Social Work & Society ▪▪▪ M. Callahan: Lena Dominelli

HISTORICAL SW&S PORTRAITSGLOBAL LEADERS FOR SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION:
THE IASSW PRESIDENTS 1928-2008

Lena Dominelli (United Kingdom), President 1996 - 2004
Marilyn Callahan, Victoria, Canada"One person with passion is better than forty people merelyinterested."— E. M. Forster
Professor Lena Dominelli is one of those people whose passion forsocial justice has made a significant difference to the lives ofmany people and to her profession, social work. If you have everspent time with her, as I have done, you will know that she simply
never stops. She has ideas for what must be done immediately toaddress current injustices and also proposes strategies for the longterm. She takes action on the basis of her ideas, bringing in whoever might be able to help at agiven moment on a particular issue. She draws you in with her unwavering optimism and herpractical solutions and before long you find yourself in the midst of accomplishing what
appeared to be impossible. A social worker par excellence.
Lena did not prepare for a career in social work. She began her studies at Simon Fraser
University in British Columbia, Canada as a student that moved from the natural sciences toSociology and English in a period of great social upheavals during the late 1960’s. It was atime when students continually questioned those whose authority stemmed from their formal
positions of power. In fact, Simon Fraser University, founded in 1965, was the hub of student
activism in Western Canada. Through demonstrations, occupations and sit-ins, students
effectively pressured for major changes including interdisciplinary studies and one thecountry’s first institutional daycare centres (Johnston 2005) Lena was at the forefront ofcampus politics and learned valued lessons for her later career as an activist. The issues of thetime: peace, poverty, women’s rights, environmental degradation and active, participatory,
noisy democracy are powerful concerns that have continued to shape her work.
That Lena attended university at all was an achievement, the first member of her family to doso. The eldest of 6 children in an Italian Canadian family, she was part of a larger extended
family that had emigrated from Italy to Australia, Canada, and the USA. She grew up in what
was then the wilderness of British Columbia outside the small community of Penticton on theKettle Valley Line in a settlement of 4 houses and a bunkhouse for the railroad workers. Her
father’s work on the railroad regularly took him away from the family and, as the eldest, Lena
was expected to take on many of the responsibilities of maintaining a household, at the time
without electricity, central heating, indoor toilets or running water. When Lena speaks to me
about her early years, I sense the enormous responsibility and affection that she felt then andcontinues to feel for her family members. And for expectations of herself to shoulder hard
work, well beyond what others demand of themselves.

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Social Work & Society ▪▪▪ M. Callahan: Lena Dominelli

I also sense the ongoing feelings of being an outsider that she first experienced as a young
person. While Italian people have a lengthy history in Canada including significant roles as
early explorers and missionaries, their arrival in the large waves of immigrants from Europe
after both World Wars was greeted by Canadians with spoken ambivalence, even hostility.
Ironically most of these same Canadians were themselves earlier immigrants to Canada fromBritain and France. It was not uncommon when Lena was a young girl to hear ItalianCanadians referred to as “wops” (without papers), a term that connoted a racial, cultural andclass slur. Given their wide acceptance in present Canadian society it is difficult to remember
times earlier when Italian people were considered to be enemies or at least significantly
different. Forgotten is the fact that in 1940 when Canada entered the Second World War
several hundred people of Italian origin were arrested and interned as enemy aliens. And that
Italian woman in Canada and other western countries contended with further prejudice:“Cast as submissive beings, trapped in traditions, and denied access to the language andculture of the new world, they were characterized by stereotypical preconceptions of theimmigrant, set against the backdrop of an Anglophone world. This stereotypical view became
projected onto subsequent generations-giving rise to the "typical Italian woman", a stock
character of sorts with exaggerated, traditional mannerisms and antiquated beliefs. For
second generation Italian-Canadian women seeking to gain meaningful ownership orpartnership in Canadian society, this typecast has served to marginalize them both by genderand culture.” (Pieuo 1997, p.1)
Lena’s next decisions illustrate her unwillingness to be daunted by the social conventions andprejudices of the times. She enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Sussex obtaining
a Masters of Arts degree in 1969 and then pursued research and teaching in Algeria for a year.
With work on her doctoral studies almost completed in the next few years, she began a job inLondon, working as an industrial relations officer with specific responsibility for trade union
recognition, workers’ self-management and equal pay. She launched herself on her social
work career in Batley as a community development worker. Lena had the opportunity to put
her deep commitment to community work into practice, to demonstrate how community
members could begin to take charge of their own matters and how social workers could assist
in this process. This conviction, sharpened by her on- the-ground experience, has beenreflected in her thinking and writing ever since. In the midst of this challenge she completed
her doctoral studies at the University of Sussex in 1979.
With her education and practical experience, it was not surprising that Lena quickly foundemployment in post secondary education in social work. She obtained a post as a Lecturer inCommunity Work in the Department of Applied Social Studies at the University of Warwick(1976-1990) where she became head of the MA/CQSW Course from 1981-1990. Changes inthe field of community work compelled Lena to teach mainstream social services work andprobation. Lena felt strongly that if she was to remain in the field of social work she should beduly qualified, completing her Certificate of Qualification in Social Work and Diploma in
Applied Social Studies from Leeds University in 1981. She became a full professor and Chairof Social Administration and Director of Social Work in the Department of SociologicalStudies at Sheffield University (1990-1996).
I first met Lena in 1988 in Vienna where the 3 major international social work organizations,IASSW, IFSW and ICSW, held an international congress. For both of us, it was an earlyexperience in international social work organizations. It was quickly apparent that theconference organizers had made little provisions for the representation of marginalised

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Social Work & Society ▪▪▪ M. Callahan: Lena Dominelligroups, particularly women and black and minority ethnic groups and caucus activities. Lena
did not hesitate to bring this to the attention of the President of the International Associationof Schools of Social Work (IASSW). It was vintage Lena: rising in a crowded formal
auditorium, 6 months pregnant and feeling uncomfortable in the August heat, to read the listof “demands” that our self styled women’s caucus had formulated, after late nights spentdrafting and re-drafting the list. She was unfazed even energized by the audacity of thepresentation. Amongst the demands was that women be represented equally on the Board ofIASSW, then clearly dominated by men and that there be a standing women’s caucus in it(Dominelli 1998).
Lena herself became the Chair of the newly formed Women’s Caucus of IASSW from 19881992, the Vice-President from 1992-1996 and the President of IASSW, 1996-2004. Her
commitment to that organization was unflagging but she always viewed it as an organizationthat must reflect in action the kind of values it espoused and that it must use its power andpotential influence on behalf of those who had little. During her tenure, IASSW moved frombeing financially bankrupt to having a surplus that could be used in developing projects topromote social justice and curriculum development through social work; developed a closer
collaboration with the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) resulting in a joint
international definition of social work, ethics document and global qualifying standards. She
also worked with the United Nations to increase the voice of social work internationally.
Lena has written extensively and has contributed significant scholarship to her profession ofsocial work. She is always ahead of the wave. Her first book, Community Action andOrganising Marginalised Groups, published in 1982, set in place the social work method that
she has always favoured but one that is often ignored. She wrote further volumes on antiracist social work (1988, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2008), feminist thinking (1989, 1990, 1991,2002) and critical social work (2002, 2004 and 2005). She was one of the first contemporarysocial work scholars to bring attention to the intersections of oppressions (‘‘Race’ and Genderin Social Work, 1991) and to explore the economic and social impact of globalization andneo-liberal thinking (‘The Taylorization of Intellectual Labour’, 1996; 'Neo-Liberalism,Social Exclusion and Welfare Clients in a Global Economy', 1999).
Lena is a prodigious scholar. She writes or thinks about writing all the time. She works out
intellectual problems in ongoing conversations and tests her ideas on the ground with those in
the thick of the issue. She actually writes a lot like she speaks: directly, with her own point ofview squarely stated and with many examples from social work practice and policy toillustrate her position on a particular issue or theoretical construct. Contemporary writers are
sometimes hesitant to write directly on issues of oppression, fearing that they will appropriate
the voice of others who have more lived experience and who have the authority to speak on aparticular issue. Lena has found her own way through this conundrum. She is committed tomeeting with those who feel outside the mainstream and connecting their thinking to her own
early experience. She writes as if her audience is not only social work students, practitioners
or other scholars but also those in power who should know and care about social problems,much like she acted on the occasion of our first meeting. Speaking truth to power is one of herenormous strengths in practice and in her own scholarship. She is generous about sharing her
writing expertise with others, partnering frequently with those who do not view themselves aswriters helping them to find their voice and publish their work.
Lena’s work also reflects her ongoing commitment to learn from those whose experiences
differ from her own. In conversation and public presentations, she often repeats what students

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Social Work & Society ▪▪▪ M. Callahan: Lena Dominelliand practitioners tell her about their lives in countries that may be experiencing war, famineand violence, situations that trouble her greatly because they reflect such overwhelming needand injustices. Through her many group affiliations and connections with policy makers, shebears witness to the hardships of others. When the tsunami hit Southeast Asia in 2002, Lena
was able to hear about the devastation from social workers on the ground. She mobilized
action teams in Canada to talk about providing practical assistance to those whose homes andpossessions were lost and to assist social workers struggling in communities affected by thetragedy to develop a long term response.
Lena has a consistent belief that students can achieve what they set out to accomplish in spiteof the obstacles in their way. She prods and pushes and simply never gives up on students
who may be tempted to give up on themselves without her encouragement. She values theirideas and insights. She is constantly finding ways for others to publish their work; throughchapters in her books or connections that she has with various publishers. She is a generous
colleague.
One of her most significant contributions has been made through her efforts to develop astrong, coherent and inclusive international profession of social work. Her early experiencesin Algeria shaped her commitment to move well outside the comfortable pew that she could
have occupied as an academic in a secure university post. She deeply believes that socialwork is an essential professional activity in all nations precisely because of its commitments
to community organizing, human well-being for all and a value base that reflects hopethrough human relationships. She never apologizes for social work, although she is clearly
aware of its limitations and of its colonizing potential. She has faith in its ability to criticallyexamine its failings and she pushes it to do so move towards developing human potential andcapacities in their rich diversities.
I spent a great deal of time working with Lena on an exchange project amongst social work
students, staff and faculty members in 3 European countries and Canada. Language,
university regulations, the vagaries of funding agencies, the lack of a history of workingtogether and the sheer distance were daunting challenges. But what faculty, staff and students
learned from such an experience was a fundamental truth that Lena has constantly espoused:social workers while deeply influenced by their historical, political and social contexts, sharein a fundamental quest for social justice and that understanding the meaning of social justiceis best grappled with by reflecting on its meaning for others. Even without a word of Swedish,we quickly understood what the workers in a community centre were trying to accomplish as
they coped with the rapid influx of migrants in a country with a largely homogenous and notnecessarily welcoming population. We raised questions about building cultural ghettos based
upon our own experiences in the U.K. and Canada while they challenged us about the rights
of immigrants to retain their own language and cultural in the midst of an unwelcoming one.
We visited camps for unaccompanied minors in the Netherlands, where parents largely from
sub-African countries and fearful of the possible fate of their children during civil war had
found ways to move their children into countries that would offer them a future. We werestruck by the sheer magnitude of the task for such a small country as the Netherlands andlearned about its long history of tolerance and peaceful co-existence. Our own child welfare
services in Canada and the U.K. while stretched, had no such history of offering refuge onsuch a massive scale.
Exporting the wisdom of western cultures has never been Lena’s vision of international social
work. How dominant cultures can work differently on the basis of the experience and wisdomSocial Work & Society, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008ISSN 1613-8953 ▪▪▪ http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0009-11-14568

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Social Work & Society ▪▪▪ M. Callahan: Lena Dominelliof others in cultures far removed from their own is at the core of her thinking. Three books inwhich Lena contributed a great deal of thinking emerged from this experience and explore
these core ideas about imperialism, liberal guilt and social justice: Community Approaches toChild Welfare: International Perspectives (edited by Lena); Valuing the field: Child welfare
in international context edited by myself and Sven Hessle; and Broadening horizons:International exchanges in social work (edited by Lena with Wanda Thomas Bernard).
Another book, Revitalising communities in a globalising world (edited by Lena) drew upon
and was inspired by this experience.
Lena is presently a Professor of Applied Social Sciences and Head of Social, Community andYouth Work at the University of Durham. From 1996 to 2006 she was the Director of theCentre for International Social and Community Development at the University ofSouthampton. She is the United Nations Liaison Officer for IASSW, 2005 to the present.
Lena’s achievements have been honoured in several ways. In 2002 she received the Medal ofHonour from the French Senate Committee for Social Affairs for outstanding contribution tointernational social work theory and practice; in 2003, John F Roach Plaque in recognition ofoutstanding work on the theory and practice of improving the citizenship status of deprived
communities; in 2004, the Kuwaiti Association of Social Workers Plaque in recognition ofoutstanding contribution to bringing social work practitioners and educators together in theinternational arena; and, in 2007, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from theUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa for her contributions to international socialwork.
These awards have great meaning to her but rather than encouraging her to “rest on theselaurels” they seem to inspire her to keep working, to demonstrate that much more needs to bedone. There is an indefatigable quality to Lena spurred on by her unwavering passion forsocial justice and her belief that social work has much to offer in its pursuit. She is indeed
what E.M. Forster had in mind when he penned the opening quotation to this article.
References
Dominelli, L. 1998: Women Organising: The Women’s Caucus of the International Association of Schools ofSocial Work, in: Fernandez, E., Heycox, K., Hughes, L. and Wilkinson, M. (eds.): Women’s Participation inChange. Sydney: IASSW, pp. 1-10.
Johnston, H. 2005: Radical Campus: Making Simon Fraser University. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.
Pieuo, E. 1997: Ethnicity and the Second Generation Italian-Canadian Woman in Toronto. A Thesis submittedin conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Graduate Department ofEducation.University of Toronto.
Author´s Address:
Dr. Marilyn Callahan, Professor Emeritus
University of Victoria
School of Social Work
CA-Victoria, B.C., V8W 2Y2CanadaEmail: mcallahan@shaw.ca

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