoivaajina, elättäjinä ja kulttuurin ja uskonnon edustajina. Naisten tarinat kuvastivat monitasoisia marginaaleja ja erityisesti köyhyyden kanssa kamppailu oli niiden keskeinen elementti. Naisten yhteisöllinen asema näyttäytyi samaan aikaan keskeisenä ja rajoitettuna, mikä näkyi myös muutoksen edistämisessä. Naisten keinot sosiaalisen muutoksen ajamisessa olivat moninaiset ja ne linkittyivät muun muassa arkeen, perinteisiin, maahan ja hengellisyyteen. Heidän tavoitteensa kiteytyivät elinkeinon parantamiseen, köyhyyden vähentämiseen sekä pyrkimyksiin tulla kuulluiksi ja nähdyiksi. Tutkimustulokset painottavat, että perinteisiin ja paikallisyhteisöhin kiedotut muutosvoimat – kuten hengellisyys ja tunteet –, jotka ajoivat naisia ajamaan muutosta, ovat eettisesti kestävän sosiaalisen muutoksen ydintä. Analysoin naisten näkemyksiä sosiaalisesta muutoksesta dekoloniaalisen feministisen teorian valossa. Identifioin viisi muutoksen suuntaa, jotka tunnistavat ja reflektoivat kriittisesti paikallisia ja kansainvälisiä valtarakenteita: naisten subjektiviteetin dekolonisaatio, yhteisöllisten hierarkioiden uudelleenneuvottelu, talouden feminisaatio, epistemologioiden dekolonisaatio, sekä sosiaalisen tilan uudelleenjakaminen. Naisten aseman muutos, joka kietoutui paikallisiin ja globaaleihin valtarakenteisiin, synnytti railoja sekä rajojen ylityksiä sosiaalisella, sukupuolisella, tilallisella ja epistemologisella ulottuvuuksilla. Tutkimus esittää, että muutos kohti sosiaalista oikeudenmukaisuutta tavoitetaan rakentamalla siltoja erilaisten kuilujen, kuten globaalin Etelän ja Pohjoisen, sosiaalisten ja taloudellisten keskusten ja marginaalien, käytännön ja teorian, sekä henkisyyden, ruumiillisuuden ja rationaalisuuden välille. Tutkimustulosten pohjalta väitän, että eettisesti kestävää sosiaalista muutosta voidaan edistää dekoloniaalisesti ja feministisesti orientoituneella solidaarisuudella, joka sisältää dialogin, liittoutumisen (alliance) ja vaihdon (exchange) paikallisten toimijoiden kanssa. Tutkimukseni tuottaa syväluotaavia näkökulmia holistisen inkluusion ja moninaisuuden kunnioittamiselle, mitkä ovat kulttuurisesti relevantin ja paikallisesti erityisen sosiaalityön perustaa.

The issue of demographic ageing is becoming one of the biggest challenges in contemporary societies, and various professional, academic and political fields have been called upon to find solutions for easing the tension demographic ageing creates in aged care. This paper investigates how elderly people's past experiences can inform the design process for improved aged care. An empirical study was conducted to determine the meanings that Chinese elderly people attach to their past experiences. The study used interviews and focus group discussions with retired people in the city of Zhuhai in southern China. Following the research analysis, we identified three emerging themes from the interviews focussing on elderly people's past experiences. These experiences were reported by the participants as having important and perhaps specific meanings for them. The important themes identified in this study were related to the experiences of being in nature, sharing time with family and neighbours and spending time practising skills and hobbies. Such experiences strongly reflect the participants' lifestyle in their cultural contexts. These experiences have the potential to increase the wellbeing of the retired participants. The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of the "good old days" and how design practitioners can apply this concept in their design practices for more holistic and inclusive care of the elderly.

This article explores the link between ethical issues and inequalities in social work, ethnographic research processes. It suggests that, although the issue of inequality in social work research has been well documented, it has not been analyzed sufficiently as an ethically important factor in the building and maintaining of research relationships and consequently in the production of knowledge. Furthermore, it discusses how equality and social justice can be promoted in social work research, at both a practical and ideological level, and it aims to investigate how socioeconomic and gender inequalities between the researcher and research participants can lead to epistemological inequalities and can affect knowledge production from an ethical perspective. The analysis in this piece is based on six months of ethnographic fieldwork with two female communities in rural Nepal from 2012 to 2013 and employs a systematic, qualitative analysis of this specific research process. It identifies five ethical notions and their connections to the knowledge production process: "recognizing hidden and silenced knowledge," "reflecting on the limits of understanding and knowing," "understanding social hierarchies among research participants," "understanding gender inequality and patriarchal restrictions," and "producing good" in the research process. It illustrates that research relationships are characterized by different modalities of power and hierarchy and advocates for reflexivity in the research process, self-reflexivity of the researcher, and the recognition of ethical responsibility. While this study relates to a specific context, parallels can be drawn and related to general social work research.

AbstractThis article analyses Finnish children's experiences of post-separation parental stalking as a form of domestic violence and explores how the capabilities approach (CA) can help social workers understand the issue and support children. The data consist of thematic interviews with eighteen children and young people (aged 4–21 years) whose father or stepfather has stalked their mothers after separation. The theory-driven data analysis was carried out by utilising the CA as the theoretical framework. Our findings show that parental stalking undermines children's well-being by compromising their safety and reducing their capabilities to use their agency. The study deepened our understanding of issues that children value in their lives and of their possibilities to exercise their agency under parental stalking. Our findings suggest that social workers can support children's agency and their chances of living out their values through interventions which provide internal and external protection. It is important that social workers create a situated understanding of children's experiences through a relationship in which children are considered sentient individuals who are listened to and valued. The article offers a novel contribution to the application of the CA in social work involving children exposed to parental stalking.

This paper analyses social workers' moral agency in addressing child abuse and neglect. We argue that ethically sound social work requires the capacity to exercise strong, multidimensional moral agency. The contribution is based on a qualitative interpretative meta-synthesis of four studies representing different forms of child abuse and neglect in varied contexts. Drawing on our analysis, we identify three thematic categories of moral considerations in terms of social workers' moral work in addressing child abuse and neglect: genders and generations, agencies and responsibilities, and families and communities. We then proceed to posit four dimensions of moral work in child and family social work – individual; cultural and communal; societal and political; and global – and argue that if they are to exercise strong moral agency, social workers must negotiate these intersecting contextual dimensions. Recognising the salience of these dimensions, how they increasingly intersect, and what this demands of social workers is necessary for the profession. Social workers must embrace individually sensitive, culturally translative, politically engaged and globally aware moral agency. This is crucial in elaborating context-sensitive practice that critically engages with moral complexities when working with individuals, families and communities.

This article analyses the 'European refugee crisis' in the context of Northern Finland, building on the concepts of exceptionality and affect. Conventionally, exceptionality is conceptualised from the perspective of the state that does not enable analysing exceptional situations in their broader social context. A shift in focus is required to understand how people perceive and experience exceptionality and what kinds of affects this involves. Based on participatory engagement and in-depth interviews with asylum-seekers living in reception centres in Northern Finland and local residents in their neighbourhood, our analysis demonstrates that exceptionality gains diverse meanings in different contexts. We propose affective exceptionality as a conceptual tool for analysing affects in transformational situations in which people's sense of the 'normal' becomes disrupted and illustrate how placing emphasis on subjects who experience and embody exceptionality in their everyday lives enables a more nuanced understanding of exceptionality, centralising the people instead of the state.

This paper analyses social workers' moral agency in addressing child abuse and neglect. We argue that ethically sound social work requires the capacity to exercise strong, multidimensional moral agency. The contribution is based on a qualitative interpretative meta-synthesis of four studies representing different forms of child abuse and neglect in varied contexts. Drawing on our analysis, we identify three thematic categories of moral considerations in terms of social workers' moral work in addressing child abuse and neglect: gender and generations, agencies and responsibilities, and families and communities. We then proceed to posit four dimensions of moral work in child and family social work – individual; cultural and communal; societal and political; and global – and argue that if they are to exercise strong moral agency, social workers must negotiate these intersecting contextual dimensions. Recognising the salience of these dimensions, how they increasingly intersect, and what this demands of social workers is necessary for the profession. Social workers must embrace individually sensitive, culturally translative, politically engaged and globally aware moral agency. This is crucial in elaborating context-sensitive practice that critically engages with moral complexities when working with individuals, families and communities.

Introduction and Chapter 10 available open access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.This book examines the contemporary social care realities and practices of Finland, a small nation with a history enmeshed in social relations as both coloniser and colonised. Decolonising Social Work in Finland:· Interrogates coloniality, racialisation and diversity in the context of Finnish social work and social care.· Brings together racialised and mainstream White Finnish researchers, activists and community members to challenge relations of epistemic violence on racialised populations in Finland.· Critically unpacks colonial views of care and wellbeing.It will be essential reading for international scholars and students in the fields of Social Work, Sociology, Indigenous Studies, Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Education