Indigenous perspectives for strengthening social responses to global environmental changes: A response to the social work grand challenge on environmental change |
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Authors: | Shanondora Billiot Ramona Beltrán Danica Brown Felicia M Mitchell Angela Fernandez |
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Institution: | 1. School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USAsbilliot@illinois.edu;3. Social Work, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA;4. School of Social Work, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA;5. School of Social Work, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8156-9818;6. School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACTThe “Grand Challenges for Social Work,” is a call to action for innovative responses to society’s most pressing social problems. In this article, we respond to the “Grand Challenge” of Creating Social Responses to a Changing Environment from our perspective as Indigenous scholars. Over the last several decades, diminishing natural resources, pollution, over-consumption, and the exploitation of the natural environment have led to climate change events that disproportionately affect Indigenous peoples. We present how environmental changes impact Indigenous peoples and suggest culturally relevant responses for working with Indigenous communities. We propose a decolonizing cyclical, iterative process grounded in Indigenous Ways of Knowing. |
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Keywords: | Traditional ecological knowledge social work grand challenges Indigenous social work environmental justice |
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