Social Work in Post-War and Political Conflict Areas

Kristin Sonnenberg, PhD, is Professor of Social Work at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences (EvH RWL Bochum). She is Head of the BA Social Work Studies.

The book offers unique access to theoretical approaches and practical examples of international social work in the context of war and conflicts. The reader gains knowledge about the competences and role of social work, which contributes to mitigating the effects of war and conflict. The book raises the question of how to connect international social work with local approaches and offers suggestions for a development of social work with respect to exchanging knowledge and experiences between the West and the East, the Global North and the Global South. It furthermore discusses the role of social work in reducing the problem of gender-based violence and in the methods of peacebuilding processes in post-war and post-conflict societies.

Social Work, Armed Conflict and Post-war Reconstruction.- International Social Work and the Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles.- Knowledge production in International Social work - Postcolonial Perspectives.- There are many roads to a school of social work:  Importance of the International for Modern Social Work.- Systematising Local Knowledge: Hierarchies, Power Relations and Decontextualisation in West-East Knowledge Transfer.- Community-based psychosocial work to change the cycle of violence in post conflict areas.- Children born of Wartime Rapes: An Analysis from a Gender-Sensitive and Psychosocial Perspective.- The refugee as a stigmatized individual: Spoiled identities, possible causes and courses of action for Social Work.