Transnational Social Work Practice 9780231526319

Table of contents :
Contents
Part One: The Context of Transmigration
1. An Introduction to Transnational Social Work
2. Economic Globalization and Transnational Migration: An Anti-oppressive Framework
3. Transnational Social Networks and Social Development: Hometown Associations in Mexico and the United States
4. Environmental Decline and Climate Change: Fostering Social and Environmental Justice on a Warming Planet
5. Toward Sustainable Development: From Theory to Praxis
Part Two: Services to Transmigrants
6. Social Work Practice with Victims of Transnational Human Trafficking
7. Social Work Practice in Refugee Resettlement
8. Transnational Men
9. The Unintended Consequences of Migration: Exploring the Importance of Transnational Migration Between Ecuador and New York
10. Migrant Workers in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates
11. Using Internet Technology for Transnational Social Work Practice and Education
12. Macro Social Work Practice with Transmigrants
13. Incorporating Transnational Social Work into the Curriculum
14. New Practice Frontiers: Current and Future Social Work with Transmigrants
Index

Citation preview

Transnational Social Work Practice

Transnational Social Work Practice Edited by

Nalini Junko Negi and

Rich Furman

Columbia University Press  New York

Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York  Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 2010 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Chapter 5 is reprinted from Richard Estes, “Toward Sustainable Development: From Theory to Praxis,” Social Development Issues, 15, no. 3 (1993): 1–29. By permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Transnational social work practice / edited by Nalini Junko Negi and Rich Furman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-231-14448-3 (hard cover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-52631-9 (ebook) 1. Social service. 2. Migrant labor—Services for. 3. Immigrants—Services for. I. Negi, Nalini. II. Furman, Rich. III. Title.

HV40.T697 362.8—dc22

2010 2010010991

Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

Contents

P art O ne : T he C onte x t of T ransmi g ration

1. An Introduction to Transnational Social Work Rich Furman, Nalini Junko Negi, and Rommel “Bombie” Salvador  3 2. Economic Globalization and Transnational Migration: An Anti-oppressive Framework Katherine van Wormer  20 3. Transnational Social Networks and Social Development: Hometown Associations in Mexico and the United States Ariadna Mahon-Santos  36 4. Environmental Decline and Climate Change: Fostering Social and Environmental Justice on a Warming Planet Mishka Lysack  52 5. Toward Sustainable Development: From Theory to Praxis Richard J. Estes  76

vi Contents P art T wo : S ervices to T ransmi g rants

6. Social Work Practice with Victims of Transnational Human Trafficking Miriam Potocky  111 7. Social Work Practice in Refugee Resettlement Miriam Potocky  124 8. Transnational Men Rich Furman and Erin Casey  135 9. The Unintended Consequences of Migration: Exploring the Importance of Transnational Migration Between Ecuador and New York Brad Jokisch and David Kyle  147 10. Migrant Workers in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates Emmerentie Oliphant and Leon Holtzhausen  159 11. Using Internet Technology for Transnational Social Work Practice and Education John G. McNutt  176 12. Macro Social Work Practice with Transmigrants Brij Mohan and Julia E. Clark Prickett  191 13. Incorporating Transnational Social Work into the Curriculum Susan Kidd Webster, Andrea-Teresa Arenas, and Sandy Magaña  205 14. New Practice Frontiers: Current and Future Social Work with Transmigrants Cynthia A. Hunter, Susannah Lepley, and Samuel Nickels  222

I nde x  

243

Transnational Social Work Practice

[Part I]

The Context of Transmigration

[ 1 ]

An Introduction to Transnational   Social Work Rich Furman, Nalini junko Negi,   and Rommel “Bombie” Salvador

When you first read the title Transnational Social Work Practice, what came to mind? It is likely you may not have ever heard or seen these words connected together; indeed, the notion of a transnational social work is very, very new. Chances are that if your interest was piqued, it was out of a sense of fascination with globalization and internationalization in social work. When the editors of this volume first published an article on the topic only two years ago, it was one of the few articles that explored the impact of transnationalism and transmigration on social work in the United States (Furman and Negi 2007). Many articles deal with the effects of globalization and international social work, but the relationship between transnationality and the profession of social work has not been well explored. An exploration of transnational life and social work seems to have appeared first in the literature in the United States in 1993 (Midgley 1993). The term “transnational social work” itself may have been first used in the United States by James Midgley (2001) in a groundbreaking article that explored key issues in international social work at the beginning of the

4 The Context of Transmigration

new millennium. Midgley explores key conceptual discrepancies in social work regarding globalization and international social work. He contrasts the work of internationalists, some of whom wish for greater integration of key functions of governments and others who wish for the abolition of the nation-state, with those who believe the nation state will remain a central organizing mechanism of social and political life. He notes the difficulty in bridging these two positions yet stresses the importance of such bridges. We believe that the development of transnational social work, a practice that can deftly move across nation-state boundaries, be culturally competent and responsive on a local level, yet recognize the continued strength and centrality of nations, could be just such a bridge. Such a practice must rethink, reconceptualize, and expand the adage “think globally, act locally,” to “think globally and locally, act globally and locally.” Over the last few years, interest has expanded about how the interconnectedness of global institutions (transnationalism) and the movement of people, resources, and ideas back and forth across nation-state boundaries (transmigration) have influenced, and may be influenced by, the profession of social work. Still, little is known about this relationship. This book is an attempt to begin discussions and dialogues about the possibility of a transnational social work practice. First, however, we would like to mention the point of view a scholar who is cautious about the development of global and international social work, particularly by individuals from the wealthy nations of the world. Gray (2005) openly questions whether such innovations are merely a means by which social work may impose Western views onto those from other cultural/nation-state contexts. Perhaps, indeed, we are merely engaging in a more humanistic form of imperialism. We hope that this is not the case, yet this critique provides us an important lens through which we must vigilantly question our efforts toward developing international and transnational models of practice. We do believe, however, that the fact that more and more people are living transnational lives provides with us the ethical and moral imperative to help develop social work models and methods to respond to their needs. This is the raison d’être for this collection. The book you have opened is concerned with the way social work as a profession has responded to the realities of globalization. While many books have addressed the topic of international social work, little has been written about the ways that social work has changed and must change in response to the manner in which globalization has altered the day-to-day

5 An Introduction to Transnational Social Work

life of humankind in the opening decades of the new millennium. The rapid pace of social change and transformation will mean that social work will change in ways that we can now only begin to imagine. The authors of the various chapters of this book have adopted the lens of globalization to present an exploration of some of the key issues regarding how that phenomenon, and in particular transnationalism and transmigration, affect how we provide social work services to some of the most vulnerable and poorest people on the planet. Globalization has altered the lives of people forever. Social structures, organizational contexts, and even day-to-day personal relationships and decisions are now situated within a global context. There are several key causes for this phenomenon: the dramatic advancement of technologies that have allowed faster access to global networks, opportunities, and activities; the interconnectedness of global economic and social institutions; and unprecedented movements of people across nation-state boundaries. The recent economic crisis underscores the interdependence of nation-states as the downturn of financial markets could be felt from Australia to Zimbabwe. Subsequently, the adage “think globally and act locally” has taken on an expanded meaning in this new millennium, and with it new opportunities and challenges for social service practitioners. These changes are often unsettling but represent exciting opportunities for innovation. The history of social work is the history of a profession that responds to shifts and changes in social structures. Social work has been the profession that has helped the poorest and most vulnerable people adapt to major social shifts, such as the industrial revolution and the Great Depression. Not always as focused on social change and transformation as some would wish, social work certainly has responded to those in need at times of need. This notion of social responsiveness is a core attribute of the profession and must be one of its core values as we confront global changes the likes of which the profession and the world have never before witnessed. It is therefore surprising that little has been written about the effects of globalization on social workers, social work agencies, or the way social work services are provided (Jones 2002; Ley 2004; Wilding 1997), despite increased recognition of the global scope of social problems (Link, Ramanathan, and Asamoah 1999; Stoesz, Guzzetta, and Lusk 1999). In fact, much of the literature on globalization has focused on the business and political aspects of globalization (Adler and Bartholomew 1992; Homburg et al. 2002; Jones 2002; Kastoryano 2000). This paucity of discourse, empirical

6 The Context of Transmigration

research, and practice and policy dialogues is glaring in light of a 2009 report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that indicates that forty-two million people were forcibly displaced due to conflict and persecution. What we see is that the nature of the nation-state is changing; people’s lives are less bound to the traditional structures and institutions of capitalism and postindustrial society. It is then understandable that sociologists and other scholars have begun to redefine nationstate borders from rigid boundaries to intersocietal and supraterritorial spaces as a substantial and growing number of people across the world are leading lives that transcend national boundaries or are transnational in nature (Sassen 2002). Globalization clearly has not merely changed the manner in which business and governments function; it has had a profound impact on the daily lives of the poor, and has resulted in the need for the transformation of social work services. In this introduction we explore several important issues that provide a context for the rest of this book, including transnationalism and transmigration, and the relationship between transmigration and social work practice. We mention some potential organizational structures that can help social workers think through ways of reorganizing social work practice, which has always been situated within the context of the social agency. In this discussion, we take an expanded view of what can and may constitute a social work agency, as social work leaders will need to think outside the box in responding to global challenges. Finally, we outline the organization of the rest of the book and introduce subsequent chapters.

The Nature of Transnationalism and Transmigration There is no doubt that globalization and its associated advances in technology and electronic communication, as well as fast and cheap transportation, have ushered in a new era in human experience. These advances have allowed people like Raul, a Mexican migrant day laborer, to live his psychosocial life in a space that defies the rigid constructions of nationstate; a space that is neither the United States nor Mexico, but simultaneously both. Raul’s migration to the United States, as that of many others, was precipitated by economic forces, and although he crossed the border voluntarily, he was more than reluctant to leave his young family behind. To ensure that Raul is able to see his daughters grow, he exchanges video

7 An Introduction to Transnational Social Work

letters with his wife through a truck driver and friend who travels between both countries. Raul also undertakes the difficult and dangerous migration back and forth from Mexico to the United States to be able to see his family. Raul, as with many uncounted and a growing number of people in this world, is a transmigrant. Transmigration is an altered condition of migration that is different from traditional migration. While immigrants and traditional migrants discontinue moving between nation-states with the elapse of time, transmigrants continuously engage in lives in different places, countries, and cultures due to mainly economic structures (Pries 2004). This transmigratory lifestyle can lead to multiple crossings of nation-state boundaries and a lack of a long-term residential base, which present a unique context for social work intervention. An understanding of the context of this emergent population’s lives and the risk and protective factors that influence them is paramount to being able to effectively provide culturally responsive services with this population. Immigration and even transmigration are not new phenomena, as these extend back as far as trading diasporas of the Middle Ages, or farther (Foner 1997). However, transmigration is unique today due to globalization and rapidly growing and affordable communication technologies. This has allowed for many transmigrants to develop transnational identities and relationships, and to engage in activities that are truly transnational. For example, we find Chinese Malaysians, living in Singapore, who are active participants in two or more countries, challenging our traditional conceptions of “home.” Similarly, Middle Eastern immigrants in Europe and Mexican and Canadian Asian transnationals have been documented living a large part of their emotional, social, economic, and political lives in both their place of origin and their place of settlement. Ensuring the well-being of these transnationals and their families becomes a societal concern for both their country of origin and their country of residence. These transnational experiences challenge traditional notions related to migration, such as assimilation. As such, it is still unclear the degree to which transnational identities are or will be markedly different from those who have engaged in more traditional migratory patterns. For instance, it is relatively unknown how factors within the experience of transmigration may be associated with negative or positive physical and mental health outcomes. Specifically, while migrating back and forth across borders may be hypothesized to be a risk factor as it may hinder the development of

8 The Context of Transmigration

social networks, the ability to be with family may serve as a buffer against adverse consequences. Easier access to communication technologies has further allowed many transmigrants to be able not only to maintain connections to their families but also to participate in their communities through the use of inexpensive telephonic and computer technologies. For example, in many countries cybercafes are ubiquitous, making email and Internet chat affordable to many. One of the editors of this volume recently visited a cybercafe in a poor section of Medellín, Colombia. The computers were being used mostly by working-class Colombians who were communicating with friends and family across the country and around the globe. Transmigrants have therefore created a context of transnationalism, or the notion that social, economic, and familial life now often transcends the constraints of nation-state boundaries. This is also true for a number of social workers and social work scholars who have become part of global networks, sharing information, ideas, and resources about this emerging practice.

Social Work and Transmigration What is transnational social work? In truth, there is currently no clear definition proposed in the literature. We propose the following definition as a starting point. Transnational social work is an emerging field of practice that (a) is designed to serve transnational populations; (b) operates across nation-state boundaries, whether physically or through new technologies; and (c) is informed by and addresses complex transnational problems and dilemmas. In this book you will find examples of social work practice that meets one or more parts of this definition. As you think about examples of social work practice in your own work, you may find elements of the above three categories. However, you may also note that these practices have not been typically labeled as transnational. We believe that there is significant utility in engaging in and defining transnational social work practice as a new and emerging way of providing services. But how is transnational social work different from international social work? We propose that given the transnational experiences of many people, international interventions and efforts that do not incorporate transnational practices fall short of addressing the complexities involved in the transnational context. Therefore, we believe that transnational social work

9 An Introduction to Transnational Social Work

practice is a more precise term for services that are meant for transnational individuals and not traditional migrants and immigrants, who often require one nation-state solutions. Transnational social work practice, by definition, requires the strategizing of solutions that incorporate two or more nation-states (depending on the experiences of the transmigrant) as well as working with social workers across borders to facilitate the wellbeing of this population. As world economic structures become increasingly integrated, and as technological advances continue to become more advanced and more accessible to the poorest and most marginalized countries, communities, and people, social workers in different countries will find increasing need to collaborate on providing services. Even traditional barriers such as language may one day become far less difficult to transcend as voice recognition and translational software become more advanced and sophisticated. This book offers a framework to begin to conceptualize transnational social work practice.

Envisioning Organizational Structures for Transnational Social Work Social work has always existed within the framework of the social work or human service agency (Lewis, Packard, and Lewis 2007). While a great deal has been written about the nature of organizational life (Gibelman and Furman 2008), little has been written on the actual possibilities for and types of agency structures. That is, most discussions of social work agencies explore issues such as the development of a mission statement and programmatic goals, the development of agency policy, the importance of personnel selection, and so on, but few include the structure of social welfare agencies. Here we briefly introduce the types of organizations that social work leaders may use when seeking to develop new organizations to meet the needs of transmigrants or others within a transnational context. This short discussion may provide readers with a lens through which to read subsequent chapters, thereby facilitating the development of novel and creative approaches. In much of the twentieth century, organizations adopted one of four basic forms of organizational structure: simple, functional, divisional, and matrix (Dess, Lumpkin, and Eisner 2008). We also explore organizations without boundaries, which may incorporate elements from other forms. In this section, we describe each of these forms and provide illustrations where applicable.

10 The Context of Transmigration

Simple Structure A simple organizational structure is one in which the founder (and/or a single manager) controls all activities of the organization and is intimately involved with most, if not all, decisions on a day-to-day basis. In organizations with simple structures, the staff essentially serves as an extension of this individual, performing necessary administrative tasks. Organizations that are small (having fifteen or fewer members or employees) tend to have simple structures. Many small nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that function as social welfare agencies may start off as simple structures led by one individual but evolve into more complex structures over time. Additionally, NGOs and social service agencies tend to be less hierarchical than other organizations, so simple-structured NGOs may be dominated by a single individual in their early stages. The early life of many such organizations is often carried forward by the energy of a committed individual who is passionate about the issue that the organization focuses on. One example of such an organization is Bosnian Family (BOSFAM), an advocacy group founded during the Bosnian War (BOSFAM 2009). The organization’s mission is to help refugee woman and their families achieve economic stability and empowerment. The organization was started by a Bosnian educator, Beba Hadzic, who worked tirelessly to build an organization and draw attention to the needs of Bosnian women. Her purposeful advocacy created connections between refugee communities and the outside world. Impatient with NGOs who were not serving their needs, she sought funding from OXFAM to start BOSFAM weavers, an initially small program that helped Bosnian women earn a living through traditional weaving. Originating with one individual, the group slowly grew in complexity and became a more formally structured organization. It now operates within a multicultural, complex transnational space in which Serb, Muslim, and Croat woman in Bosnia are viewed as possessing many personal and cultural strengths.

Functional Structure A functional organizational structure is one in which the various activities and processes that the organization undertakes are clustered under major categories (called functions), such as accounting, marketing, operations,

11 An Introduction to Transnational Social Work

and human resource management. Organizations that tend to offer a single service (or a set of closely related services) in large volume generally adopt this functional structure by assigning individuals specialized tasks within these functional departments, each with a designated manager. In turn, these managers are accountable to a single individual: a president, chief executive officer, or some other person with a similar designation. Because of the clustering of individuals into departments, functional structures allow organizational members to specialize and develop their expertise in specific functional areas or processes. Social welfare agencies frequently adopt this type of structure. A classic example is a child welfare agency, which provides child protective services to a large number of children in families, often within a specific geographical region. The strengths of such an agency structure lie in the focus of its mission, and usually its methods. Since the agency performs only one service, it is able to focus on doing what it does well. However, this strength may at times be a limitation as well. For instance, the agency may not be able to respond to unmet community needs that it identifies. Or given that it is extremely invested in providing a particular form of service, the agency may find it difficult to respond to research findings that suggest its methods are less effective than other approaches. Administrators of such programs must find ways of continually improving their quality.

Multidivisional Structure Sometimes referred to as an M-form, a multidivisional structure is usually adopted by organizations that are responsible for multiple services, service markets, or geographic areas. Within each of these markets or areas (called divisions), organizational members and their respective responsibilities are clustered in terms of functional departments. In essence, then, a multidivisional structure is one that subsumes two or more functional structures, each of which is ultimately managed by a general manager or a divisional manager. In turn, these managers are accountable to the organization’s president or chief executive. Having a multidivisional structure allows organizations that have grown to serve a broad range of geographic regions to have members dedicated to each region. Multidivisional structures are perhaps the most common form of social welfare agency. For instance, an agency that begins as a community mental

12 The Context of Transmigration

health center may expand to provide job training to its clients. Over time, it may begin to serve not only persistently mentally ill adults, but developmentally disabled children and adults as well. Each service may grow to have its own “mini-departments” in charge of tasks such as managing supplies or record keeping. In such a case, each service is likely to be administered by a program director who responds to a central administration that takes care of the business-related tasks for agency life.

Matrix Structure Conceptually, a matrix structure is one in which individuals, tasks, and resources are organized around well-defined cross-functional projects. In a sense, it is a derivative of the functional structure, with the exception that individuals are accountable not only to their functional managers, but also to at least one other manager responsible for the project. Having a matrix structure allows organizational members to lend their time and expertise to, say, a specific project or region, while maintaining a link to their “home” functional department, such as operations or community relations. In practice, many organizations operating across several national boundaries may adopt something akin to a matrix structure but may be essentially some form of hybrid of the functional and multidivisional structures. As an example, UNICEF performs its work using what appears to be a multidivisional structure operating in seven geographic regions around the world (e.g., Americas and the Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacific). Specific projects, each staffed by a particular set of individuals, might be implemented simultaneously across several geographic regions. As part of a matrix structure, these individuals coordinate not just with a central project director but also with a regional director. This type of structure holds great promise for transnational agencies, as they may have the flexibility needed to meet the needs of complex social problems.

Structures Without Boundaries Organizational designs without boundaries have, as their core, elements of one or more of the traditional organizational structures. They may still be organized in terms of functional departments or geographic divisions but

13 An Introduction to Transnational Social Work

these are permeable enough to allow the easy flow of information between departments and the evolution of partnerships and relationships with individuals and groups external to the organization (Ashkenas 1999). Wraparound programs are an example of this structure that may have important implications for social work practice with transnational populations (Furman et al. 2008). Originally designed as a method of coordinating children’s mental health services, wrap-around services incorporate several key principles. First, the client or family is situated at the center of the helping process and is an integral part of service design. As such, wrap-around services are flexible and created based upon the needs of the client. With traditional social services, clients’ needs must fit within a narrowly defined group of services. Wrap-around services are viewed as fluid and flexible. A constellation of flexible and creative services are combined, blended, and altered based upon the life contexts and cultural needs of the client. This highlights another key principle of wrap-around services: the centrality of cultural competence. Also, given that services must be crafted to meet the complex needs of clients, a structure must be created to integrate the skills, knowledge, and fiscal resources of a variety of organizations. In this sense, a wrap-around project is similar to a matrix or project-based agency yet incorporates the skills and resources of more than one organization and may focus on the needs of a family or small group rather than a project. Services are organized around an interagency, interdisciplinary planning meeting, which allows various providers to come together to discuss the needs of clients. In other words, the needs of individual clients or small groups drives the way services are provided, and organizational structures and services bend to meet client needs. In this model, organizations should develop means of pooling fiscal and other resources in order to maintain maximum flexibility. This often demands a level of organizational complexity and fluidity that is challenging to some organizations yet necessary in transnational contexts. Given that services to transnational migrants may necessitate the collaboration of organizations situated in various countries, new technologies that were discussed in chapter 9 can be of great value.

Organization of the Book The work for this book began when Lauren Dockett, the social work editor for Columbia University Press, approached the two editors of this

14 The Context of Transmigration

volume after a lecture on the topic at the Council for Social Work Education’s annual program meeting. After we met with Lauren, we became intrigued by the idea of writing the first book on the topic. However, after careful consideration we realized that social work practice with transmigrants, and more globally a transnational social work, was far too new; very little has been written on the topic. What was needed was an edited volume that brought together the new and novel ideas from academics and practitioners alike. The following chapters are the result of several years of collaboration with many outstanding authors from different countries of the world. In this volume, you will find the work of social workers, social development theorists and practitioners, organizational theorists, and anthropologists. Authors represent North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe and explore themes of transnational life and practice from around the world. Together, the chapters paint a picture of the current state of transnational social work and provide glimpses into the future of this emerging field of practice. In putting together the chapters, we had two clear aims: first, to provide an understanding of transnational populations that are in need of services; and second, to explore services delivered to these populations. As such, we divide the book into two parts: the context of transmigration, and providing services to transmigrants. Part 1 is meant to provide an understanding regarding the context of transmigration, while part 2 provides practical strategies and real-life examples of transnational social work. Transnational migrants often live in the shadows, even when compared to other immigrant groups who may have more stability due to a consistent, stable residential base, citizenship, and access to resources. Subsequently, transnational migrants “are often treated as a reserve of flexible labor, outside the protection of labor safety, health, and minimum wage and other standards, and easily deportable” (Taran 2000:7). Accordingly, Pries states that “transmigrants are not the new sovereign cosmopolitans who move freely and voluntarily between different locales, places, and opportunities without problems. Transmigrants adapt themselves to uncertain and unpredictable situations, learn to manage risks and live with them, and accumulate cultural and social capital” (31). In chapter 2, “Economic Globalization and Transnational Migration,” Katherine van Wormer utilizes a radical anti-oppressive model to encourage a critical analysis of the process of transmigration. She discusses global economic policies, such as NAFTA, that have led to the disempowerment and displacement of people,

15 An Introduction to Transnational Social Work

thereby forcing them into leading transmigrant lives. She further explores the feminization of migration and discusses the heightened vulnerability of transmigrant women. Van Wormer concludes with practical strategies for both social work practitioners and students. Research indicates that transmigrants are involved in transnational networks and activities that challenge traditional localized conceptions of single allegiance to nation-state and expand it to more globalized and transnational ways of being (Kastoryano 2000). Ariadna Mahon-Santos’s chapter, “Transnational Social Networks and Social Development,” looks at such networks through a focus on the development of hometown associations and the role of remittances in social development. Santos explicates both how remittances can have a positive influence through transnational linkages and how, unchecked, they can also foster dependency. Chapter 4, “Environmental Decline and Climate Change,” by Mishka Lysack, addresses the understanding that environmental degradation affects the lives of all people and requires a transnational solution. Lysack frames the issue from a social justice perspective by analyzing disparate access to natural resources by residents of developed and developing countries. He also provides innovative strategies for social workers interested in becoming involved in environmental justice issues. This is a timely topic, as the Council for Social Work Education’s 2010 conference theme is “Sustainable Social Work.” The profession is now beginning a dialogue about such essential topics. Richard Estes’s chapter, “Toward Sustainable Development,” continues with the theme of sustainability. This chapter concludes part 1 by exploring definitions and conceptions of sustainable development and discussing major intervention strategies that social service providers can use. Sustainable development provides an excellent frame through which to view subsequent chapters, which explore the provision of services to various transmigrant populations. In part 2 the various authors help us understand the important aspects of the lives of specific transmigrant populations and provide guidance into social work practice with them. The section begins with by exploring the problems of human trafficking, a transnational problem that has received increasing attention from the media and NGOs alike. In chapter 6, “Social Work with Victims of Transnational Human Trafficking,” Miriam Potocky explores the complex dilemmas faced by victims and service providers alike, as well as the social justice issues implicated in serving this population. In

16 The Context of Transmigration

chapter 7 Potocky also discusses one of the most salient issues to transnational social work, the provision of social services to refugee communities. Potocky delineates key issues in social work practice in both chapters and provides a vignette to bring these issues to life. This chapter connects traditional views of migration to more modern views of transmigration. Gender equity remains one of the most important goals of social work and social development throughout the world. Many social work scholars and practitioners have focused on developing methods of social work practice designed to empower women and girls to take more central and meaningful roles within societies that have often blocked their achievement and inclusion. In chapter 8, “Transnational Men,” Rich Furman and Erin Casey focus on the need to provide services to men in a culturally competent way as a means of achieving this aim, as well as to assist at-risk men in achieving other important psychosocial and person goals. The authors highlight programs designed to help men who have been victims and perpetrators of violence. In chapter 9, “The Unintended Consequences of Migration,” Brad Jokisch and David Kyle extend our understanding of transnational issues through the case of Antonio, a man from Ecuador living his life between two worlds. They discuss the effects of transmigration on Antonio and his family. By living in the complex transnational space that constitutes two separate worlds, transmigrants actually live within a newly created space that has not been sufficiently addressed in the social work practice literature. Emmerentie Oliphant and Leon Holtzhausen analyze the case of transnational migrants in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates in chapter 10. They explore the similarities and differences of each country’s social context and present the implications of these differences for social work practice. The focus of the chapter is on the day-to-day lived experiences of migrant workers and their implications for practice. The authors provide guidance for program design and intervention with other transnational populations. Their rich, textured approach leads the reader to appreciate the complexity and enormity of transnational social problems. Transnational social service provision can be quite challenging, as it often involves the cooperation and coordination of two or more agencies or organizations across two or more nation-states. Accordingly, innovative and cost-effective strategies need to be implemented for practical use. In chapter 11 John McNutt explores the uses of the Internet for organizing, advocating, and building transnational solidarity groups for social change.

17 An Introduction to Transnational Social Work

He offers innovative strategies for both social work practice and education, providing a conceptual understanding that will allow social workers to contextualize and use new advances as they develop. For instance, over the next several years, improvements in voice recognition and translation software will allow social workers to communicate around the world without the need for translators. In chapter 12 Brij Mohan and Julia Clark Prickett discuss specific strategies for macro intervention with this population. The authors present a critique of some of the current structures of the global economy and globalization and explore how these insights lead to a model of macrolevel transnational practice. The chapter presents an insightful discussion of the relationship between direct and macrolevel practice and explores the ramifications of culturally competent practice for community organization, advocacy, development, and other macrolevel approaches. The authors skillfully connect the worlds of international social development to social work practice. In chapter 13, “Incorporating Transnational Social Work into the Curriculum,” Susan Kidd Webster, Andrea-Teresa Arenas, and Sandy Magaña discuss how educational material on transmigration can be included in social work curricula to increase the profession’s responsiveness to transmigrants. They explore social work education’s traditional conceptualization of micro, mezzo, and macro practice and place it within the history of international social work and social work education. The authors present, as a case example, a transnational social work course that demonstrates the fit between transnational social work and the curriculum. Finally, the book concludes with a chapter by Cynthia Hunter, Susannah Lepley, and Samuel Nickels exploring the new frontiers for social work practice with transnational migrants. Drawing on many of the themes found throughout the book, the authors look forward into the future of what social work practice with transnational populations might be. They provide a ground-level view of the practitioners who are compelled to address migration, transmigration, assimilation, and services to refugees within the contest of service systems that have not yet begun to understand transnational realities nor integrate them into social work practice. This last point, the lack of preparedness of many of our social welfare agencies and systems, is not to be understated. Social work practitioners, educators, administrators, social development specialists, and others who will encounter transnational populations often work within systems that

18 The Context of Transmigration

have not yet begun to understand the ramifications of transnational life. Through this book we hope to add to the developing conversation about the needs of transnational populations within the profession of social work. This effort is a beginning, and we hope that readers will use the insights they have gained to develop new concepts and services for some of the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk people: transmigrants. We hope that you are informed, encouraged, and impassioned to begin to navigate the issues explored here. References Adler, N.  J., and S. Bartholomew (1992). Managing globally competent people. Academy of Management Executive 6, no. 3: 52–65. Ashkenas, R. (1999). Creating the boundaryless organization. Business Horizons 42, no. 5: 5–10. BOSFAM (2009). Welcome to BOSFAM web site. http://www.bosfam.ba/. Dess, G. G., G. T. Lumpkin, and A. B. Eisner (2008). Strategic management: Creating competitive advantages. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Foner, N. (1997). What’s new about transnationalism? New York immigrants today and at the turn of the century. Diaspora 6: 355–75. Furman, R., and N. Negi (2007). Social work practice with transnational Latino populations. International Social Work 50, no. 1: 107–12. Furman, R., N. J. Negi, M. C. S. Schatz, and S. Jones (2008). Transnational social work: Using a wrap-around model. Global Networks: A Journal of Transnational Affairs 8, no. 4: 496–503. Gibelman, M., and R. Furman (2008). Navigating human service organizations: Essential information for thriving and surviving in agencies (2nd ed.). Chicago: Lyceum Books. Gray, M. (2005). Dilemmas of international social work: Paradoxical processes in indigenisation, imperialism and universalism. International Journal of Social Welfare 14, no. 2: 230–37. Homburg, C., H. Krohmer, J. P. Cannon, and I. Kiedaisch (2002). Consumer satisfaction in transnational buyer-supplier relationships. Journal of International Marketing 10, no. 4: 1–29. Jones, A. (2002). The “global city” misconceived: The myth of “global management” in transnational service firms. Geoforum 33, no. 3: 335–50. Kastoryano, R. (2000). Settlement, transnational communities and citizenship. New York: UNESCO. Lewis, J. A., T. R. Packard, and M. D. Lewis (2007). Planning and program design.

19 An Introduction to Transnational Social Work In Management of human service programs (4th ed.), 40–67. Belmont, Calif.: Thomson Brooks/Cole. Ley, D. (2004). Transnational spaces and everyday lives. Institute of British Geographers 29, no. 1: 151–64. Link, R.  J., C. S. Ramanathan, and Y. Asamoah (1999). All our futures: Principles and resources for social work practice in a global era. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks and Cole. Midgley, J. (1993). Promoting a development focus in the community organization curriculum: Relevance of the African experience. Journal of Social Work Education 29, no. 3: 269–78. ——— (2001). Issues in international social work: Resolving critical debates in the profession. Journal of Social Work 1, no. 1: 21–35. Pries, L. (2004). Determining the causes and durability of transnational labour migration between Mexico and the United Status: Some empirical findings. International Migration 42, no. 2. Sassen, S. (2002). Global cities and diasporic networks: Microsites in global civil society. In Global civil society, 2002, ed. M. K. M. Glasius and A. Helmut, 217–38. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Stoesz, D., C. Guzzetta, and M. Lusk (1999). International development. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Taran, P. A. (2000). Human rights of migrants: challenges of the new decade. International Migration 38, no. 6: 7–51. United National High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (2009). UNCR annual report shows 42 million people uprooted worldwide. June 16, 2009. http://www.unhcr.org/4a2fd52412d.html. Wilding, P. (1997). Globalization, regionalism and social policy. Social Policy and Administration 31, no. 4: 410–28.

[ 2 ]

Economic Globalization   and Transnational Migration:   An Anti-oppressive Framework Katherine van Wormer

Since the dawn of human evolution, humans have migrated across continents in search of food, game, arable land, shelter, safety, and a hospitable climate. People still move for these reasons, but new reasons for human migration are arising, related to forces in the global economy. An analysis of the link between the forces of capitalism in the new global market and transnational migration is the subject of this chapter. An understanding of how such forces—global forces with global consequences—operate is essential to an understanding of the whole immigration debate in the United States and elsewhere, in addition to the dilemmas of transmigrants and those who provide them with essential social work services. Globalization is a fairly neutral term that refers to the closer integration of the countries of the world (Stiglitz 2003). To the extent that we are talking of enhanced global interconnectedness and the exchange of products and ideas, the concept is positive. Globalization, in this sense, holds out the promise of a genuine internationalism both through the communications revolution and through the expansion of the concept of

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human rights as the basis for a nation’s social development (Ife 2000). Globalization has also led to renewed attention to long-established nongovernmental organizations such as the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization. A focus on human rights and international law is increasingly apparent in world affairs and has had an impact on the social work profession and gained recognition in the professional codes of ethics of many nations (see http://www.ifsw.com). This form of globalization operates from the grass roots upward; it is enriching in the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and friendship between nation-states and groups of people. But there is another form of globalization, and it is that which concerns us here—that is the economic aspect, the influence of transnational corporations on our lives and livelihoods. Altman (2007), in his book Connected: 24 Hours in the Global Economy, defines globalization as the sum of all the ways that people and money connect across borders. The effects are seen in business mergers, brands becoming increasingly globalized, conflicts among and between states to protect their competitive advantage (even the North Pole is not exempt from territorial claims), and mass labor migration. The form of globalization that Altman describes (see also Stiglitz 2003; Friedman 2005) concerns global markets and the maximization of profits for corporate interests. It is about change that is happening so fast that it is hard for individual people, vulnerable ethnic groups, and even national governments to keep up with it. This kind of globalization is taking place from the top down; the results are evidenced in increased trade and flows of capital and the triumph of global market economics. The core of global commerce is the world banking system and regulation by the World Trade Organization. One of the themes we hear so much about is “free trade.” The ideal of free trade is that governments will agree to remove barriers to the cross-border flow of money and products. In theory, this will open up commerce to everyone on an even playing field. This chapter adopts a radical anti-oppressive model with regard to the causes and consequences of transnational migration. After an introduction to the theoretical framework, the chapter briefly considers the facts pertaining to the restructuring of one nation’s economy as a result of its signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mexico is representative of nations with extremely high out-migration rates that are related to economic arrangements between a less prosperous country and one that is more prosperous.

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Mexico, in fact, “has now become the principal country of emigrants in the world” (Wise and Cypher 2007:123). A challenge of this chapter is to discover, from a political economic perspective, why this is the case. This exploration will lead to a consideration of key dynamics about the global economy, based on the perspectives of scholars interested in the human side of economics. Special consideration will be given to the relationship between economic interests and war, and to the plight of women in newly industrializing parts of the world. The final section will consider the implications for anti-oppressive social work practice.

Anti-oppressive Analysis In light of the aspects of exploitation and marginalization attached to the stark economic realities of present-day society, economic globalization can be viewed as a complex system of oppression that reinforces more familiar forms of oppression—racism, ethnocentrism, sexism, and classism. Accordingly, the theoretical framework that I have chosen for this chapter is the anti-oppressive framework. An anti-oppressive framework provides an effective social work tool for gaining a better understanding of the oppression, marginalization, and exclusion of skilled immigrants in Western societies. The term anti-oppressive practice is used to characterize approaches designed to counter or reduce oppression and oppressive factors in society. From this perspective, the social worker seeks to oppose any structural, organizational, or institutional policy or practice that oppresses, represses, or disenfranchises minority groups. This definition views the economic forces of modern society as generally oppressive and implies that social workers need to strive to offset oppression by minimizing power differences and maximizing the rights to which all people are entitled (Dalrymple and Burke 1995; van Wormer 2004). Anti-oppressive theory thus emphasizes the structural origins of clients’ problems and orients itself toward radical social change, by transforming the unequal social and power relation between dominated and dominant groups into an egalitarian one (Healy 2005; Mullaly 2007). For working with visible minority migrant populations, anti-oppressive practice becomes a powerful instrument of resistance and for advocating for structural change that would emancipate such workers.

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Since their emergence in the 1980s, anti-oppressive formulations have had a significant influence on social work practice in Britain and Canada (Healy 2005). U.S. social workers who take a similar structural perspective have preferred to frame their concepts in an empowerment formulation (see Gutiérrez and Lewis 1999; van Wormer 2004). They too have focused their attention on the unequal distribution of power in society and on the need for systemic structural change. A major strength of anti-oppressive practice is its reconciliation of social work values and practice methods. Anti-oppressive principles require that social workers support social justice and access to the benefits of society on an equitable basis, and that they espouse a strong commitment to human rights. Dominelli (2002) advocates human rights–based social work as a means of effecting change at the personal, institutional, and cultural levels toward realizing the rights that attach to citizenship in the world community. Dominelli perceives the context of social work practice as a globalizing economy. This approach is especially relevant to situations of exploitation of minority migrating groups and to the social issues and challenges posed by globalization and transnational movements of people. In sharp contrast to micro social work perspectives, the anti-oppressive formulation places the value of social justice at center stage and allows us to move beyond a focus on people’s personal characteristics and toward a recognition of the cultural and structural dimensions of their marginalization. Anti-oppressive analysis helps us realize that the dynamics of oppression— exploitation, social isolation, marginalization, and backlash against minority groups when rights are won—are the same regardless of the particular characteristics of the group in question (van Wormer, Besthorn, and Keefe 2007).

Why Capitalism Favors Transnational Migration Over Immigration Keep in mind that transnational migration implies movement of people back and forth across borders, whereas immigration entails the full rights of citizenship. Migrant workers are thought of as temporary (especially in Europe); when their usefulness expires, migrants return home. That is the expectation, anyway. That the forces of capitalism would favor massive migration over massive immigration is a major argument of this chapter. Transnational migration takes place from the poorer nations to richer ones as workers go abroad in search of better working conditions than

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those they find at home. The upheaval caused by economic crises and war are two of the main factors involved in population movements. Asylum seekers in Europe are defined as temporary; their stay is meant to last only until their nation is at peace. When peace is restored, they are sent home. The treatment of asylum seekers in Canada and the United States is somewhat different; there is an openness in these countries to permanent settlement. Refugees from certain designated war zones such as Bosnia, just as refugees from countries under communism, were entitled to a special status that came with benefits. Highly skilled workers are in a special category as well, especially those in the medical field. While they cause a serious “brain drain” in their home countries, these population shifts help raise the standard of living in areas where these immigrants have settled. Yet even as the receiving countries welcome such high-caliber skilled workers in order to gain a competitive advantage in the global economy, structural barriers in the labor markets, nonacceptance of their professional qualifications, and so forth often prevent their employment at the level of work for which they were trained. A similar fate applies to war refugees who worked as professionals in their home countries but are pushed into the lower ends of the labor market upon arrival. Despite the barriers placed on the new arrivals, however, their acceptance as immigrants in a nation of immigrants and the help they and their children receive as legal residents is far beyond that accorded to migrant workers and their families. A consideration of the “push–pull” model of migration is instructive. This migration model, based on the point of view of the migrant, draws our attention to the (negative) push factors that drive people to leave their countries and the (positive) pull factors that attract them to their new countries. Dire economic situations or warfare might push people out; a stable economy that offers opportunities to earn a decent living are forces that, like a magnet, pull people onward. We can extend this model further and conceptualize it from the viewpoint of the manufacturers and other employers and their representatives in government. There are strong incentives to push people out of their new country—they have served their usefulness; their culture is foreign; they are taxing the social services. Likewise, from the point of view of community leaders, there is the pull factor—these people work hard; their children speak the language fluently and have good potential; the parents are paying taxes and making a contribution to the

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community. This push–pull concept is useful because it helps explain why the U.S. Congress continues to fail to reach agreement on an “immigration reform act.” From a humanitarian standpoint, the borders should be open; from a capitalist perspective, the borders should be partially open and partially closed, depending on the need for workers by the host country. But even here there are contradictions. Some economic conservatives might be attracted to the reliance of industry and private individuals on a pool of cheap labor. But some of these conservatives are concerned about the racial and ethnic demographics of the nation. Some liberals welcome the diversity; others are protectionist in terms of labor, keeping the jobs for American workers within American borders. There is strong ambivalence on both sides of the political aisle. Proposals in the U.S. Congress favor a short-term worker program to meet the immediate demands for labor shortage, a policy that is based on strict principles of capitalism—import workers as needed; send them home when the need for their labor is satisfied. But since opinion is so divided, no solid immigration policy can be agreed upon. Some other nations are more decisive in their solutions. A number have passed legislation that formally creates a migrant underclass; it is actually more of a caste than a class system because there is no upward mobility and no way to assimilate or to rise from the status. Recruitment of workers, according to this model, is from a limited set of countries from the global South to fill a need for labor in agricultural, construction, or service jobs for a limited period of time. Often women transnational migrants are recruited for service and cleaning jobs. Bose (2006) describes one such model in Israel where temporary work visas are provided to non-Jews who are never able to obtain formal Israeli citizenship due to their ethnicity. They are thus excluded from nondomestic work. Bose also describes the work restrictions in Taiwan, where foreign workers are limited to three unskilled labor occupations— domestics, caregivers, and construction or manufacturing work. Only workers from the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam are eligible to apply. Workers cannot change jobs or employers, cannot bring family members, and cannot marry other foreigners. This arrangement is reminiscent of the U.S. recruitment of men from China in the 1870s to build the railroads. The lives of these Chinese men were restricted in this same way.

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Massive migration for economic reasons is an inescapable part of corporate-led globalization, and its impact is felt not just in the United States. Businesses such as meatpacking plants enjoy the labor of such workers who have limited rights, willingly work in dangerous occupations, are grateful for the little they have, and do not unionize. According to the International Labor Organization (2006), there are over sixty million migrant workers in industrialized countries in the world; this includes nurses and computer engineers as well as farmworkers and laborers.

The Case of Mexico A major concern of the general public and therefore politicians today is the desperate rush of people from all over the world to migrate across borders from economically deprived regions to more prosperous regions. People come for security and jobs; many leave their families behind with plans to return. Some end up staying due to lack of opportunity back home. Mexican migration to the United States has risen to 500,000 a year, an increase of 100,000 from the early 1990s (Uchitelle 2007). Of the 15 percent of the U.S. workforce who are foreign, roughly one-third lack proper documentation. Documented and undocumented alike, they are working on roofs, cleaning houses and offices, cooking and serving food, and assisting in nursing homes. As a backlash to this influx of foreign workers, an anti-immigration movement is strengthening in the United States as it is in European countries. Some U.S. conservatives and other anti-immigrant groups favor the construction of a high, impenetrable wall between the United States and Mexico. Critics complain that children do not speak English in school, that migrants live in poor conditions, that they steal jobs from Americans, and that they accept low-paid jobs, which drives down wages for others. Paradoxically, however, these critics fail to acknowledge the economic realities and the impediments that are placed in the path of these same individuals. Many Americans ask: What is bringing this influx in such large numbers? Wasn’t NAFTA supposed to make widespread migration a thing of the past? What are the conditions in Mexico that are behind the steep rise in out-migration? What will be the impact of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which includes a number of other Latin American countries such as Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Panama,

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and Peru? Already, a full 25 percent of the El Salvador population lives in the United States (Brown 2007). The answers do not lie in Mexico. They lie in the nature of global capitalism and how transnational migration fits into the needs of the global market. The mass migration of workers and their families from Mexico to the United States is the same pattern seen for Jamaicans migrating to Britain, Indonesians to the Netherlands, North Koreans to South Korea, and Moroccans to France.

How the Global Market Promotes Oppression The flow of money and markets does not move at random; if it did, we would have free trade in a pure sense. In actuality, a host of multilateral agreements, based on Western-dominated world banks and the World Trade Organization, are imposing standards on nations for making loans, determining where products are manufactured, how rapidly the products are made, the working conditions under which they are produced, and the price charged. Thus this process of global capitalism is resulting in significant social, economic, and political changes throughout the world (Friedman 2005; Ross-Sheriff 2007). Globalization today is not working for many of the world’s poor (Stiglitz 2003), nor for the environment or the stability of the global economy. Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, has pointed out that the transition from communism to a market economy has been so badly managed in some countries that poverty has soared as incomes have plummeted. The capitalist ideology, which dominates international finance, “reflects a paradigm that degrades the natural environment and converts living human beings into disposable commodities” (Prigoff 1999:166). The problem is not with global interdependence; the problem, as Stiglitz indicates, is with some of the rules of the game—rules set up by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. Structural adjustments or requirements imposed upon debtor nations by the world banks necessitate cost cutting in domestic spending to pay off the debts. Indebtedness to foreign powers prevails as well; such debt usually is connected to foreign aid for military expenditures. Unfortunately, cutbacks in health care and other social services are reflected in maternal and infant mortality rates and the spread of disease.

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Free Trade Agreements in North America The same new neoliberal (meaning neoconservative) political ideologies that guide the global market across continents guide the capitalistic fervor in North America. Just as in Latin America and Africa, world banks have become the principal movers of social policy under NAFTA; the erosion of the people’s social and economic interests is a given. In the United States, Canada, and Mexico, thousands of manufacturing jobs have been lost and labor protection legislation repealed. In both Mexico and Canada, small home-grown businesses have folded in competition from major corporations such as Wal-Mart that sell highquality, low-priced goods imported from Asia. According to a Wall Street Journal report, in 2004 Wal-Mart stores accounted for more than half of all Mexican supermarket sales (Millman 2004). Meanwhile, grain imports from north of the border have driven Mexican farmers into deep crisis (Valente 2001). There is much talk of job loss to Mexico, and of Mexico as the winner of the free trade agreements. When NAFTA was extended south of the border, the Mexican trade surplus was expected to rise. In fact, according to Wilson and Whitmore (2000), austerity measures imposed by the big banks have resulted in a net loss for Mexican industries and a dependency on foreign transnational corporations for markets and technology. Between 2000 and 2005, Mexico lost 900,000 jobs in the countryside and 700,000 in the cities (Bacon 2007). Mexico’s corn farmers have had to abandon their families and family businesses because of plummeting prices caused by an influx of subsidized American corn. Many such farmers are flocking north of the border so as to be able to send home money to family members who remain behind. NAFTA, in short, has led to the displacement of millions of Mexicans who attempt to move to the United States to find work, often risking their lives in the process.

Distribution of the World’s Wealth This is not a war between the global North and the global South. As Danaher (2006) indicates, it is a collaborative effort between first world elites and third world elites. By getting the elites onto a debt treadmill and prom-

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ising them new cash flow if they implement policies written in Washington, the IMF and World Bank can control third world policies without ever needing to fire a shot. Accordingly, in the age of the global economy, the gap between rich and poor nations has widened considerably. The richest 20 percent of the world’s population in northern industrial countries uses 70 percent of the world’s energy (Danaher 2006). This 20 percent minority is also responsible for producing about 75 percent of the world’s environmental pollution. Only in Southeast Asia and the Pacific have nations expanded their economies over the last decade (UNDP 2002). The largest increase in people suffering from hunger and disease has been in southern Africa, where a combination of natural and human-created disasters has led to mass starvation and environmental deterioration. Sub-Saharan Africa and eastern Europe are the only regions in the world where life expectancy has declined since 1990. In six Sub-Saharan countries, more than 20 percent of the children are malnourished (UNDP 2002). Modern technologies introduced from abroad increase the national debt and benefit the top echelons at the expense of others. This globalization of market forces has greatly increased inequality in the world. In poor countries, the principal causes of the massive bankruptcy of small farmers, peasants, and rural labor and the out-migration from the countryside to the urban slums and abroad are the very conditions that facilitate the growth of billionaires. Although exact data from cross-country and within-country comparisons are hard to come by, a review of the available evidence on inequality by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indicates that worldwide, within-country income inequality has been increasing over the past thirty years. According to the annual Forbes list of world billionaires, in 2007 the United States had 404; Mexico, 10; Russia, 53; India, 36; and China, 20. The rise in the number of billionaires coincides with the real fall in minimum wages, public expenditures on social services, and labor legislation, and a rise in state repression, weakening labor and peasant organization and collective bargaining (Forbes.com 2007). In Mexico, according to the UNDP, the poorest 40 percent receive less than 10 percent of the gross national product (GNP). In Brazil, the poor receive only 7 percent of GNP. In South Africa, 5 percent of the population, mostly whites, own 88 percent of all private property. Within poor

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countries, existing wealth is diverted to the rich, leaving the majority of the population in absolute poverty.

Economic Factors in Recent Wars The Romans conquered and the Vikings plundered, and it is rare to find a war fought on purely humanitarian grounds. In To Kill a Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia, social historian Michael Parenti (2002) presents a picture of U.S. intervention in Yugoslavia that is totally different from that which was provided in the media. His account begins with little-known facts about the economic restructuring that was imposed by the world banking system, which broke down the solidarity of the formerly communist nation. Territory competed with territory; this, in turn, engendered fierce ethnic competition among the various groups. The destabilization of the nation resulted in a cycle of bloodletting and horrific acts of violence. The genocide that ultimately resulted led to the displacement and migration of two million people. Many of the refugees went to Germany first and then to the United States. In other areas, such as the Middle East during the two Gulf Wars, economic factors related to oil reserves have elicited much outside interest. Due to the destabilization of the government in Iraq following Saddam Hussein’s overthrow by the U.S. military, millions of Iraqis have been displaced internally and become refugees in neighboring lands.

The Feminization of Migration As for the promise of new and better jobs with trade liberalization, working conditions at the export processing plants (maquiladoras) have become notorious for human rights violations against the poorly paid, mostly young female employees who toil through twelve-hour workdays in these plants and live in shantytowns near the U.S. border (see Bacon 2007). Similar working conditions for women are seen in other places where cheap labor is available, such as Thailand and the Philippines. Many factors, such as the nature of working conditions in sweatshops and the loss of family farms, contribute to what Hochschild (2003:17) calls “the growing feminization of migration.” Economic opportunity is one

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such factor; romantic attachments with foreigners and the promise of happiness in a land where women have more freedom undoubtedly are others. Among the problems related to female transnational migration are those facing traumatized women refugees escaping the ravages of war and the mass emigration of women to escape personal and political violence. Involvement in transnational crime is another factor related to global commerce and the transportation of illicit goods from poor to rich nations. Large numbers of women from Nigeria and Colombia, for example, are recruited to serve as “mules” or couriers to transport illegal drugs across borders. Many such women are now serving time in U.S. and British prisons. The globalization of international markets in conjunction with political changes within nations (for example, the breakdown of socialist protections in nations of the former Soviet Union under emerging capitalism) has also made women from these countries particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking and exploitation (Erez 2000; van Wormer and Bartollas 2007).

Implications for Social Work At the micro level, volunteering for an agency that supports undocumented residents can help social workers learn more about the issues faced by undocumented residents and their case managers. From an anti-oppressive perspective, the critical assessment process encourages the social worker to identify the forms of oppression that clients are subjected to because of their ethnicity, gender, race, and/or immigration status. Two social workers whose work is highlighted in an article in NASW News (Stoessen 2005) are actively working in the system with individuals who are highly vulnerable because of their backgrounds. One social worker pioneered a school program in Austin, Texas, with a focus on retention of the children of Mexican residents in school. Her work includes holding meetings with parents in Spanish to get them involved, and also a tutoring program. Another social worker is employed by a nonprofit organization in Arizona that provides free legal services to noncitizens in detention. Some are undocumented workers; others are refugees escaping persecution. The social worker helps prepare the refugees emotionally to tell their often very disturbing stories to the judge. These examples highlight how social workers can help humanize an otherwise oppressive system.

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Anti-oppressive practice is built on a model of empowerment. Social work, from this perspective, requires far more than listening skills; the worker becomes a change agent in the political meaning of that term. Dalrymple and Burke (1995) have developed a model to work with persons who are oppressed by society. This model directs the therapist to work on three levels. The feeling level begins with the personal reality of people’s lives and their emotional response to it. At the idea level, the counseling relationship can serve as a powerful tool in helping clients chart a new course toward self- and societal awareness. Education at this level entails a discussion of power and how it is used by dominant groups. This brings us to the macro or action level. At the action level, the social worker and client move into the political realm. Social action can take the form of joining an immigrant rights parade or meeting with legislators to help make changes in state laws. Today, global communications technologies are changing the ways social workers exchange information, conduct research, form action coalitions, and carry out policy advocacy (Healy 2002). Whether through surfing the Internet or through conferencing, human rights advocates will find that an alliance with an international nongovernmental organization such as the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) offers a valuable resource for strategies and ideas. Grass-roots organizations are increasingly aware that there is much to be gained from the information revolution. Some activities that social workers might want to consider are engaging in research on such subjects as the working conditions for migrant workers in local factories and some of the restrictions that free trade agreements impose on poor countries and on poor people within those countries, and revealing these facts online or to the press. International networking can be invaluable in the exchange of knowledge among citizens of the global North and global South. Such exchange can reveal much about the nature of migration and about the push and pull that is happening now to workers who are up against forces in the global market—downsizing, privatizing, and so forth. Schools of social work in different countries can learn from each other about innovative strategies that work to help change the system. As social work professionals concerned about social justice, we need to be forever cognizant of the reality of global economics and its impact on most of the people we come into contact with. We must work toward human rights for all people and in soli-

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darity to counter immigration proposals that are designed for the benefit of transnational corporations rather than people. critical thinking questions 1. Why is an anti-oppressive approach relevant to a discussion of the impact of economic globalization? 2. How can free trade agreements not actually be considered free? How do the policies of NAFTA inadvertently encourage massive migrations of people northward? 3. What is the plight of some women from poor countries in the new economy?

References Altman, D. (2007). Connected: 24 hours in the global economy. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Bacon, D. (2007). Why the United States won’t be able to enact true immigration reforms until we re-examine our trade policies. American Prospect (June 11). http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles. Accessed August 2007. Bose, C. (2006). Immigration “reform”: Gender, migration, citizenship, and SWS (Sociologists for Women in Society). Gender and Society 20: 569–75. Brown, G. (2007). Why immigrant workers are coming to the U.S., and how we can and need to work together. Speech presented at the Immigrant Workers in Construction Conference, Sacramento, Calif., April 12. Danaher, K. (2006). 10 reasons to abolish the IMF and the World Bank. 2nd ed. New York: Seven Stories Press. Dalrymple, J., and B. Burke (1995). Anti-oppressive practice: Social care and the law. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press. Dominelli, L. (2002). Anti-oppressive social work theory and practice. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave. Erez, E. (2000). Women as victims and survivors in the context of transnational crime. Paper presented at the 10th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and the Treatment of Offenders, Vienna. Forbes.com (2007). The world’s billionaires. http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/07/ billionaires-worlds-richest_07billionaires_cz_lk_af_0308billie_land.html. Accessed August 2007. Friedman, T. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the 21st century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

34 The Context of Transmigration Gutiérrez, L. M., and E. A. Lewis (1999). Empowering women of color. New York: Columbia University Press. Healy, K. (2005). Social work theories in context: Frameworks for practice. Palgrave/ Macmillan: Basingstoke. Healy, L. (2002). Internationalizing social work curriculum in the twenty-first century. Electronic Journal of Social Work 1, no. 1. Hochschild, A. (2003). Love and gold. In Global woman: Nannies, maids, and sex workers in the new economy, ed. B. Ehrenreich and A. Hochschild, 15–30. New York: Metropolitan Books. Ife, J. (2000). Localized needs and a globalized economy: Bridging the gap with social work practice. In Social work and globalization, ed. W. Rowe, 50–64. Ottawa: Canadian Association of Social Workers. International Labor Organization (ILO) (2006). Migration News 13, no. 3. http:// www.migration.ucdavis.edu. Accessed August 2007. Millman, J. (2004). Mexico’s ports go global. Wall Street Journal. March 31. Mullaly, B. (2007). The new structural social work: Ideology, theory, practice. New York: Oxford University Press. Parenti, M. (2002). To kill a nation: The attack on Yugoslavia. London: Verso. Petras, J., and H. Veltmeyer, H. (2002). Argentina: Between disintegration and revolution. Covert Action Quarterly 74 (Fall): 27–34. Prigoff, A. (1999). Global social and economic justice issues. In All our futures: Principles and resources for social work practice in a global era, ed. C. S. Rawanathnan and R. J. Link, 156–73). Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth. Ross-Sheriff, F. (2007). Globalization as a women’s issue revisited. Affilia 22, no. 2: 133– 37. Stiglitz, J. (2003). Globalization and its discontents. New York: Norton. Stoessen, L. (2005). Social workers reach out to immigrants. NASW News 50, no. 1: 4. Uchitelle, L. (2007). Nafta should have stopped illegal immigration, right? New York Times. February 18. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/weekinreview/ 18uchitelle.html. Accessed August 2007. United Nations (1948). Universal declaration of human rights. Resolution 217A (III). New York: United Nations. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2002). Deepening democracy in a fragmented world. Human Development Report. New York: Oxford University Press. Valente, M. (2001). How Mexico has fared: The lessons of NAFTA. World Press Review (July): 21–22. Van Wormer, K. (2004). Confronting oppression, restoring justice: From policy analysis to social action. Alexandria, Va.: Council on Social Work Education.

35 Economic Globalization and Transnational Migration Van Wormer, K., and C. Bartollas (2007). Women and the criminal justice system. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Van Wormer, K., F. H. Besthorn, and T. Keefe, T. (2007). Human behavior and the social environment, macro level: Groups, communities and organizations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wilson, M., and E. Whitmore (2000). Seeds of fire: Social development in the age of globalism. Black Point, Nova Scotia: Fernwood. Wise, R. D., and J. Cypher (2007). The strategic role of Mexican labor under NAFTA. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 610: 119–42.

[ 3 ]

Transnational Social Networks and Social   Development: Hometown Associations in Mexico and the United States Ariadna Mahon-Santos

Migration between Mexico and the United States is an old tradition. This historic relationship has been determined by several factors: adjoining borders, strong cultural and social bonds, and growing economic interdependence between countries. Currently there are an estimated nine million Mexicans living and working in the United States. Since the eighteenth century, Mexicans have crossed the border to the United States to find better economic opportunities. Like the majority of Latin American and Caribbean countries, Mexico has transformed from a country that exports agriculture to one that exports labor. A new scenario is developing in these migration patterns, where two groups are creating new rules for interaction: those ones who leave and those who stay behind. The first group hopes to find better income opportunities “on the other side” without concern for the migration risks. The benefits of migration seem to outweigh the risks. Migrants try to keep ties with their home, in part out of a desire to return to their native country, but also by sending money back home to support their families. A remittance, the transfer of money by a migrant worker from one country back to his or her home country, has become for many countries in Latin America an important source of national income. In Mexico, one in five households receives money from a friend or relative abroad to cover daily

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living expenses. The growing dependence on remittances for survival has made governments, financial institutions, civil society organizations, and international groups interested in the flow of this $100 billion annual worldwide market. The interest is not merely economic; there are social aspects, new forms of organizations created by the diaspora, and interest in the productive value of remittances to diminish poverty in the receiving countries. Transnational communities rely on families and friends for everyday survival. Out-migration tends to put people together from the same geographical area, facilitating the creation of social relationships, which develop into networks that help with additional community migration, job and housing placement for recently arrived migrants, future business ventures, and philanthropic activities to benefit the communities of origin. Mexican migrant communities are creating what is often referred to as social capital; these valuable transnational networks have proven successful in their creation of relationships with the Mexican government and civil society organizations to address political, economic, and social issues in both countries. The opportunities for people to have adequate living standards are determined by many factors, such as access to food, clothing, education, and health services. Recurring economic crises and the consequences of economic reforms in Mexico in recent decades have increased the income gap, leaving the rich richer and the poor poorer. For many Mexican communities, migration to another state or country has become the only means of survival.

Migration Patterns Studies of migration patterns between Mexico and the United State are influenced by economic, political, and social factors that make it difficult to differentiate between reality and the author’s own perceptions. In addition, much of the movement is clandestine and therefore unobservable. The following data were gathered from several sources to give a more accurate representation of the issue. Migration patterns have remained virtually the same since the 1900s. Migration has increased steadily since the 1960s, when the average number of Mexicans entering the United States each year was 26,000. Currently, an estimated 390,000 Mexicans cross the border every year to work for a short period of time or to establish residence in the United States.

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Foreign-born Mexicans in the United States represent 8 percent of Mexico’s population and 3 percent of the U.S. population. This migrant population’s male-to-female ratio is 6 to 4; the age of migrants is between 15 and 44 years old. Migrants tend to concentrate in just a few states—California, Texas, Illinois, and Arizona. Cities with high migrant populations include Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, Phoenix, and Tucson, among others. Previously, migrants typically came from rural Mexican states and small cities. Now more migrants come from nonmigrant states and larger cities. Migrants from the states of Michoacán, Guanajuato, and Jalisco mainly populate the state of California. Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico receive many migrants from the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Chihuahua. In recent years, Texas has been gaining in importance as a point of entry and resident state for undocumented migrants due to increased surveillance by the Border Patrol in California. The highest proportion of migrants come from the Mexican states of Durango, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Zacatecas; high levels, from Aguascalientes, Colima, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Morelos, and San Luis Potosí; medium levels, from Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Querétaro, Oaxaca, Puebla, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas; and low or very low levels, from Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Distrito Federal, Estado de México, Nuevo León, Quintana Roo, Sonora, Tabasco, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, and Yucatán. Three out of four migrants who are 16 years old or older are in the labor force. Despite their high participation in the labor market, one of every four migrants lives in poverty, and three million are undocumented workers. Fifty-five percent have a high school education or lower, and only one in twenty-five has a bachelor’s or a graduate degree. The movement of people who are looking to get established in the United States is accompanied by circular labor patterns. Men comprise 93 percent of the migrants who plan to stay in the United States for short periods of time each year and return to their hometowns for the remainder of the year. Sixtytwo percent are between 16 and 34 years old; two out of three had work in their home country; and 57 percent are from urban areas. California receives 28 percent of this population, but the flow is diminishing due to stricter regulations of the California Border Patrol. The temporary flow includes first-time migrants (53 percent) who do not have legal documents to enter the country (66 percent) and have less than seven years of formal education.

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A binational study found that 95 percent of migrants who arrived for the first time in the United States between 1994 and 1995 had a friend or relative at their destination (76 percent had a relative and 55 percent had a friend). The presence of a friend or relative is of great importance because it facilitates assimilation into the new environment. One of the ways relatives and friends help the new arrival is by providing housing and food (95 percent of the time), usually free for the first two months. Another way is by helping the new arrival find a job (75 percent of the time). This migration network relies heavily on smugglers (commonly known as coyotes or polleros); approximately 77 percent of illegal migrants used a smuggler to cross the border during 1980–1993. The remaining 23 percent tried to cross the border with help of friends or family, or on their own. Migration networks have substituted for work programs between the United States and Mexico. In this way, the United States can hire cheap labor; meanwhile Mexico avoids the pressure of creating new sources of employment or improving labor conditions, while receiving billions of dollars from abroad.

Transfer of Economic and Social Values: Remittances Migration is often attached to the word remittance. The subject of remittances has gained importance in the world over the past two decades due to the impact that it has on the global economy and the social fabric of communities that send and receive remittances. Remittances are the monies earned or acquired by migrants that are transmitted back to their own or another household (Lowell 2002). They can be sent in person, but the term usually refers to cash transfers. Migrants have the desire to send a portion of their earnings back home, giving the concept an ideological perspective that includes social values, hard work, and commitment. Remittances are also considered an expression of a profound emotional bond between migrants and their families because workers are seeking better lives for their families (Terry 2004). Although remittances are primarily intended to meet the basic needs of family members back home, they also generate opportunities for local communities and national economies. Lowell (2002) notes that remittances can be categorized in three ways, depending on the remitter and the use of the money:

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1. Family remittances constitute the part of total remittance flows that is transmitted by migrant workers to families or friends back home. The money is mainly used on consumption to fulfill basic needs and pay debts. Sometimes it can be used to cover agricultural activities (purchase of seed, fertilizer, agricultural machinery, and other needs) (Terry 2004). These remittances are mainly used to keep the family’s economic status stable. 2. Productive remittances are used for investment in productive activities that will increase income and reduce poverty; they can take the form of job-generating ventures and collective investment in micro enterprises. Also, on an individual level, they represent a form of savings for the remitters. Receivers make purchases on their behalf to increase capital in their hometowns. Purchases include housing and repairs, property, machinery and material for agricultural activities, and material to start a business. Upon their return from the United States, migrants expect to improve the living conditions of their families. 3. Collective remittances are monies collected by migrants who have organized themselves into clubs of fellow townspeople, commonly known as hometown associations (HTAs). These associations send money to their communities of origin. Collective remittances have the potential to spur grassroots development. Usually the amount remitted is used for infrastructure and community-building efforts, such as church construction and repair, parks, school, and streets. Remittances are considered to have mixed effects on the population that receives them. It is possible for remittances to have a negative impact. For example, they cause inflated prices for land, housing, and food due to a new flow of money into the community that gives sellers the freedom to increase prices and buyers the ability to pay the new prices. Second, the new prices and the use of remittances leave little income for productive investment that will generate new sources of income within the community. Third, income inequality is created between families who have a member abroad and families that do not. Finally, as a consequence of underemployment and unemployment, family members in the community do not seek work or engage in productive activities, creating dependence on the periodic supply of money from abroad. Positive effects attributed to remittances include a reduction in poverty and lower internal migration. Additionally, they increase employment and

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investment. They also create local demand for goods and services such as livestock, seed, cattle, transportation, and education. A 1990 study found that Mexico’s gross national product rose by between $2.69 and $3.17 for every dollar that Mexican households received from workers in the United States (Terry 2004). Further, the money spent by rural recipients tends to produce larger income multipliers because rural recipients usually consume more domestically produced goods than do urban households (Waller Meyers 2002). An estimated twenty-five million Mexicans derive some benefit from remittances. The rate of migration to the United States and remittances has grown steadily for the past decade, by about 4 percent per year. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, one of every twenty households regularly receives money from relatives employed in the United States. From 1992 to 2000, there was a 90 percent increase in households receiving remittances. Most of the money (78 percent) that reaches Mexico is spent on food, clothing, health care, and housing. These items make up a significant portion of expenditures in the household. Fourteen percent is used to improve or build housing, buy land or cattle, or purchase consumer goods. The remaining money is used for savings or productive investment, in other words, tools that in the long run can improve the generating activities of the family. The amount of collective remittances is estimated to be 1 percent of the total remittances sent to Mexico (World Bank 2003). Family remittances are spent nonproductively. In other words, the sustainability of the community or the family is based in the migration to the United States and remittances. This dependency creates a never-ending cycle of migration, which in the long run affects population growth and economic mobility for families. It also leads to a stagnant Mexican economy that will create even bigger circles of poverty in rural and urban areas of the country.

Social Capital and Community Development Social capital is an important concept for understanding how to use remittances as a means of breaking this cycle of poverty (Gootaert et al., 2004). The theory of social capital is based on the creation and maintenance of networks and their use to accomplish personal and community goals.

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Social capital has an individual and a collective aspect. First, individuals create relationships with others to satisfy their own needs. Second, an individual’s relationships affect not only the individuals engaging in the relationship but a larger community. In other words, social capital entails creating a new relationship among individuals with the understanding that reciprocity affects the community. The results can help or hurt the community (a drug cartel is an example of networks that are not beneficial for the whole community). Once an individual starts a relationship based on reciprocity, other members can benefit from this new relationship. Community building creates social capital, those bonds of trust and reciprocity that seem to be crucial for a democratic polity and a market economy to function effectively. By establishing connections among individuals, involvement in associations teaches norms of cooperation that carry over into political and economic life (Salamon et al. 2004). I consider social capital to be the core of community development. Communities are being filled with new buildings, roads, and churches, but the reality is that the desire to migrate to the United States to achieve a better life is still engrained in the minds of the population. The lack of valuable networks perpetuates the flow of migration, hindering the population’s efforts to achieve a better future in their hometowns. More and more migrants are showing their economic influence and capacity for interconnection by supporting initiatives for local development, thereby helping to pave the way for future achievements (World Bank 2003). Community development, according to the Inter-American Foundation of Development, is society’s capacity to sustain its own economic progress. When migration and remittances become an important part of community survival, development is less likely. Reduction of poverty has become a challenge for nonprofit organizations, through their work in microfinance institutions, cooperatives, credit unions, and foundations that implement productive projects to help bolster economic progress in the most impoverished regions of Mexico and around the world. The World Bank takes a different approach to community development. In this approach the community drives development and has control of decisions and resources. Community Driven Development (CDD) links participation, community management of resources, good governance, and decentralization (World Bank 2005). CDD appears to be an effective way to create linking social capital that will empower poor communities to develop organizations that work with government, businesses, and civil

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society organizations (CSOs). The difference between CDD and other methods of community development is that it comes out from the local level, where programs are designed to build social capital and give the community a greater voice.

Community Building with Remittances: The Stakeholders If used effectively, remittances can aid in the important process of building social capital through community building. Community groups, government, and CSOs have worked separately and in collaboration to reduce poverty in Mexico. With the inclusion of remittances in Mexico’s economy, representatives of government, CSOs, and community groups are establishing new collaborations to find innovative approaches for the use of collective and family remittances in their poverty-fighting strategies. These new relationship have led to the growing participation of new political and social actors—migrants in the United States and their communities of origin—in enhancing the future of their communities. These new relationships are filled with expectations about how the stakeholders will use community remittances with the hope of abolishing poverty in Mexico.

Community Organizations: Hometown Associations Migrants commonly settle in communities where migration networks are in place to provide support and job opportunities. Over time, networks tend to develop into ethnic associations that provide a wide range of services (Hagan 1998). Permanent and earlier arrived migrants organize themselves by community or region of origin, creating community organizations called hometown associations (HTAs). The development of these organizations can be attributed to three main factors: the strong increase in the flow of immigration, the toughening of American immigration laws, and the effort to improve relationships between the home country government and immigrants (Ellerman 2003). I distinguish between two types of HTAs: formal and informal. The distinction is based on the contact the organizations have with other groups in Mexico or the United States. Formal HTAs tend to have more

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legal migrants as members; this makes members willing to interact with government officials, sources of funding, and other similar groups. Due to members’ legal status, their income tends to be higher. Leaders of formal HTAs have usually lived longer in the United States than other members have, their standard of living is relatively higher, and they are likely among the most successful of the members (Ellerman 2003:44–45). The emergence and growth of formal HTAs led to the creation of an additional organization level, the federation, that unites clubs or associations (Rivera-Salgado and Rabadan 2003). This allows for a more accurate representation of the needs of the migrants and their communities of origin, increasing their impact on the politics and economics of both the United States and Mexico (Rivera 2003). Federations tend to adopt the role of a CSO in the United States, which allows them to fundraise in outside communities and organizations for their operations. Federations also become a key element for the initiation, implementation, and funding of community projects among their members (Orozco 2001). Informal HTAs are known only to their members and have little contact with other groups in either Mexico or the United States. This can be attributed to the legal status of their members, who mainly are recent or illegal migrants. Members prefer to remain unnoticed by government officials in the United States, and mistrust of the Mexican government still prevails; this affects their integration with other organizations and diverse sources of funding. Informal HTAs mainly come from Mexican states with lower levels of migration, where the creation of federations and collaboration among groups are minimal. Formal and informal HTAs fulfill several functions, from social interaction, providing a sense of community and political influence in their new and home communities, to pursuit of small-scale development goals in the home community. The sense of community is built through cultural, sporting, and social activities, enabling migrants to maintain ongoing contact and to strengthen their ties as members of a community. Civic work is done in the form of collective remittances that help support construction of health clinics, sports facilities, urban services, and so forth. To collect funds, HTAs organize events or ask for a certain amount of money from their members (Orozco 2001). HTAs can also be formed with a religious perspective; here the role of the Catholic Church has been substantial in incorporating new immigrants through religious associations (Rivera-Sánchez 2003).

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Formal and informal HTAs have different stages of development; the most basic stage is when members gather to help new immigrants adapt to their new life. This assistance includes finding housing, employment, and resources to integrate themselves in the community. The next stage is the development by a lead group of an organization for people from the same community, who meet and discuss various aspects of their lives in the United States and their communities of origin (Ramírez-Rojas 2001)

Case Study: Grupo Unión Acatlán de Osorio is a municipality located in the state of Puebla, which has the fifth highest poverty rate in Mexico. The city of Acatlán is the head of the municipality. It is the political and economic center of forty-six small towns (juntas auxiliares). Acatlán has a total population of 34,765, with a 16.1 percent illiteracy rate and 35.8 percent its residents under 15 years of age. The economy is based on agricultural activities, commerce, and migration (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas 2004) One of the small towns is San Vicente Boquerón, located 12 kilometers northeast of Acatlán, with a total population of 8,500 habitants and an estimated 500 to 1,000 people working in the United States (Herrera and Marín 2004) Boquerón is an ejido, a piece of land jointly owned by the community. People still use their land parcels to grow peanuts, pumpkin, and corn. In this small town there is no industry or tourist attraction, and the only sources of income are the land and the money the town receives from abroad. Grupo Unión is an organization that is devoted to raising money in the United States to rebuild San Vicente Boquerón. It is one of thousands of HTAs that have been formed in the United States. Newburgh, New York, is the place of residence of 350 Poblanos from San Vicente Boquerón, 50 of whom are members of Grupo Unión. Since 1997 their HTA has supported community development efforts to improve the conditions of family members who still live in San Vicente Boquerón. Juan García, a member of the group, described how it started: In 1996, the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) did raids in Newburgh, New York. Many people from Boquerón got caught by the (continued)

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INS and were sent back to Mexico. The ones who came back noticed the conditions of the town. . . . We noticed the people who were playing baseball, without uniforms or anything. . . . We knew that the community had given some money for other projects, such as the expansion of the electricity service. . . . We started talking to one another; people gave money for some uniforms. We noticed that people gave money, then we decided that we could have a big party with fireworks (something that will get attention of the whole region), but when we had the money in our hands for the fireworks, someone said: why don’t we do something that will last forever . . . and that is how we started building the baseball stadium. After these individuals decided to band together to undertake the task of building a baseball stadium, the need to organize in a more formal manner arose. The group formed the Construction Committee in Boquerón and Grupo Unión in Newburgh. The perceived lack of accountability from local officials to ensure that the money was used properly was the impetus for the Construction Committee. The committee is a source of information and accountability for members of Grupo Unión. It makes periodic reports about the progress of projects funded by the HTA and the costs and finances of each project. The Construction Committee does this by sending videos of the construction process and a detailed description of the use of the money sent. There is a lack of written materials and documentation, mainly due to the inability of committee members to read or write. The majority of information is given orally and visually. Grupo Unión is a democratic entity. Its members vote on the project that will be funded during their weekly meetings, and the majority rules. Also, all decisions are made jointly, and once the decision is made, the group speaks with one voice. Its members do not feel the necessity to join with other Poblano organizations because they feel they can fulfill their town’s necessities on their own. The baseball stadium, a project started in 1998 and finished in 2000, has become the most recognized effort of Grupo Unión. However, since its inception, Grupo Unión has supported several other projects in the community. For example, it funded a tuba for the town’s orchestra, a kitchen for the town’s preschool, an ambulance, several basketball courts and soccer fields, and their latest project: increasing the water supply for the town, which cost $100,000.

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Funding for projects comes directly from Grupo Unión and residents of Boquerón in Newburgh. The selection process for projects to be funded is based on the verification by the Construction Committee that the need really exists, which is done by asking townspeople and taking into account the reputation of member of the committee requesting funds. Once the Construction Committee approves the petitioner, the committee presents the project to Grupo Unión in Newburgh through a telephone conversation during the weekly Saturday meeting. The project has to be approved unanimously by members, and then fundraising begins. Fundraising efforts are person-to-person petitions to the 350 people from Boquerón who reside in Newburgh, along with other activities including raffles and parties. Once projects are completed, the whole town can use them—there is no preferential treatment for people whose relatives are in the United States or who provided some type of support. Project maintenance depends on the recipients. When the ambulance broke down, for example, community members from Boquerón had to contribute to the repairs. Users are responsible for paying for the gasoline and providing a driver who will transport patients from Boquerón to Acatlán or the city of Puebla. Grupo Unión would like to be a formal CSO in the United States, but the members, many of whom lack legal documentation, fear that their residency in the United States could be jeopardized if the government became aware of their existence. Grupo Unión is willing to work with the Mexican government; they believe their work can be facilitated by state and local support. They are a little skeptical, however, and they prefer to see what the government will offer them before agreeing to work with it.

Mexican Government The Mexican government is establishing new relationships with its citizens abroad while trying to capture a share of the remittance market to subsidize social projects. Government officials have a clear idea of the importance of remittances to the country’s economy in terms of the provision of services and job-generating ventures. The Mexican government for the past decade has

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demonstrated interest in the creation of relationships with its citizens abroad by supporting HTAs and creating governmental departments and supporting consulates to reach out to migrant communities. Remittances have given migrants a stake in the political arena in Mexico due to their increasing economic power. This power has led to an increased involvement in the different issues affecting their communities of origin, not only by providing funding, but by telling the government which issues need to be addressed first. While some migrant organizations are interested in working with the Mexican government, other prefers to avoid it. The perception among migrants of government corruption and inefficiency still prevails, leaving many migrants determined to undertake their community development efforts by themselves. Ongoing success of government programs requires that state and local government play a crucial role in facilitating projects. State governors are most likely to attract collective remittances when they acknowledge migrants’ importance, visit them in the United States, establish programs that migrants favor, and push projects through logistical and bureaucratic barriers (Lowell 2002). Greater and more efficient communication has to be created between HTAs and the government. The federal government must actively reach out to communities abroad through the use of consulates and CSOs that work with migrant populations. The state government, in the case of Puebla, needs to fulfill its promises to create institutions that help migrant communities with their realities in the United States and provide economic development projects.

Civil Society Organizations CSOs can play an important role in community development due to their unique combination of private structure and public purpose. They also have connections to citizens, flexibility, and the capacity to tap private initiative in support of public purpose. These important organizations provide services for the disfranchised in education, health, social, and legal areas. In addition to publicizing the problems of the vulnerable population, their greatest value is their capacity to build communities, increase the trust and reciprocity necessary for political stability and economic prosperity, and mobilize individual initiative in pursuit of the common good (Lowell 2002:3–4).

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CSOs in Mexico have played a crucial role in community development since the 1980s. One of their roles is to be an intermediary between the U.S. government and communities in Mexico. For many years, the U.S. government provided support for organizations and for technological advancement. In the late 1980s the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) began to direct its operations toward capacity building for CSOs in order to help them achieve their objectives effectively in the areas of environmental preservation, women’s issues, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and poverty reduction. CSOs have a dual role: serving both communities in Mexico and HTAs in the United States. There is a need to integrate community members in the decision-making process. It seems that remitters and the Mexican government are calling all the shots, and community members are stuck with their decisions. Greater participation of the communities in Mexico in decisionmaking and community development processes is needed. Social capital is created at the grassroots level; it leads to empowerment, and empowerment leads to autonomy in the decision-making process. Local self-reliance, participatory democracy, and social learning all lead to community development. Additionally, government programs in Mexico cannot keep up with the money sent by migrants: there is a need for other sources of funding. This is where a CSO can help, by providing expertise and its nonprofit status to apply for grants to foundations and world organizations, and providing technical assistance for the creation of reports and accounting practices.

s In this chapter we saw how different stakeholders address the use of collective remittances, either by themselves or in collaboration with other stakeholders. HTAs pioneered the use of collective remittances for community development, and during the past decade they took on the responsibility to raise money and support infrastructure efforts. Government programs have create effective collaborations with migrant organizations to leverage the use of collective remittances for infrastructure and community development efforts. We also observed how CSOs, our third stakeholder, serve as intermediaries between the U.S. and Mexican government to facilitate community development. Social capital is the key component for communities to facilitate their economic well-being. Measuring social capital helps identify strengths and

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weaknesses that help or hinder social capital. The production of a strong social capital is crucial for community development efforts, which should lead to lower migration from Mexico to the United States while helping Mexico to create a stronger economy. Thus, in order to take full advantage of collective remittances, stakeholders must increase the social capital within migrant organizations and communities, have greater participation by CSOs in community-driven development, and increase the Mexican government’s efforts to work with HTAs in the United States. Both formal and informal HTAs need to increase their networking efforts, especially for purposes of building social capital. The government interest exists, but HTAs need leaders who will pursue a greater role with the Mexican and U.S. governments. The role of CSOs is crucial for the creation of social capital as they have the knowledge and appropriate techniques to facilitate the development of strong networks. References Ellerman, D. (2003). Policy research on migration and development. Working Paper 3117. http://econ.worldbank.org/files/29100_wps_3117.pdf. Accessed October 5, 2003. Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas, Geografía e Informática (2004). http://www. inegi.gob.mx. Accessed December 12, 2004. Gootaert, C., D. Narayan, V. N. Jones, and M. Woolcock (2004). Measuring social capital: An integrated questionnaire. http://www.wds.worldbank.org/servlet/EDS ContentServer/WDSP?IB/2004/03/23/000160016_20040323162541/Rendered/ PDF/281100PAPER0Measuring0Social0Capital.pdf. Accessed December 1, 2004. Hagan, J. M. (1998). Social networks, gender, and immigrant incorporations: Resources and constraints. American Sociological Review 63, no. 1: 55. Herrera, Juan, and Antonio Marín (2004). Interview with the author, September 26. Lowell, B. L. (2002). The development role of remittances in U.S. Latino communities and in Latin American countries. In Sending money home, ed. Rodolfo de la Garza and Briant Lindsay Lowell. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield. Orozco, M. (2001). Globalization and migration: The impact of family remittances in Latin America. In Approaches to increasing the productive value of remittances: Case studies in financial innovation and international cooperative community ventures, 22–23. Washington, D.C: IAF. Ramírez-Rojas, R. (2001). A study of the sources and use of remittances by type of community in Mexico. In Approaches to increasing the productive value of remit-

51 Transnational Social Networks and Social Development tances: Case studies in financial innovation and international cooperative community ventures, 43–44. Washington, D.C: IAF. Rivera, Alex (2003). Interview by Point of View (PBS). http://www.pbs.org/pov/ pov2003/thesixthsection/behind_interview.html. Accessed December 2, 2004. Rivera-Salgado, G., and L. E. Rabadan (2003). Collective identity and organizational strategies of indigenous and mestizo Mexican migrants. In Lesson from Mexico– U.S. civil society coalitions. Cross-border dialogues: Mexico–U.S. social movement networking, ed. Jonathan Fox, 148. La Jolla: University of California, San Diego, Center for U.S.–Mexican Studies. Rivera-Sánchez, L. (2003). Expression of identity and belonging: Mexican immigrants in New York. In Lesson from Mexico–U.S. civil society coalitions. Cross-border dialogues: Mexico–U.S. social movement networking, ed. Jonathan Fox, 418. La Jolla: University of California, San Diego, Center for U.S.–Mexican Studies. Salamon, L., W. Sokolowski, et al. (2004). Global civil society, vol. 2. Bloomfield, Conn.: Kumarian Press. Terry, D. (2004). Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean. Statement, Lima, Peru. March 27. http://www.iadb.org/news/docs/DeclarationRemittancesENG.pdf. Accessed February 22, 2005. Waller Meyers, D. (2002). Migrant remittances to Latin America: Reviewing the literature. In Sending money home, ed. Rodolfo de la Garza and Briant Lindsay Lowell, 63–64. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield. World Bank (2003). Migrants’ capital for small infrastructure and small enterprises development in Mexico. http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/ppiaf/activity.nsf/files/ C010300-S-MS-ST-MX.pdf. Accessed November 23, 2003. ——— (2005). Community driven development: Why CDD? http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/sdvext.nsf/09ByDocName/BasicConceptsPrinciplesWhyCDD. Accessed April 17, 2005.

[ 4 ]

Environmental Decline and Climate Change Fostering Social and Environmental Justice on a Warming Planet Mishka Lysack

There is no doubt about the magnitude and seriousness of the task we face as a human species in responding to ecological degradation. Among the various snapshots of the health of the planet’s ecosystems available to us, the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO), the millennium report on the state of the environment by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), represents a uniquely comprehensive collection of data and a fine-grained portrait of Earth’s biosphere and ecology (Woodbridge 2004:165–66; see also McKibben 2007:20). Gathered over five years by a large number of researchers and organizations, the GEO report is a detailed inquiry into the consequences of human activity on the environment, revealing the deterioration of ecosystems in multiple areas: land, water, forest, marine and coastal ecosystems, the atmosphere, biodiversity and the cascading extinction of species, and associated health and ecological problems. While the GEO report assesses the effectiveness of efforts to remedy the problems and to restore the environment, in so doing, it also provides a sobering portrait of a planet under high levels of stress, profiling

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how human activity now exceeds the carrying capacity of the ecological envelope of Earth to cope through the excessive demands that we as a species place upon the planet’s ability to support us. Environmental indicators point to how in the 1960s, humans were using about 70 percent of the environment’s capacity. By the early 1980s this dependence on Earth’s capacity to support us had expanded to 100 percent. By 1999 we were exceeding the limits of Earth’s ecosystems by utilizing 125 percent of the planet’s carrying capacity (Wright 2004:129). In other words, we are no longer exhausting just the natural interest of the planet; we are also diminishing its natural capital. Our societies and economies collectively possess an ecological footprint that is clearly unsustainable (Wackernagel and Rees 1996) and constitutes a lifestyle that is not designed for permanence (Turner 2007). It is also striking that the GEO Report highlights that global warming is the most threatening overarching environmental issue, not only because of its negative effects on society and civilization, but also because of the way in which climate change will exacerbate and intensify all other environmental problems. The growing ecological challenges resulting from overpopulation, pollution, and the extinction of species, when multiplied by the impact of climate change, demand nothing less than the rethinking of the conceptual framework in which we see our transnational approaches to social work, be it policy, theory, or practice. After highlighting the examples within international social work where global warming is identified as a critical issue, this chapter provides a brief overview of the social consequences and human costs of global warming by way of health and disease, water shortages, weather extremes, rising sea levels, and decreasing food production. Subsequently, I explore the history of global environmental politics and trace the increasing disconnects between social development and environmental sustainability, while also highlighting the key principles of sustainable development that overlap with the ethical orientation of transnational social work. Finally, I suggest some hopeful directions by way of specific examples of sustainable development initiatives in the global South that address the challenges of the current ecological crisis and climate change by linking social and environmental justice. These projects could enhance and enliven our current repertoire of social work practice and policy, enabling those of us in the field of social work to weave a renewed and deeper environmental sensibility into our practice, theory, and education.

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The Challenge of Climate Change to Social Work Although there has been some reflection regarding the intersection of social work practice and policy and environmental issues in general (Coates 2003a; 2003b; Park 1996; Soine 1987; Lysack 2009b; 2009c; 2009d; 2009e), there has been relatively little written specifically examining the implications of climate change for the field of social work (Whitaker 2007; Ife, 2007; Lysack, 2007; 2009a), although this neglect is beginning to be remedied. For example, in the online journal New Social Worker, Whitaker (2007) insists that climate change “is the most important social welfare issue we face as social workers. Unless we bring our best thinking and organizing to bear on climate change, our work on all the other issues near and dear to our hearts runs the risk of being comparable to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.” Along with many other scientists and environmental advocates, Whitaker perceives that this task is an urgent one, where a timely and significant turning from carbon-intensive forms of energy use to sustainable forms of economy and society needs to occur within a critical time frame of a period as short as a decade or so. After providing both an overview of the science of global warming and a detailed inventory of what individuals can and ought to do to reduce their carbon footprint on a personal level, Whitaker (2007) argues that “individual actions are not enough. We need to be social worker activists, advocating to change public policies that will have major impact on the future we pass on to the next generation.” Only by combining the personal and the political and attending to both micro practice and the macro levels of advocacy and policy will the field of social work be able to fulfill its unique vocation and offer its distinctive resources of theory and practice. Echoing Berry’s (1999) description of this shift in human history from an ecologically destructive to an environmentally benign relationship between the human species and Earth as the “Great Work,” Whitaker says that he is “convinced that preserving the planet that is our only home must be the great work of our generation of social workers.” As Ife (2007) argues, equally persuasively, climate change is one key issue that social work urgently needs to address, providing a new context for our practice, theory, policy research, and education as social workers. Ife insists that global warming needs to be related to the environmental crisis (pollution, toxic waste, etc.), which arises itself from the excessive consumerism and addiction to endless material and economic growth of

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the global North at the expense of the global South and the environment on Earth as a whole. Social work educator Coates (2003a:6) highlights values and attitudes as the common basis of the social and environmental injustice as he insists that within “this system of values and beliefs which drives globalization and environmental exploitation, people and nature are treated in similar ways. They are seen as resources for production, not as members of a planetary community.” Until recently, there have been ongoing debates within North America regarding the reality and severity of global warming and its implications for the well-being and health of communities. In the United States, social work educators such as van Wormer, Besthorn, and Keefe (2007) report that the traumatizing experience of Hurricane Katrina and its devastating effect on New Orleans was a defining moment in American consciousness regarding environmental justice, heightened by the public perception of governmental incompetence and indifference and the false economy of budget cuts to infrastructure crucial to the safety of the people and communities of New Orleans. “These sad events seemed to foreshadow a growing appreciation that environmental disasters have profound political and social consequences and that those impacts are felt by all but are often experienced most harshly by those lowest on the socioeconomic ladder” (Van Wormer, Besthorn, and Keefe 2007:234). Global warming is no longer an irrelevant discussion between scientists; it is now perceived by growing numbers of people as a pressing public safety and health issue that demands our fullest engagement and our most decisive and timely action.

Impact of Global Warming on Human Society It is difficult to provide a comprehensive summary of the effects of global warming in terms of both the environment and the consequences for continuation of human society. However, a compressed overview of salient points regarding global warming and its environmental effects is appropriate at this point in order to provide a sense of the urgency of the issue and the magnitude of the task. For detailed descriptions of climate change and its impacts, readers are encouraged to read accounts of research findings into the impact of global warming in a variety of sources, including the detailed and authoritative accounts in the three Working Group Reports

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issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report from IPCC Working Group I, “The Physical Science Basis” (IPCC 2007a), provides the most comprehensive and authoritative compilation to date of the scientific research into the effects of global warming, although some of its findings are already out of date in the wake of recent climate change trends that exceed its projections. An inquiry into “Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability” in terms of the consequences on human society is contained in the IPCC report of Working Group II (IPCC 2007b), while a detailed exploration of the range of possible responses to global warming can be found in the IPCC Working Group III report, “Mitigation of Climate Change” (IPCC 2007c). The IPCC AR4 Synthesis Report contains an integrated summary of the other three working group reports. All reports are available online as full reports, as are the “Technical Summaries” and “Summaries for Policymakers” from the IPCC (http://www.ipcc.ch). Other brief accounts of the effects of global warming that contain summaries of the research can be found in the writings of several individual authors (Bramley 2005; Flannery 2005; Goodstein 2007; Kolbert 2006; McKibben 2006; Monbiot 2006; Northcott 2007). The most concise summary of data regarding global warming may be found at National Geographic (2007) in its “Global Warming Fast Facts.”

Health and Disease In addition to the serious and increased impact of global warming on the ability of the biosphere on Earth to survive, there are also a number of direct transnational consequences of climate change to human society by way of health and well-being, some of which are already becoming evident among those in the global South. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that 150,000 people die each year due to problems related to climate change. WHO projects that by 2020 global warming could be responsible for contributing to the deaths of 300,000 people each year, with the numbers climbing through the remainder of the century (DeWeerdt 2007:8). According to research completed in 2006, global warming could kill 184 million in Africa alone by the end of the century, in itself a historically unprecedented scale of suffering and death (McKibben 2007:21). DeWeerdt (2007:8) points out that researchers in the area of

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climate change and its consequences on global health have concluded that the WHO projections are “extremely conservative,” as they tend to focus on only a portion of the range of disease vectors, and primarily on those health risks of global warming that are better understood by scientists, ignoring other lesser-known health problems. Climate change researchers have determined that many species of both plants and animals are already migrating to higher altitudes and latitudes as a response to the increase in global climate temperature (IPCC 2007b:8). At the same time, diseases such as malaria—which were previously limited to tropical climates—are beginning to spread into more temperate zones (IPCC 2007b:12; Flannery 2005). Currently, 45 percent of the global population resides in regions that are conducive of malaria transmission; this figure could rise to 60 percent by the end of the century due to climate change (DeWeerdt 2007:11). Those people and communities who are most vulnerable to the migration of malaria and comparable diseases are those who are on the edge of current disease-distribution zones, who also currently lack access to adequate health care for these newly emerging diseases. Moreover, the IPCC Report (2007b:12) predicts that there will be “an increased frequency of cardio-respiratory diseases due to higher concentrations of ground-level ozone related to climate change.” The rise of sea-surface temperatures known as El Niño events, which are aggravated through global warming, could also enhance the spread of infectious diseases beyond their customary territory. For instance, during the 1997–1998 El Niño events, temperatures in the winter season were about 5 degrees warmer in Lima, Peru, during which hospital admissions for diarrhea rose by 200 percent. There is also a history of linkages between El Niño events and a diversity of health problems, such as cholera increases in Bangladesh; malaria in South America, the Punjab area of India, and parts of Asia; rift valley fever in East Africa; hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in the southwestern United States; and the Ross River virus in Australia (DeWeerdt 2007:12). Because of changes in the hydrological cycles of rainfall and river flow in East, South, and Southeast Asia due to global warming, illness and death arising from diarrheal disease are projected to increase, while increases in “coastal water temperature would exacerbate the abundance and/or toxicity of cholera in South Asia” (IPCC 2007b:13).

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Water Shortages Studies predict that there will continue to be serious pressures on the availability of drinking water as global warming increases. In Africa alone, the IPCC Report (2007b:13) predicts that between 75 million and 250 million will struggle with increased water stress by 2020 because of global warming. The melting of glaciers in the Himalayas and Andes will aggravate problems associated with acute water shortages for large numbers of people in countries such as Pakistan, western China, Peru, and Bolivia (Monbiot 2006). In Asia, the availability of drinking water is expected to diminish due to global warming, which, in concert with rapid population growth and demand for natural resources, “could adversely affect more than a billion people by the 2050’s” (IPCC 2007b:13). Research from the United Nations indicates that 40 percent of the global population is currently affected by water shortages, with 1.2 billion not having access to clean drinking water, and more than 5 million dying each year because of water-borne diseases (Woodbridge 2004:182). At present, more than 25,000 people die every day due to contaminated water (Wright 2004:126). With accelerating global warming, droughts will increasingly precipitate outbreaks of disease that are traditionally related to poor hygiene, such as diarrheal diseases, scabies, conjunctivitis, and trachoma. At the same time, flooding—the other side of increasing climate instability—can magnify the risk of diarrheal disease as rivers, waterways, and drinking water are contaminated with animal and human waste. For example, three cyclones and heavy downpours of rain in Mozambique quintupled malaria outbreaks over a period of six weeks in 2000 (DeWeerdt 2007:11).

Weather Extremes and Rising Sea Levels Global warming not only means global temperature increases but also includes more variable and unpredictable weather patterns, especially recurring heat waves, drought, and torrential rains and downpours. Extreme weather events appear to be on the increase, with insurance companies estimating that such weather events have quintupled. The summer of 2003 was the hottest on record in Europe since 1500, with thousands dying in Europe and India as a result of the heat wave. In addition, given that warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, the hydrological cycles of

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the planet are projected to become more intense, contributing to the generation of more extreme weather events, such as violent storms and hurricanes. This acceleration and increased intensity of extreme weather events represents a greater direct physical danger to human beings through health problems such as injury, drowning, dehydration, and heat stroke (IPCC 2007b:12; DeWeerdt 2007:12). As global warming progressively disrupts the stability of rainfall patterns, health problems will multiply as the rising sea level contaminates freshwater aquifers and rivers in coastal areas. As sea level rises, the number of people in danger of saltwater flooding could grow from the present 75 million to more than 200 million. A sea-level increase of 1 meter— which is considered a realistic possibility with longer-term projections of global warming—might displace large populations in low-lying coastal areas from their homes: 13 million in Bangladesh, 3.5 million in Egypt, 3.3 million in Indonesia, and 18.6 million in China (DeWeerdt 2007:12). With the melting of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet, which accelerated dramatically in March 2008, flooding will affect coastal cities in the global North, such as New York, London, and Tokyo. Rising saltwater will pollute the drinking water of many of the world’s largest costal cities, such as Shanghai, Bangkok, and Buenos Aires (IPCC 2007b:11–16; Monbiot 2006; Woodbridge 2004:169).

Decreasing Food Production The UN Food and Agriculture organization warns that upwards of forty poor countries with a total population of two billion will experience crop production losses due to climate change. It is estimated that 40 percent of the agricultural land on the planet is already “seriously degraded,” with valuable agricultural land equivalent to the size of Scotland disappearing every year due to urban sprawl and soil erosion (Wright 2004:126). With global warming, this current trend of an increasing net food deficit will undoubtedly accelerate. For instance, research proposes that a 1.5 degree temperature increase would diminish wheat output in India by 10 percent (Woodridge 2004:192). The IPCC Report anticipates that crop yields would increase initially by 20 percent in East and Southeast Asia but decrease by 30 percent in Central and South Asia, with all regions on the planet expected to enter net food deficit as the global temperature

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increases. In Asia, population growth, urbanization, and global warming will combine such that the “risk of hunger is projected to remain very high in several developing countries.” In tropical and subtropical regions such as Africa, where a majority of the planet’s hungry and poorly nourished populations reside, crop production and access to food are projected to continue to decrease and “to be severely compromised by climate variability and change” (IPCC 2007b:13). At present, a number of crops are growing at the edge of their temperature tolerance. With further global warming, migration of these temperature zones and bioregions will cause food crops to fail, as these crops will be hard-pressed to survive by being pushed beyond their ecological limits. Increasing climate instability will further stress crop yields as increased rainfall leaves crops to rot, while a paucity of rainfall in other regions will stunt agricultural growth, often accompanied by great downpours that will wash over the dry earth, causing further soil erosion (DeWeerdt 2007:9). In addition, in those regions in Africa where a portion of food is derived from fishing, it is projected that there will be diminishing fisheries in lakes because of rising water temperatures and overfishing (IPCC 2007b:13). Research predicts that if present trends of increasing GHG emissions continue, the portion of Earth’s population that is hungry could increase by a global total of 80 million by 2080, primarily in Africa and southern Asia. All these emerging conditions driven by global warming will result in increased levels of malnutrition and accompanying problems, with clear ramifications for the health and development of children throughout the global South (IPCC 2007b:12). Unfortunately, in what appears to be an emerging constant in global warming, most—if not all—earlier projections of negative impacts are being overtaken again and again by actual occurrences and trends in climate change. For instance, originally, Homer-Dixon (1999:14) predicted that the consequences of global warming for society would not be visible until the middle of this century. However, more recently, he has revised this projection in the light of the disturbing, even shocking, acceleration of the melting of polar ice in the summer of 2007, an indicator that points to an intensifying pace of global warming that exceeds all but our most pessimistic computer climate models (Homer-Dixon 2007). Such trends highlight the glaring inadequacy of our efforts as a human collectivity to address the growing environmental issues in a timely and effective manner.

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Global Environmental Politics and Sustainable Development:   Key Principles In this era of global warming, the ramifications of how we—a species nested in a network of species and ecosystems—understand our relationship with, or rather in, the environment are of great significance. Despite initial resistance from both political and institutional leaders, a growing number of communities and countries are beginning to acknowledge that we need to address the ecological problems of global warming and the environment in general not in isolation, but in concert with the pressing social and economic problems of development and poverty, an orientation congruent with the core ethical stance of transnational social work (Ife 2007; Whitaker 2007). For decades, the neoclassical paradigm of the exclusionist economy—where human beings are excluded from the laws of nature— has been dominant, the environment being regarded as both an infinite aggregate of supplies and resources to be used for production as well as a yawning sewer and dump site for the hemorrhage of the waste of our consumer society (Wright 2004). In this model, the environmental costs of extracting resources and then dumping the waste back into the environment are considered to be externalities that remain outside the economic realm and are counted as costs of our economic activity, despite the reality of the impact of both the input of resource extraction and the output of waste disposal on the physical and social health and economic well-being of the human community (Northcott 2007). Nature is perceived to be a frontier to be dominated and controlled, and a domain to be exploited. The environment is considered to be of value only if it is rendered into an economic commodity through human activity; forests possessing worth only after they are cut and changed into lumber (Suzuki 2003). In the 1960s and 1970s, an alternative awareness began to surface in culture, signaled first by the appearance of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and the subsequent environmental movement, followed by the UN Stockholm Conference on the Environment in 1972 and the release of the Club of Rome’s provocative “Limits to Growth” study in the same year. While these events marked the beginnings of an ecological consciousness that later grew into a more developed discourse of global environmental politics, this alternate perspective certainly did not challenge the hegemony of the dominant values and practices of the modern industrial economy and its exploitative relationship with Earth, whether it be capitalist or socialist.

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In 1987 the notion of sustainable development entered the contemporary social discourse through the Brundtland Report, “Our Common Future,” which defined sustainable development as being “consistent with future as well as present needs” (Chasek, Downie, and Brown 2006:30). Given that Earth has a limited and finite capacity to provide renewable and nonrenewable resources and services and to absorb the waste from the consumer lifestyle, a new paradigm of economic activity that respects the natural capital of the planet began to surface. A new economic order was required to address not only the socioeconomic inequity between the wealthy North and the developing South, but the intergenerational inequity between the present generation and future generations who also have a claim on the limited natural services and resources of Earth (Northcott 2007). As an alternative to the GNP, in which environmental and social resources, costs, and activities are excluded from the economic tally of a society, a new initiative in environmental accounting began to surface where the natural capital and services become visible in social and ecological profiles of wealth, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) human indicators, the Environmental Sustainability Index, and the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (Anielski 2007). The documents of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992—Agenda 21 in particular—highlighted how the inequitable patterns of consumerism between North and South were the driving force behind the increasing ecological deterioration of Earth, while also contributing the notion of technology transfer from the wealthy North to the disadvantaged South as crucial to address the problems of environmental and social unsustainability (Athanasiou and Baer 2002). In the 1990s a resurgence of the neoclassical paradigm of economic activity in the guise of globalization decisively overshadowed any possibility of the human community moving toward the vision of ecological and social justice contained in Agenda 21 and the other documents of the Earth Summit. At the same time, countries in the global South continued to press for their share of the “environmental space”—access to the services and resources of Earth—as a basis for further development, including the atmosphere. Moreover, the developing South insisted that the developed North assume the greatest share of the monetary responsibility in reversing the environmental degradation of the planet. With respect to global warming, this principle of common but differential responsibilities was evident in the formulation of the Kyoto Agreement as well as in the more

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recent negotiations in Bali in 2007 (Athanasiou and Baer 2002). It is also the basis for additionality, another principle of environmental justice and politics in which there is a new transfer of financial and other resources from the affluent North to the developing South by way of compensation in order to assist in sustainable development beyond the existing regime of foreign aid and assistance. The notion of “polluter pays” is yet another guiding principle for environmental and social development that surfaced in the post-Rio period, although the South has accurately pointed out that the influence of this principle has been steadily diminished as other international treaties in globalization have come into effect, where the global North has effectively avoided responsibility for its primary share of the ecological deterioration of the environment in general and the atmosphere in particular. Despite the serious setbacks of implementing these principles of sustainable development, the very fact of the continued emergence of these principles as an alternative paradigm of social and economic organization is significant. When the original General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was developed after the Second World War, there was no reference to the environmental dimension of global politics and trade in the documents. In this context, it is significant that through the 1980s, environmental issues emerged as a third pillar alongside of social and economic development. For example, in the core document Agenda 21 negotiated at the Rio Conference in 1992, there were eight chapters on social and economic issues combined with fourteen chapters on environmental concerns. However, by the Johannesburg Summit in 2002, much of the ground gained at the Rio Conference had been lost, as the priorities of the world community shifted away from the environment. In stark contrast to Rio, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation contained four chapters on social and economic issues, but only one chapter on environmental issues (Chasek, Downie, and Brown 2006; see also Athanasiou and Baer 2002). This shift away from considering ecological well-being as one pillar inextricably linked with social and economic development is reflected in the subsequent decisions of WTO dispute panels, where unilateral trade measures have been regarded as illegitimate if they represent any sort of restriction on, or impediment to, trade and commercial growth (Chasek, Downie, and Brown 2006:272). Clearly, recent history has demonstrated that while our discourse around sustainable development has moved forward, the concept of environmental concerns as intrinsic to authentic sustainable

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development has been marginalized, if not completely ignored, by the global economy in the pursuit of unlimited economic growth and consumerism to the detriment not only of the social health and well-being of the global South but also of the environmental commons of Earth. Such a trajectory of privileging infinite growth at all costs over the ethical imperatives of global social and environmental justice is deeply troubling to practitioners and community workers in the field of transnational social work (Ife 2007; Whitaker 2007). A pressing question emerges: what models of linking social justice and environmental sustainability exist that might offer resources for our work as transnational social workers?

Linking Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice Deep Economy: Social Development as If Earth Mattered For us as international social workers, several urgent questions arise: What would authentically sustainable development actually look like in terms of enriched community life and economic activity? What principles and ideas would characterize such forms of development? What examples exist at present that exemplify sustainable community life and social development that is within the envelope of ecological sustainability? McKibben (1995, 2007) not only provides an overview of the crucial ideas that could offer a foundation for such initiatives but also offers a compelling account of various communities that illustrate what he calls “deep economy”: a locally focused, decentralized network of socioeconomic clusters of bio-regionally focused communities. For McKibben, deep economy is characterized by local and durable communities founded on the ecologically possible and desirable, oriented toward a communitarian ethic of social and environmental care (2007:197–98). I would add that deep economy also seeks the decommodification of the environmental and atmospheric commons of the planet, while also advocating the destratification of society and economy both locally and globally. As discussed above, the dominant models of “development” imposed by the current economic and political hegemony of the global North insist that people move from “an agrarian household economy to an industrial economy, . . . when human work is separated from the household and the farm and provided and ordered by industrial corporations and government

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agencies” (Northcott 2007:175). For the global North, Wendell Berry (2003:19) would maintain that the choice is clear: between an economy that is reliant on global sourcing of goods and services and requires high levels of military and police force to defend itself abroad and diminished civil rights at home, and a more decentralized global economic web that would impart “to every nation and region a local self-sufficiency in life supporting goods.” In a deep economy, the values that undergird a localized network of economic clusters are conservation, thrift, and care for others. In contrast, the values that characterize contemporary society and current global economy are conspicuous consumption, waste, and disregard for others and for the environment (Berry 2003:22). Daly and Cobb (1994:71) provide a distinction between “growth” and “development” that functions as a helpful heuristic device or lens in bringing certain features of social and economic development within an ecological envelope of sustainability. Growth denotes the “quantitative expansion in the scale of the physical dimensions of the economic system” that posits endless and continual growth without limits as the solution to economic and social problems. In contrast, development “should refer to the qualitative change of a physically nongrowing economic system in dynamic equilibrium with the environment.” For Daly (1996), economic theory and practice that is truly sustainable on a planet with a finite carrying capacity and diminishing natural resources and services is an approach that disentangles itself from the ubiquitous dictates of the industrial “growth imperative” (Homer-Dixon 2006). Rejecting the term “sustainable development” as a meaningless oxymoron, Daly posits a steady-state economics that centers on the protection of the natural capital of Earth’s ecosystems and cultivates an orienting respect for the carrying capacity and finite limits of the planet (Daly 1996:121–28; Daly and Cobb 1994:72).

Sustainable Development in the Global South: Some Case Examples In terms of practice, such an approach would privilege the village rather than the individual person as the unit of development, which would be the opposite of the primary and hegemonic patterns of economic development on a global level, which have systematically undermined and hollowed out traditional forms of community life throughout the global South (Daly and Cobb 1994:135, 165–66). McKibben (2007:200–203)

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provides several case studies in different parts of the global South that illustrate the possibilities in community-oriented forms of sustainable development. Through the Nayakrishi Andolon (New Farming) movement, the town of Gorasin in Bangladesh has surrounded itself with a pesticide-free zone and has established a local organic agricultural economy that produces leafy greens, root vegetables, and sustainable forms of fishing without using fertilizers, pesticides, or seed imported from laboratories in the global North. The Nayakrishi movement has established a training school near the village that includes a seed sanctuary with a rich biodiversity of three hundred varieties of local rice and eighty-four varieties of local beans. Local community life has also undergone a rebirth with the nation’s only women’s bookstore, resistance to mandatory sterilization demanded by global agencies, and a community-centered collective that resists “bio-piracy” and monocultural agriculture of international economic structures by developing an ecological ark of seeds and organic farming expertise. McKibben suggests that the village of Gorasin represents “another data point, one well outside a conventional view of the world” (202), which not only challenges established notions of “development” but also models a compelling alternative by way of a communal embodiment of steady-state economics within the environmental envelope of the planet’s ecosystems. In the context of global warming, Gorasin also is an exemplar of communal life that not only is more environmentally sustainable but also will be more durable as a community in adapting to the changing global climate. The Himalayan mountain kingdom of Bhutan shares many of the features of the small village of Gorasin but has transformed the scale of the shift to a national form of communitarian social life and deep economy. Anielski (2007:137–40) describes how Bhutan has replaced the GNP as a measure of economic health and vitality with another indicator, gross national happiness (GNH). Although the nation of Bhutan is still small and poor, it has increased the life expectancy of its citizens by nineteen years since the mid-1980s, shifting its economic focus from production and consumption to investing in health care, schools, and protecting the environment, challenging the notion that material wealth and personal/ communal well-being are necessarily interconnected. This commitment to an alternative perspective on communal and economic life is also reflected in Bhutan’s national policies, given that it has declared that 60 percent of the country is to remain as protected forest (McKibben 2007:217).

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In his account of two other cities in the global South, McKibben (1995) provides a hopeful vision of other pathways to sustainable economic and social development, enlarging “the gene pool from which new economics and societies might someday evolve” (54). The large metropolis of Curitiba in Brazil developed what is now considered a global prototype of a highly efficient bus system that reduced the per capita energy consumption of the population by 25 percent, with other cities as diverse as Jakarta and Rome following its example (59–113; see also 2007:218). This bold economic and social initiative was born out of the inventiveness and political courage of a city planner, Jaime Lerner, emerging prior to the advent of technological advances in car efficiency and before either federal or international programs were established to encourage such sustainable forms of city development. Lerner’s vision, combined with determined commitment from the municipal staff, was itself driven by a desire to create a city that would be not only efficient and sustainable ecologically, but also powerfully attractive to people as an appealing place to live (64–76). As a counterbalance to the ecologically destructive development of China, McKibben (2007) suggests that the large state of Kerala in southern India would be an instructive case study. Kerala consists of a sizable population (30 million, roughly the same as California) compressed into a relatively small geographical space. The per capita income of Kerala is low by global standards, a small fraction of the North American equivalent. At first glance, Kerala would not appear to be a model of sustainable social and environmental development. And yet, Kerala also boasts certain distinctive developments on a social level. The literacy rate approaches 100 percent, and the percentage of inhabitants with postgraduate degrees is higher than that of the United States. While the state is clearly poor, it challenges the notion that a country must be wealthy, and that it has no choice but to be on the pathway of excessive growth and consumption in order for its citizens to thrive and enjoy health and well-being. McKibben (1995:159) writes: “Kerala suggests a way out of two problems simultaneously: not only the classic development goal of more calories in bellies and more shoes on feet, but also the emerging, equally essential, task of living lightly on the earth, using fewer resources, using less waste. Kerala’s environmental importance is utterly basic. Kerala demonstrates that a low-level economy can create a decent life, abundant in the things—health, education, community—that are most necessary for us all.”

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There are signs of hope and new forms of socio-environmental organization emerging all over the planet, seeds of change bursting into visibility in the midst of avoidance and denial. In his recent book The Geography of Hope, Turner (2007) outlines a myriad of portraits of sustainable development and sociopolitical change in a wide variety of geographical and cultural settings, from Samso in Denmark (the world’s first carbon-neutral town), solar arrays in a remote village in northwest Thailand, organic agriculture in Cuba and Tibetan exile communities, to the solar energy industry in Karnataka in southern India, the rapid proliferation of solar power in Germany, and Vandana Shiva’s Navdanya campaign regarding seeds in India. With respect to renewable forms of power surfacing in the global South, five nations in Asia—Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam—have taken the initiative in developing a variety of projects for electricity generation, each of which will make an important contribution to the emergence of a less carbon-intensive form of sustainable development (Ferrey and Cabraal 2006:67–84). Other countries, such as China and Argentina, have great potential in terms of the creation of wind-generated electricity networks (Brown 2006:202).

Climate Change and Transnational Social Work:   Responsibility and Opportunity The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) is one organization within the field of social work that has begun to engage seriously with the issue of climate change and its impact not only on global social development, but also on the rapidly increasing number of migrants and refuges displaced by climate instability and environmental marginalization. For instance, in its “International Policy Statement on Globalisation and the Environment” (2005), the IFSW acknowledges that global warming “is a world-wide phenomenon where human agency may have major repercussions on the atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere.” While it does not address climate change in any detail in terms of its implications for social work policy or practice, to its credit it does outline several elements of a social/environmental justice approach to ecological issues within the larger geopolitical and economic context of globalization. Other, related IFSW documents, such as the “International Policy on Migration,” the “International Policy on Refugees,” and the “International

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Policy Statement of Displaced Persons,” all provide further perspectives and resources to reorient approaches of transnational social workers to these issues, which are closely related to environmental degradation and global warming, even though they do not refer specifically to the impacts of climate change. However, the relationship between these forms of social displacement and injustice and the ecological destruction of the planet’s fragile ecosystems through human activity is not ignored by members of the IFSW. For instance, the Biennial Report 1998–2000 (IFSW 2000) expressed considerable concerns with regard to “global warming and the effects of greenhouse gases that will cause more severe hurricanes, typhoons, floods, the bleaching of coral reefs, the melting of polar ice caps and an increase in insect-borne tropical diseases.” At the sixtieth DPI/NGO Conference on Climate Change, members of the IFSW conducted a workshop on enforced migration by migrants and refugees as one of the effects of climate change. In describing how migrants experience not only physical hardship and displacement from their homeland, but also multiple forms of social injustice, the workshop advocated that social workers adapt their work with environmental refuges so that the multiple roles of direct-service providers, advocates, and policy makers are all present in their social work practice. In March 2008 IFSW hosted an international conference on Ecology and Community Development in Melbourne, Australia, that focused on the ways in which community development could engage the need for change in order to meet the demands of ecological sustainability. The objective of the conference was to explore alternative theoretical resources and paradigms as well as forms of community practice that would be characterized by an enhanced ecological sensibility. As one of the stated intentions, the conference organizers hoped that by “critiquing the government and mainstream inaction/denial, we can lead the way towards solutions for preventing global warming” (see http://www.iacdglobal.org/en/node/187). One can only hope that these initiatives on the part of the IFSW in the area of international social work will begin to become visible in other areas of social work policy, theory, and practice, which have largely shown a conspicuous absence of current discourse regarding environmental problems. Spirituality in transnational social work approaches might provide one hospitable niche for such an environmental sensibility to emerge. Graham (2006) calls for a decidedly international focus for research in the areas of spirituality and social work, especially making available more

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collegial space for the voices of social work colleagues in the global South to have a greater opportunity to share their work and thinking. While it is not explicitly environmental in its orientation, it may be the case that the transnational context could provide the milieu for further inquiry into the connections between environmental issues such as global warming and international social work through linkages of spirituality.

Fighting Ourselves, Finding Ourselves: Global Warming as a Moral Issue “The stationary state would make fewer demands on our environmental resources, but much greater demands on our moral resources” (Herman Daly, quoted in Meadows, Randers, and Meadows 2004:235). At this juncture of history as we are faced with a momentous choice as a species. Global warming is not primarily a scientific issue, nor is it likely to be remedied with technological solutions alone or resolved through our scientific prowess. Whether it be through the rigorous scientific research of the IPCC or the widespread accessibility of movies such as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth or Leonardo DeCaprio’s The Eleventh Hour, many people are now generally more aware of how climate change threatens our continued survival as part of the living biological community on Earth, and how timely and decisive are the changes that are required for sustainability. As McKibben (2006:163) perceptively points out, the nature of the shift demanded of us is not primarily intellectual but psychological; it is not so much that “we can’t figure out major alterations in our way of life” as “we simply don’t want to.” Those of us in the global North will be required to rein in our unbridled desires and excessive rates of consumption, and to relinquish our sense of being entitled to place our wants ahead of the health of the planet’s ecological community. Such a pivot in the way in which we structure our relationship with the planet will be most assuredly psychological, but, more fundamentally, the reorientation will also be profoundly ethical. Activists such as Athanasiou and Baer (2002:59) agree that changing the tacit assumptions of our economy and of the values and ethics that undergird our global community will be critical for any adequate response to the global warming challenge. Likewise, Wendell Berry (2003:17–22) highlights that it is the moral dimensions of how we fashion and constitute our relationships with the environment as well as with each other that are most fundamental.

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It may be also the case that the abandonment of our anthropocentric degradation of the planet and our continued assault on the web of life that supports us not only will be psychological and moral but will also be deeply existential, probing the interior caverns of human awareness and life (Homer-Dixon 2006). This deep searching is certainly the case for us as social workers, both personally and professionally. In their reflections on the ramifications of understanding human behavior within the context of the natural environment and the community of Earth, van Wormer, Besthorn, and Keefe (2007:223) write: “we as social workers, as professional helpers, and as constituents of modern Western society are being challenged at the core of our being, at the center of our professional values, at the convergence of traditional institutions to redefine what it means to be human and what it means to be a citizen of the earth.” In Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, the devil Mephistopheles makes the shrewd observation about human beings to the protagonist of the drama, Dr. Faustus, insisting that “the god thou servest is thine own appetite” (quoted in Monbiot 2006:xv). Such a description of human life seems to point to the heart of at least one significant dimension of our contemporary human existence. In his description of the upcoming “war” that must be waged against ecological decline, Woodbridge (2004:221) suggests that such a campaign “will be a war against our own actions.” With more acuity, Monbiot (2006:215) notes that “the campaign against climate change is an odd one. Unlike almost all the public protests which have preceded it, it is a campaign not for abundance but for austerity. It is a campaign not for more freedom but for less. Strangest of all, it is a campaign not just against other people, but also against ourselves.” And yet, while we need to confront our most negative territories of our human consciousness and action, we may also find hope and resolve in other territories of our lives that are inhabited by healing and empowering forces. For social work educators van Wormer, Besthorn and Keefe (2007:222), the global environmental crisis and the challenge of climate change “hold within them tremendous opportunity to redirect our physical, political, and spiritual energies and resources to heal our greed, to heal our planet, and to heal our relationships with each other and the earth community.” After a long history of violence and exploitation of each other and of the planet, we may finally recover a crucial dimension of our existence, our vocation of being guardians of the web of life in which we move and exist and have our being. We may rediscover our calling to be protectors

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of this remarkable biotic community that so beneficently wreathes the planet with a magnificence and exuberance of life on Earth. In the field of social work, we have a history of confronting those forces and structures that diminish life or erode the dignity of others. In this way, social work has the collective experience, the conceptual resources, and the tools of practice that can offer crucial and distinctive gifts to the larger struggle for environmental sustainability and social justice in this era of unparalleled global crisis. Global warming and the environmental crisis represent a remarkable opportunity for the human community to restore its broken relationship with Earth. As the historian Ronald Wright (2004:132) concludes at the end of his book, A Short History of Progress: “Now is our last chance to get the future right.” References Anielski, M. (2007). The economics of happiness: Building genuine wealth. Gabriola Island: New Society. Athanasiou, T., and P. Baer (2002). Dead heat: Global justice and global warming. New York: Seven Stories Press. Berger, R., and J. Kelly (1993). Social work in the ecological crisis. Social Work 38, no. 5: 521–26. Berry, T. (1990). The dream of the Earth. San Francisco: Sierra Club. ——— (1999). The great work: Our way into the future. New York: Bell Tower. Berry, W. (2003). Citizenship papers. Washington, D.C.: Shoemaker and Hoard. Bramley, M. (2005). The case for deep reductions: Canada’s role in preventing dangerous climate change. Vancouver: David Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute. Brown, L. (2001). Eco-economy: Building an economy for the Earth. New York: Norton. ——— (2006). Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a planet under stress and a civilization in trouble. New York: Norton. Brown, L., and E. Ayres (eds.) (1998). The world watch reader on global environmental issues. New York: Norton. Brown, L., C. Flavin, and S. Postel (1991). Saving the planet: How to shape an environmentally sustainable global economy. New York: Norton. Chasek, P., D. Downie, and J. Brown (2006). Global environmental politics. Boulder: Westview. Coates, J. (2003a). Ecology and social work. Halifax: Fernwood. ——— (2003b). Exploring the roots of the environmental crisis: Opportunity for social transformation. Critical Social Work 4, no. 1. http://www.criticalsocialwork.com/units/socialwork/critical.nsf/982f. Accessed March 19, 2007.

73 Environmental Decline and Climate Change ——— (2005). The environmental crisis: The implications for social work. Journal of Progressive Human Services 16, no. 1: 25–50. Daly, H. (1996). Beyond growth: The economics of sustainable development. Boston: Beacon. Daly, H., and J. Cobb (1994). For the common good: Redirecting the economy toward community, the environment, and a sustainable future. Boston: Beacon. Davis. M. (2006) Slum ecology. Orion 25, no. 2: 16–23. Deudney, D., and R. Matthew (eds.) (1999). Contested grounds: Security and conflict in the new environmental politics. Albany: SUNY Press. DeWeerdt, S. (2007). Climate change, coming home: Global warming’s effects on populations. World Watch 20, no. 3: 8–13. Douthwaite, R. (1993). The growth illusion: How economic growth has enriched the few, impoverished the many, and endangered the planet. Tulsa: Council Oak. Ferrey, S., and A. Cabraal (2006). Renewable power in developing countries: Winning the war on global warming. Tulsa: PennWell. Flannery, T. (2005). The weather makers: How we are changing the climate and what it means for life on Earth. Toronto: HarperCollins. Goodstein, E. (1999). The trade-off myth: Fact and fiction about jobs and the environment. Washington, D.C: Island Press. ——— (2007). Fighting for love in the century of extinction: How passion and politics can stop global warming. Burlington: University of Vermont Press. Graham, J. (2006). Spirituality and social work: A call for an international focus of research. Arete 30, no. 1: 63–77. Hoff, M., and J. McNutt (1994). The global environmental crisis: Implications for social welfare and social work. Brookefield, Vt.: Avebury. Homer-Dixon, T. (1999). Environment, scarcity, and violence. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ——— (2006). The upside of down: Catastrophe, creativity and the renewal of civilization. Toronto: Knopf. ——— (2007). A swiftly melting planet. New York Times, October 4, 2007. http:// www.homerdixon.com/articles/20070424-nytimes-aswiftlymeltingplanet.html. Accessed January 16, 2008. Homer-Dixon, T., J. Boutwell, and G. Rathjens (1993). Environmental change and violent conflict. Scientific American, February: 38–45. Ife, J. (2007). The new international agendas: What role for social work? Inaugural Hokenstad International Social Work Lecture, Council for Social Work Education, San Francisco, October 2007. International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) (2000). Biennial Report 1998– 2000. http://www.ifsw.org/en/p38000210.html.

74 The Context of Transmigration ——— (2005). International Policy Statement on Globalisation and the Environment. IPCC (2007a). Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Report. ——— (2007b). Climate change 2007: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Working Group II Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Report. ——— (2007c). Climate change 2007: Mitigation of climate changes. Working Group III Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Report. Kidner, D. (1994). Why psychology is mute about the environmental crisis. Environmental Ethics 16: 359–76. Kolbert, E. (2006). Field notes from a catastrophe. London: Bloomsbury. Lysack, M. (2007). Family therapy, the ecological self, and global warming. Context 91: 9–11. ——— (2009a) The Teach-in on Global Warming Solutions and Vygotsky: Fostering ecological action and environmental citizenship. McGill Journal of Education 44, no. 1: 119–34. ——— (2009b). From environmental despair to the ecological self: Mindfulness and community action In Mindfulness and social work, ed. S. Hick, 202–18. Chicago: Lyceum. ——— (2009c). Practices and skills for building social and ecological resiliency with individuals and communities. In Structural social work in action: Examples from practice, ed. S. Hick, H. Peters, T. Corner, and T. London, 211–28. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press. ——— (2009d). Defending and protecting what we love: Biophilia and creating environmental citizenship. Wild Lands Advocate 17, no. 3: 14–16. ——— (2009e). Doing social work on a traumatized planet: Fostering environmental health, sustainability, and community action. Advocate 34, no. 1: 24–25. McDougall, D. (2008). Stemming the tide. Ecologist 37, no. 10: 26–30. McKibben, B. (1995). Hope, human and wild: True stories of living lightly on the Earth. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions. ——— (2006). The end of nature. New York: Random House. ——— (2007). Deep economy: The wealth of communities and the durable future. New York: Times Books, Henry Holt. Mander, J., and E. Goldsmith (1996). The case against the global economy and for a turn toward the local. San Francisco: Sierra Club. Meadows, D., J. Randers, and D. Meadows (2004). Limits to growth: The 30-year update. White River Junction: Chelsea Green.

75 Environmental Decline and Climate Change Monbiot, G. (2006). Heat: How to stop the planet from burning. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. National Geographic (2007). Global warming fast facts. http://news.national geographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming.html. Accessed March 20, 2007. Northcott, M. (2007). A moral climate: The ethics of global warming. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (1997). Economic globalisation and the environment. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. ——— (1998). Globalisation and the environment: Perspectives from OECD and dynamic non-member economies. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Padula, A. (2005). Inescapable questions: Academia, global warming and the energy crisis. Journal of Progressive Human Services 16, no. 1: 1–4. Park, K. (1996). The personal is ecological: Environmentalism of social work. Social Work 41, no. 3: 320–23. Soine, L. (1987). Expanding the environment in social work: The case for including environmental hazards content. Journal of Social Work Education 23, no. 2: 40–46. Suzuki, D. (2003). The David Suzuki reader. Vancouver: Greystone. Turner, C. (2007). The geography of hope: A tour of the world we need. Toronto: Random House Canada. Van Wormer, K., F. Besthorn, and T. Keefe (2007). Human behavior and the social environment: Macro level. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wackernagel, M., and W. Rees (1996). Our ecological footprint: Reducing human impact on the Earth. Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society. Whitaker, B. (2007). A social worker grandfather thinks about global warming. New Social Worker. http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Ethics/A_ Social_Worker_Grandfather_Thinks_About_Global_Warming/. Accessed February 14, 2008. Wilson, E. O. (2006). The creation: An appeal to save life on Earth. New York: Norton. Woodbridge, R. (2004). The next world war: Tribes, cities, nations, and ecological decline. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Wright, R. (2004). A short history of progress. Toronto: House of Anansi.

[ 5 ]

Toward Sustainable Development:   From Theory to Praxis Richard J. Estes

“Sustainable development” has become something of a buzzword in development circles. Indeed, sustainable development appears to have replaced such venerable concepts as “growth,” “modernization,” “progress,” and even “accelerated development” as the unifying concept for worldwide development activities. Only the concept of “human development,” which currently has been promulgated by the UNDP (1992), represents a serious challenge to the primacy of sustainable development in the new hierarchy of development concepts. To view the sustainable development movement as only a passing fad or as yet another feeble effort to capture the imagination of development policy makers, however, is to miss the power of the concept. The fact is that the sustainable development has succeeded in uniting widely divergent theoretical and ideological perspectives into a single conceptual framework. The concept has also succeeded in exciting the imaginations of development specialists and laypeople alike, especially with regard to the positive outcomes that can be achieved through a carefully implemented plan of local and global action. And the concept has succeeded, even more remarkably, in animating governmental leaders, development policy makers, and others to enter into formal agreements that seek both to promote socioeconomic development and to protect the environment.

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My view is that the sustainable development concept represents a fundamental and lasting contribution to development theory and practice. In this chapter I (1) define what is meant by sustainable development; (2) identify the various intellectual and empirical traditions associated with the concept’s development; (3) clarify the concept’s underlying values and goals; (4) identify the major intervention strategies associated with sustainable development practice; and (5) briefly discuss several of the lingering uncertainties associated with the concept’s continuing evolution. Finally, I briefly outline my own evolving agenda for worldwide sustainable development.

Toward Sustainable Development Credit for originating the sustainable development concept is generally given to the 1987 report of World Commission on Environment and Development, popularly referred to as the Brundtland Commission. The report, Our Common Future: From One Earth to One World, called for emboldened and dramatically new conceptions of development that advanced the material wants of the present generation without depriving future generations of the resources required to satisfy their needs. Thus, the commission conceptualized sustainable development rather simply as paths of human progress that meet the needs and aspirations of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The commission’s approach to sustainable development emphasized the need for new conceptions of global development that recognized that (1) social and environmental problems are interconnected; (2) environmental stresses are not restricted to particular locales or geographic boundaries; (3) environmental catastrophes experienced in one world region in the end affect the well-being of people everywhere; and (4) only through sustainable approaches to development can the planet’s fragile ecosystems be protected and the aims of human development be furthered. Throughout its report, the commission advanced the argument that sustainable development can only occur under conditions that reflect the realistic limits and carrying capacity of a finite planet (Williams 1989; Wheeler 1992). Both in its report and elsewhere, Brundtland drew attention to the intimate and inseparable relationship that exists among poverty, development, and environmental unsustainability (Brundtland 1989):

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The gross mismanagement of our planet has much to do with an inequitable distribution of the benefits of development. Perpetuating this inequity can only mean a continuing drawdown on the world’s natural resources and the environment. After a century of unprecedented growth, marked by scientific and technological triumphs that would have been unthinkable a century ago, there have never been so many poor, illiterate and unemployed people in the world, and their number is growing. Close to a billion people live in poverty and squalor, a situation that leaves them little choice but to go on undermining the conditions of life itself, the environment and the natural resource base.

The Need for a New Development Paradigm The need for a new development paradigm was widely recognized by the mid-1980s. By then, the United Nations had already declared the second and third of its Development Decades a failure, especially in their inability to halt the cycle of poverty that existed in the world’s poorest and slowest developing countries. Further, the conditioned loan policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund—in combination with patterns of development assistance provided through various bilateral and other arrangements—succeeded, in the main, in plunging already impoverished countries into even deeper debt. Thus, the combination of high debt, slow economic growth, and rapidly increasing poverty exacerbated the profound levels of human suffering that already existed in many of these countries. Criticisms of the dominant development paradigms were widespread; they emanated from all sectors of development and from all disciplines (Adams 1993; Brown 1993; Ekins 1992; Estes 1988; Henderson 1991; Korten 1990; Latouche 1993; Max-Neef 1992; Piel 1992; Sacks 1992). Even so, a surprisingly high level of consensus emerged from these debates on at least the following points: • “Economic growth does not automatically improve people’s lives, either within nations or internationally” (Adams 1993; Latouche 1993; Max-Neef 1992; Sacks 1992; UNDP 1992:3); • “Rich and poor countries compete in the global marketplace as unequal partners; if developing countries are to compete on

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a more equal footing, they will require massive investments in human capital and technological development” (Brown 1993; Max-Neef 1992; Speth 1990; UNDP 1992:4); • Neither “free-market,” “dependency,” nor “Marxist” paradigms of development respond adequately to the development needs of the world’s poorest and slowest developing countries (Ekins 1992; Henderson 1991; Latouche 1993); • The socioeconomic conditions of the world’s least developed countries (LDCs), in the main and with important exceptions, became worse during the past twenty years (Estes 1988, 1993a, 1993b; UNDP 1992; World Bank 1992). • Sectoral approaches to development are inadequate inasmuch as the most fundamental problems confronting the world’s developing countries are systemic in nature and therefore require systemic solutions (Piel 1992; WCED 1987; Wheeler 1992:3); • The systemic solutions required to meet the development challenges confronting the world’s developing countries require fundamental readjustments in both the goals of development and their methods of achievement (Brandt Commission 1980; Estes 1988; UNCED 1992; UNDP 1992; WCED 1987); • New, more systemically oriented paradigms of development are needed that take cognizance of (1) the political uncertainties created by the collapse of communism, the economic failures of capitalism, and newly revived efforts at the establishment of “a new world order” (Brandon 1992; Falk 1992; Halperin et al. 1992); (2) the vicious cycles of poverty, human degradation, and environmental destruction that exist in many developing countries (ESCAP 1992b; World Bank 1992); (3) the existence and interrelatedness of new financial and ecological problems that are unprecedented in scope and seriousness (Arnold 1989; Group of Green Economists 1992; UNDP 1992; WRI 1992); and (4) the need for global mechanisms to guide international progress toward the promotion and protection of democratic principles, human rights, economic and social rights, and the accountability of public decision makers for their actions (Speth 1990; Stockholm Initiative on Global Security and Governance 1991; UNCED 1992; UNDP 1992).

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Sustainable Development: The Unifying Concept The environment—and especially the devastating impact of prevailing development paradigms on the environment—became the focal point for new conceptions of national and global development (WRI 1992). Central to the renewed focus on the environment as the centerpiece of international development activity was the emergence of sustainable development. From the outset, sustainable development was promulgated as a concept that could (1) provide a new vision for national and international development; (2) unify the disparate elements that make up the development community; (3) ease the unbearable pressures on the planet’s fragile ecosystems in rich and poor countries alike; (4) lead to the formulation of new solutions to the recurrent socioeconomic needs of the world’s least developed countries; (5) foster significantly improved relationships among the governmental, business, and voluntary sectors; and (6) provide greater assurance that contemporary approaches to development would not deprive future generations of the resources needed for their development. Steven Arnold (1989:22–23), director of the International Development Program at American University, identifies five additional advantages of the shift toward sustainable development: (1) it puts flesh on the bones of the concept of “interdependence”; (2) it offers a more humble estimate of the ability of human beings to understand and control nature; (3) it offers a better estimate of the true cost of natural and other resources whose values have been traditionally underestimated; (4) it places particular emphasis on the relationship of the poor, especially poor women, to the development process; and (5) it raises the concern that politico-military views of security and the national interest, which tend to dominate current thinking, are far too narrow. In his preface to a special issue of Development devoted to an analysis of the practical implications of sustainable development, Lindner (1989:3) addresses the unifying power of the concept. Lindner, for example, does not perceive sustainable development to be either static or time-bound but to reflect a continuous and ongoing process of change and adaptation in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technical development, and institutional changes are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations. Indeed, sustainable development is all about meet-

81 Toward Sustainable Development

ing human needs and aspirations—not just those of one country or region, but those of all people who inhabit Earth, both now and in the future. Lindner’s view of sustainable development is widely shared by environmentalists and human ecologists (Brown 1992; Jacobs 1990; Piel 1992a; Von Weizsacker and Jesinghaus 1992; WRI 1992). Increasingly, the basic tenets of sustainable development are emerging as central to the writings of development economists (Ekins 1992; Group of Green Economists 1992; Henderson 1991; Max-Neef 1992), political scholars (Falk 1992; Gore 1992; Redclift 1987), and others working in a host of sectorally based fields of development practice (Braidotti 1993; Korten 1990; Ponting 1990; Seidman and Anang 1992; Wignaraja 1992). Thus, in its short life the Brundtland Commission performed an important and probably long-lasting service both to development theorists and, more important, to those development practitioners—governments, NGOs, and others—who must daily struggle with the human and environmental consequences of failed development initiatives.

Before Brundtland Sustainable development has a history of conceptual evolution that long precedes the work of the Brundtland Commission. Indeed, the philosophical foundations of sustainable development are deeply rooted in the utopian visions of much earlier writers, including Dante, More, Kant, Rousseau, William Penn, and even Woodrow Wilson. One can also draw reasonable linkages between the conceptual origins of sustainable development and the religious rituals and magical practices of the world’s earliest peoples, especially those mystical practices that emphasized self- and environmental renewal through the offering of sacrifices or thanks-giving to deities on whom one’s own well-being and that of Earth depended. Further, respect for Earth—and the necessity of living in harmonious balance with it as a condition of one’s own survival—is a cardinal tenet of the cosmologies of native peoples throughout the world, including those of North America (Frazer 1922; Gore 1992:258–60). Indeed, contemporary references to Earth as a living goddess, Gaia, draw on ancient cosmologies for much of their inspiration (Henderson 1991:51–70). In more recent times, the movement’s philosophical foundations can be traced to the worldwide environmental and social movements that began

82 The Context of Transmigration

in the mid- and late 1960s, the majority of which are still active. There were at least nine of these movements whose separate efforts and energies converged in the late 1980s to bring about the June 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED). They include (1) the early environmental and human ecology movements of Europe and North America; (2) the antiwar and antinuclear movements of Europe and North America; (3) the world order movement; (4) the world dynamics modeling movement; (5) the European green movement; (6) the alternative economics movement; (7) the women’s movement in North America, Europe, and, more recently, Latin America; (8) the indigenous peoples movements in Latin America, Asia, and selected areas of the Pacific; and (9) the worldwide human rights movement. Table 5.1 identifies the major goals associated with each of these movements. The table also references a variety of authors whose writings are most associated with each movement.

Beyond Brundtland: Sustainable Development Today Today, the sustainable development movement is multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral. The movement brings together specialists from the physical and environmental sciences along with experts in development economics, political science, appropriate technology, human and women’s rights, and others. Early leaders of the European green movement are active participants in the drive for sustainable development, as are people drawn from the worldwide antiwar and antinuclear movements. The movement also embraces rock stars (Sting), leaders of groups of indigenous peoples, Nobel laureates, world parliamentarians, and a host of other professional and lay workers across virtually all sectors of development. Leadership of the movement comes from both the governmental and nongovernmental sectors, including, among others businesses, religious institutions, unions, worker collectives, and physicians. Using the language of the 1960s, the sustainable development movement has become a worldwide happening with a conceptual tent that appears to be sufficiently large to embrace all who wish to enter. The movement is quite diverse and is characterized by a sense of enthusiasm that has been all too rare in development circles. I do not mean to suggest, however, that the sustainable development movement is free of the ideological dissension that undermined past efforts at rapprochement; indeed,

Table 5.1

uncontrolled use of pesticides and herbicides environmental policies Initiated in the United States as a protest against Vietnam War; quickly spread to Europe, where it became both antiwar and antinuclear focused; brought attention to destabilizing consequences of power and resource imbalances between rich and poor countries Spearheaded by comparatively small number of visionaries from international law and world parliamentarian movement; sought to develop feasible strategies for improving the quality of world order by end of century



Antiwar and antinuclear movement











World order movement









–warn of the effects on man and nature of

–bring greater balance in economic and

growth





–warn of the impact of uncontrolled population





Major Objectives

Centered initially in the United States; sought to: –call attention to the massive assaults occurring against the environment

Related Movements

Early environmental/ecological movement

(continued)

Halperin et al. (1992); Myrdal (1970)

1992); Falk and Mendlovitz (1967);

Brandon (1992); Falk (1968, 1972,

and Wiener (1967); Roszak (1969)

Fuller (1969); IPPNW (1991); Kahn

George (1977); Toffler (1970)

Ehrlich and Ehrlich (1970);

Borgstrom (1965); Brown (1970); Carson (1962); Commoner (1958); Dubos (1965); Ehrlich (1968);

Major Contributors

Historical Antecedents of the Sustainable Development Movement

Seeks to provide a practical alternative to prevailing Brandt Commission (1980, 1983); economic systems and policies that pursue short- term economic gains at long-term costs to the environment and people; assigns priority to redistribution of a fairer share of the world’s resources to poor countries in the South











Sacks (1992) (continued)

Latouche (1993); Max-Neef (1992);

Hunger Project (1985); Jolly (1987);

Ekins (1992); Henderson (1991);

true environmental costs of rapid development

and Jesinghaus (1992)

Schumacher (1975); Von Weizsacker



new development paradigms that better reflect

Green Economists (1992); Piel

Finger (1993); Gore (1992); Group of

Schuurman (1993); Tinbergen (1976)

Mesarovic and Pestel (1974);

Forrester (1971); Meadows et al.

Major Contributors

Alternative economics movement

in a nuclear-free world; emphasizes need for



growth, which pose grave consequences for





their resultant social inequalities and unbridled



and sound environmental policies, usually

imbalances between rich and poor countries and



Centered in Europe; seeks to promote peace

planet; directs criticism at political and economic



(1992b);

reflect the limits and carrying capacity of the



the world

environmental and economic policies that better





Club of Rome; now broader; seeks to promote



Green movement

Major Objectives

Initiated by series of dramatic reports from

Related Movements

World dynamics modeling movement (1972);

Historical Antecedents of the Sustainable Development Movement (continued)

Table 5.1

and political freedoms articulated in United Nations

internationally promulgated agreements

implementation and protection of civil rights





Quite broad; works toward fullest possible

Human rights movement (1992)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other

cosmologies and religions





values, beliefs, and practices at the center of their



–retain or regain lands and resources previously

(1989);

–promote broader sensitivity to Earth-centered

Various movements worldwide that seek to:

Indigenous peoples movement



environmental issues of relevance to women



owned by indigenous peoples

to men; in the South, has also tended to embrace



–obtain increased legal recognition and protection

economic, and legal rights as those available





for women the same basic social, political,





Worldwide movements that seek to obtain

Women’s movement

Freedom House (1992); Humana

Seabrook (1993); Wignaraja (1992)

Korten (1990); Rahman (1993);

Gutierrez (1986); Klandermans

Fanon (1963); Friere (1985);

(1993); Rose (1992); Sivard (1985)

Cook et al. (1985); Mies and Shiva

Afshart (1991); Braidotti et al. (1993);

86 The Context of Transmigration

quite the opposite is true. Much of the dissension that exists in the movement is reflected in its differing, sometimes contradictory, visions of what constitutes “sustainability” (Arnold 1989; Miller 1990).

Alternative Visions of Sustainability Arnold (1989:21) identifies the existence of no fewer than ten separate “visions” of sustainable development: “Some, for example, are concerned largely with environmental protection, while others focus on problems of financial solvency. Some tend to be sector-specific, examining agricultural practices or energy use, while others focus more generally on issues such as global carrying capacity. Some map out broad internationalist strategies, while others are concerned with self-reliant sustainability at the national or local level.” Sustainability is also viewed by some as the ability of a society or culture to persist despite outside pressures, while others focus more on capacity building of local, national, or international institutions. Many donors seem to define sustainability in terms of the willingness of recipients to take over financial responsibility for various programs, while recipients, often burdened with debt, may see sustainability more as a problem of maintaining and even increasing the flow of external resources to avoid further reductions in living standards. Hence, the differences that characterize competing visions of sustainable development are real and substantial. They could also prove fatal to a movement that is searching for a new beginning in responding to the complex needs of not only developing countries, but economically advanced countries as well. Thus far, the ideological differences that exist in the movement have not struck a fatal blow to the tentative sense of unity that pervades the field. Rather, the movement is being held together by a remarkable document referred to as Agenda 21 (UNCED 1992).

Agenda 21 Agenda 21 is the complex set of international agreements adopted by the 178 chiefs of mission who participated in the June 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development held in Brazil (Piel

87 Toward Sustainable Development

1992b). Agenda 21 is more than five hundred pages long and is subdivided into forty chapters that spell out the comprehensive tasks that must be taken to secure sustainable development. According to Gerard Piel, the distinguished chair emeritus of Scientific American and author of Only One World: Our Own to Make and to Keep, Agenda 21 is a program for husbanding the planet’s wasting resources. Along with the roster of problems familiar to environmentalists—the ozone layer, global warming, deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, biodiversity—Agenda 21 addresses action to be taken against poverty, infant mortality, malnutrition, epidemic disease, illiteracy, and other afflictions that waste the other resource of the planet: its human population. Hence, Agenda 21 serves as the clarion call to sustainable development and outlines a global strategy for action that has already been substantially adopted by the majority of the world’s governments.

Dimensions of Sustainable Development Despite the apparent simplicity of the Brundtland Commission’s definition of sustainable development, the concept itself is rather complex. David Brown (1991), president of the Institute for Development Research at Boston University, for example, distinguishes between four dimensions of sustainable development: (1) ecological sustainability implies that nonrenewable and other natural resources are not depleted for short-term improvements; (2) economic sustainability implies that improvements do not depend on continuing infusions of resources that cannot be maintained; (3) political sustainability requires that changes are consistent with present or emerging distributions of power in the society; and (4) cultural sustainability suggests that changes must be consistent with core values, expectations, and mores of the society. According to Brown, effective approaches to sustainable development must (1) optimize the use of resources that are available locally; (2) minimize dependence on resources that must be brought in from the outside; (3) not seek improvements for which continuous infusions of existing or new resources are needed; and (4) conserve those resources that are needed for improvements over the long term. Brown and others also note that sustainable development must also take into account the policy (ESCAP 1992b; Honadle and Van Sant 1985:77),

88 The Context of Transmigration

institutional (Brandt Commission 1980; Cernea 1987), and cultural (Cernea 1987:5; Korten 1990) environments of the locales in which such efforts are initiated. Table 5.2 contains examples of sustainable and nonsustainable development using Brown’s four dimensions of sustainable development.

Orienting Values The clearest expression of the values that inform the sustainable development movement is that found in the writings of Richard Falk, professor of international law at Princeton University. In This Endangered Planet (1972:293–312), Falk identified seven “informing values” that he regarded as foundational to a “new world order,” that is, a world order based on “harmony within limits, harmony among human groups and harmony between man and nature”: • unity of mankind and the unity of life on Earth, with particular recognition that the futures of man and the planet are tied to one another; • minimization of violence, especially elimination of state terrorism and reduction of violence associated with the struggle of various groups for scarce resources, space, influence, or prestige; • maintenance of environmental quality, including establishment of global ceilings on such critical factors as population increase, resource use, and waste disposal; • satisfaction of minimum world welfare standards, with particular attention to the elimination of mass misery through the satisfaction of at least the basic social and material needs of people everywhere; • the primacy of human dignity, with particular emphasis on the establishment of codes of personal and collective freedom, personal rights of conscience, and group rights of assembly and cultural assertion; • retention of diversity and pluralism, especially to strengthen the existing biological gene pool and to promote greater tolerance and moderation in political and social outlook; • the need for universal participation, especially to avoid the oppression that is associated with the exclusion of people from actions and processes that directly impact the quantity and quality of their lives.

to the advantage of already rich countries and to the

disadvantage of poor countries; existing concentration

of 83% of world’s total income in richest 20% of the

population; persistence of widespread absolute poverty,

especially within land-locked and resource-poor











disadvantaged populations; centralization of power in

hands of self-serving elites; systematic exclusion of people

from participation in formulation and implementation

of policies and laws that directly affect their well-being











War; state terrorism; oppression of historically

Political

developing countries

International systems governed by rules that work

Economic

(continued)

political parties; significantly strengthened nongovernmental sector, especially at level of grass-roots organizations and collectivities of people at local levels of political organization

mate organizing activities of opposition

organization; noninterference in legiti-

decision making at all levels of social

governmental policy formulation and

Popular participation in all aspects of

banking system that creates a common currency, maintains price and exchangerate stability, channels global surpluses and deficits, and equalizes international access to credit (UNDP 1992:78–79)

patterns; establishment of a global

taxes based on wealth and consumption

their production; progressive “global”

environmental investments incurred in

services with reference to human and

Markets that fix prices for goods and

Nonsustainable Strategies Sustainable Strategies

Selected Examples of Sustainable and Nonsustainable Social Development Practices

Table 5.2

Emergence of values, expectations, and social mores that foster tolerance and moderation in accepting cultural differences of others; gender role definitions that permit women and men to share equally in the making of decisions that affect them separately A stabilized world population; elimination of weapons of mass destruction; developing and sharing appropriate technologies, especially those that reflect local needs, available natural resources, and ecological realities; protection and promoting of biodiversity; dependence on energy from ecologically renewable sources

Cultural Efforts to “homogenize” peoples and cultures with goal of eliminating or minimizing cultural differences; persistent socially supported oppression of historically disadvantaged populations, including women, religious, and cultural

Ecological/environmental Cash crop and other forms of agriculture that leave food- exporting countries vulnerable to hunger or malnutrition; agricultural and other practices that depend on techno- logies and resources not available locally; technologies that consume more energy than they generate; approaches to short-term economic development that deplete nonrenew- able natural resources and pollute the environment

Nonsustainable Strategies Sustainable Strategies

Selected Examples of Sustainable and Nonsustainable Social Development Practices (continued)

Table 5.2

91 Toward Sustainable Development

Falk regarded these values as reflecting an essentially conservative vision of the new society, that is, one that aspires to maintain the values of individual and collective human dignity, including the basic demand for a political order that enjoys the support of most of the population most of the time (295). However conservative Falk’s vision of the future may actually be, his informing values for achieving that vision are nothing short of revolutionary. This is especially so concerning the shift that these values reflect toward a more interdependent view of the world, but especially their emphasis on human beings as only part of a larger, infinitely more complex, planetary system.

The Goals of Sustainable Development The goals of sustainable development are far-reaching and have as their objective the transformation of contemporary development theory and practice. They include (1) the formulation of new paradigms of social, economic, political, cultural, and ecological development (Latouche 1993; Sacks 1992; Schuurman 1993); (2) more rational approaches to development that take into account the long-term costs associated with short-term improvements; (3) the judicious use of the planet’s nonrenewable physical resources; (4) a balance among economic, social, cultural, and physical development; and (5) the realization of fully integrated development strategies that bring together all relevant sectors and actors into a common framework of local, national, regional, and international action. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP 1992:17) identifies the following outcomes as minimum additional requirements for achieving the goal of sustainable development: (1) elimination of poverty; (2) reduction in population growth; (3) more equitable distribution of resources; (4) healthier, more educated, and better trained people; (5) decentralized, more participatory government; (6) more equitable, liberal trading systems within and among countries, including increased production for local consumption; and (7) better understanding of the diversity of ecosystems, including locally adapted solutions to environmental problems and better monitoring of the environmental impact of development activities. Other writers emphasize that sustainable development must also succeed in (1) restructuring the existing system of international trade (Brown

92 The Context of Transmigration

1993); (2) creating a new system of international financial institutions (Adams 1993); (3) obtaining debt forgiveness for the world’s poorest countries from at least official lenders (UNDP 1992:45–46; Estes 1993b); (4) ending international trade in armaments and tools of human destruction (IPPNW 1991); (5) converting all programs of bilateral military assistance to humanitarian purposes (UNDP 1992:86); (6) imposing effective controls on the nonsustainable activities of transnational corporations (ESCAP 1991b); and (7) creating regional economic solutions that embrace the needs of people everywhere (Group of Green Economists 1993; Max-Neef 1992).

Sustainable Development Practice Sustainable development practice consists of development-focused interventions that seek to promote and enhance the social, political, and economic well-being of people within an ecologically sustainable context at all levels of social organization. Sustainable development practice assigns the highest priorities to those local, national, regional, and international activities that (1) ensure the satisfaction of at least the basic social and material needs of people everywhere; (2) promote increased social and economic justice; (3) minimize social oppression in all its forms; (4) enhance popular participation; (5) reduce violence; and (6) promote peace (Estes 1992; Jones 1981; Meinert and Kohn 1987; Sanders and Matsuoka, 1989; Van Soest 1992). The fullest possible human development can be thought of as both the means and the goal of sustainable development practice (UNDP 1992:13– 25). As the means of practice, sustainable development refers to the processes through which people and institutions realize the self-renewing potentials that already exist within them, at least in a latent state. As the goal of practice, sustainable development refers to the establishment of new systems of personal and institutional renewal that are guided by the quest for peace, increased social justice, satisfaction of basic human needs, and protection of the planet’s fragile ecosystems. Sustainable development practice is multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral; it also requires both a near- and long-term perspective. Increasingly, governments and quasi-governmental organizations are providing national and international leadership in sustainable development (ESCAP 1992b; UNCED 1992; UNDP 1992), albeit that recognition exists that

93 Toward Sustainable Development

nongovernmental actors are co-equal partners with governments in all aspects of sustainable development (Brown 1992; Korten 1990; ESCAP 1991a, 1991b).

The Theory and Skill Base Sustainable development practitioners draw substantially for their practice theory base from sociology (especially stratification theory, the sociology of mass movements, and processes of regional development), political science (especially power domains, political influence, and structures of political parties), economics (especially theories of economic production, distribution, and consumption), education (especially theories of adult learning), philosophy (especially theories of justice and social ethics), and, in some cases, religion (e.g., liberation theology). Sustainable development practitioners also draw substantially from the scientific literatures in biology, zoology, biochemistry, and various other areas of the environmental sciences (including human ecology, toxicology, and forestry). Sustainable development specialists educated in social work also draw heavily from group work and community organization practice for their skill base.

Levels of Sustainable Development Practice Sustainable development practice consists of eight levels of professional activity: individual empowerment; group empowerment; conflict resolution; community building; institution building; nation building; region building; and world building (Hollister 1977; Paiva 1977; Bolan 1987; Khinduka 1987; Meinert and Kohn 1987; Billups 1990; David 1987; Estes 1992). Table 5.3 provides a brief description of the major activities associated with each level of sustainable development practice. It also identifies a variety of authors whose writings are most associated with each.

Toward Sustainable Development: An Evolving Agenda The principles that follow reflect my own evolving views concerning the prerequisites of an effective strategy of world sustainable development.

Through “conscientization,” individuals learn how to perceive and act upon the contradictions that exist in social, political, and economic structures intrinsic to all societies (Breton 1988; Costa 1987; Friere 1971, 1973, 1985; Gutierrez 1986; Klandermans 1989; Lee 1988; Lusk 1981; Rahman 1993; Rose 1992; Wignaraja 1992) Efforts directed at reducing grievances between persons or groups or asymmetric power relationships between members of more powerful and less powerful groups (Azar 1990; Boucher et al. 1987; Chetkow-Yanoov 1990; 1991; Van Soest 1992) Through increased participation and “social animation” of the populace, communities realize the fullness of their social, political, and economic potential; communities respond more equitably to social and material needs of their populations (Alinksy 1972; Cnaan and Adar 1987; Colletta 1982; Korten 1990; Lusk 1981; Price 1987; Rahman 1993; Rose 1992; Shera 1984; Wesley-King and Sanchez-Meyers 1981) “Humanizing” existing social institutions and establishing new institutions that respond more effectively to new or emerging social needs (Afshart 1991; Brown 1991; Cernea 1987; Esman and Uphoff 1984; Honadle and Van Sant 1985; Korten 1990; Rose 1992; Tandon 1987; Wignaraja 1992)

Individual and group empowerment

Conflict resolution

Community building

Institution building

(continued)

Major Purposes, Outcomes, or Processes Associated with Levels of Sustainable Social Development Practice

Levels of Sustainable Social Development Practice

Levels and Strategies of Sustainable Social Development Practice

Table 5.3

Working toward integration of a nation’s social, economic, and cultural institutions at all levels of political organization (Matthews 1982; Paiva 1977; Wignaraja 1992) Working toward integration of a region’s social, economic, and cultural institutions at all levels of political organization (Brandon 1992; ESCAP 1992a, 1992b; Midgley 1992; Lusk 1992; Seidman and Anang, 1992; Wignaraja 1992) Working toward establishment of a new system of international social, political, economic, and ecological relationships guided by the quest for world peace, increased social justice, universal satisfaction of basic human needs, and protection of the planet’s fragile ecosystem (David 1987, 1991; Ekins 1992; Estes 1988, 1990; Falk 1992; Gore 1992; Halperin et al. 1992; Henderson 1991; Piel 1992b)

Nation building

Region building

World building

96 The Context of Transmigration

These principles reflect the orientating values and goals of the sustainable development movement as well as its alternative visions. The principles also suggest the comprehensive nature of the local, national, and international actions that are required to reverse the profound levels of social deterioration that are occurring in many areas of the world. Efforts toward the establishment of a worldwide strategy of sustainable development must go forward with the recognition that the most fundamental problems confronting humanity are essentially political, social, and moral in nature. More specifically, framers of the world development strategy (WDS) must be clear that while profound limitations do exist with respect to the planet’s carrying capacity, the dramatic problems facing humankind are not strictly problems of resource supply or scarcity. Rather, ample evidence exists that the planet already possesses the material and technological resources needed to rid itself of the poverty, hunger, and other forms of “mal-development” that engulf too many of the world’s peoples. The WDS must assign the highest priorities to (1) the unity of humanity and life on Earth; (2) minimization of violence; (3) maintenance of environmental quality; (4) satisfaction of minimum world welfare standards; (5) the primacy of human dignity; (6) retention of diversity and pluralism; and (7) universal participation. The WDS must promote the three goals on which concerned people everywhere agree: war prevention, economic security, and social justice. A significant narrowing of the still widening gap in development between the world’s richest and poorest nations must be a compelling near-term goal of the WDS (Estes 1984, 1988). In pursuing this goal, the WDS must articulate objectives that are both comprehensive and far-reaching; they must also be attainable within reasonable and designated time intervals. To be effective, the WDS must call for a significant shift from provincial and nationalistic attitudes and ways of thinking toward approaches that place increasing emphasis on regionalism and internationalism. The WDS must encourage people everywhere to accept increasing shared responsibility for the well-being of others and for that of the planet and its fragile ecosystems. Environmental and political catastrophes in Somalia, the Sudan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Philippines, Kuwait, Iraq, Kampuchea, Russia, and elsewhere make all too clear the highly interdependent and fragile nature of contemporary social and environmental systems. At the outset of a new century, the world’s comparatively rich countries can little afford to ignore the urgent and compelling needs of that vast

97 Toward Sustainable Development

majority of humanity living in Earth’s developing countries. To attempt to do so not only will bankrupt us morally but will threaten the sustainability of the very lifestyles and consumption patterns of those already economically advanced countries that depend heavily on resources that can be obtained only from poorer countries. An effective WDS will require the speedier and more complete implementation of the far-reaching social, political, economic, and ecological reforms outlined in Agenda 21 and in other visionary models of world social development. At a minimum, the WDS must emphasize (1) global cooperation rather than competition; (2) global sharing rather than squandering; (3) more generous and better sustained international subsidies and programs of international development assistance to the world’s poorer countries; and (4) regional approaches to socioeconomic development that conserve the planet’s dwindling natural resources and protects its fragile ecosystems. To be effective, the WDS must respect national sovereignty. Hence, the strategy must (1) emphasize people working for and on behalf of themselves and for one another within the context of their own history, traditions, and national objectives; (2) allow countries to decide for themselves what their needs are and how the satisfaction of those needs should best be pursued; and (3) redefine the role of the international community vis-à-vis the efforts of developing countries and world regions to be that of partners in development, not decision makers acting on what are perceived to be in “the best interests” of poorer, less developed countries and regions. The existing system of governmental and quasi-governmental international institutions and organizations will need to be strengthened as part of a comprehensive WDS. However, the legal basis of these international institutions—as well as the range of functions, roles, and responsibilities assigned to them—will need to be significantly recast in order to better reflect the social, political, economic, and environmental realities that exist at the outset of a new century. New international and regional institutions will need to be created as part of the implementation machinery of the WDS. Within the present decade, for example, more effective global institutions are needed to (1) promote global peace and cooperation; (2) accelerate international efforts at permanent arms control; (3) promote, monitor, and control the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes; (4) promote and protect internationally guaranteed human rights of individual citizens against oppressive governments; (5) manage the global economy, especially in relation

98 The Context of Transmigration

to the flow of development and other resources between the world’s rich and poor nations; (6) promote access on the part of all nations to the bountiful resources that exist in Earth’s seas and oceans and in space; and (7) manage problems related to the preservation and conservation of the world’s physical environment, especially those elements that are essential to human survival and continuity on this planet. As recommended by the United Nation’s Development Programme (1992:82) and other international bodies, a Development Security Council should be established under the aegis of either a substantially strengthened United Nations system or another properly constituted world body. The functions of the Development Security Council must include (1) development planning for all nations, not just those of the South; (2) establishment of a global policy framework in all key economic and social areas—including for food security, ecological security, development assistance, humanitarian assistance, debt, commodity price stabilization, technology transfers, drug control, women’s issues, children’s issues, and human development; (3) preparation of a global development budget relating to the flow of all development resources; and (4) providing policy coordination for the smooth functioning of international development and financial institutions. In carrying out its work, the Development Security Council should seek to (1) foster mutual participation and cooperation among all the world’s countries in co-equal partnerships focused on improving the adequacy of social provision for people everywhere; (2) foster maximum self-reliance within countries and world regions for planning and implementing their own programs of national and regional development; (3) encourage selfhelp and mutual aid as major strategies for promoting intra- and interregional cooperation between and among developing countries; and (4) advance creative and flexible solutions to matters of subnational, national, regional, and global social development. The WDS must contain a range of flexible funding mechanisms for ensuring its full implementation. Ideally, funds in support of the strategy would be generated from sources that bear directly on the WDS larger goals and objectives. These include (1) the savings realized by each country as a result of reduced military spending and disarmament, that is, the so-called peace dividend (UNDP 1992:85–88); and (2) the levying of “global taxes” on a broad range of activities that threaten Earth’s fragile ecosystems. More specifically, consideration should be given to adoption of the following range of global taxes recommended by UNCED in Agenda 21, the

99 Toward Sustainable Development

UNDP, and others: (1) a global income tax of approximately 0.1 percent of the GNP of every country (Von Weizsacker and Jesinghaus 1992); (2) a fossil fuel consumption tax on each unit of oil and coal consumed (Read 1993); (3) pollution taxes on carbon dioxide and other pollutants; (4) a greenhouse gas tax levied in the form of permits that are leased or traded in international markets; (5) a global commons tax on each country’s usage of the oceans (for fishing, transportation, or seabed mining), the Antarctic (for mining), or space (for communications satellites); (6) an international trade tax, especially on environmentally sensitive products such as tropical hardwoods; (7) a global tax on weapons, including on each country’s defense expenditures and arms trading; and (8) a tax on selected consumer products, but especially on energy consumer goods such as inefficient cars or household equipment. The broad purposes of these global taxes are fivefold: (1) to establish a truer price for the cost of natural resource depletion, environmental degradation, and nonsustainable exploitation of Earth’s resource capacity (Gore 1992); (2) to redirect consumption into more environmentally sustainable paths (Von Weizsacker and Jesinghaus 1992); (3) to stimulate the development of new technologies; (4) to provide incentives for environmental conservation and protection (UNCED 1992); and (5) to generate the revenues that are needed to protect and, as possible, restore those critical areas of the environment that have been damaged as a result of mal-development (UNDP 1992). The WDS must contain mechanisms for the timely review and, as needed, redirection of the strategy in light of new knowledge or in response to new technologies or emerging social, political, economic, or environmental realities. Finally, the WDS must include mechanisms for the continuous and timely reporting to the world community concerning the strategy’s successes and failures.

Prospects for the Future “Sustainable development” is an innovative and powerful concept with considerable unifying power for international development. Sustainable development grew out of the profound, and as yet unresolved, crisis concerning existing development paradigms. The crisis is particularly acute

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concerning the failure of existing models of development to offer effective and lasting solutions to recurrent—and worsening—problems of world poverty, environmental degradation, and the inability of most developing countries to achieve parity with economically advanced nations. Sustainable development also reflects a crisis of vision in the goals and means of international development. More specifically, sustainable development offers a powerful challenge to conceptions of development that emphasize rapid, even ruthless, economic development for a few at the expense of economic, environmental, and even human destruction for the many. Sustainable development also challenges the highly sectoral nature of contemporary development practice, especially the willingness of governments and businesses to exchange long-term costs in some sectors for short-term improvements in others. Sustainable development is also the product of the fundamental social changes and international political realignments that occurred as a result of the collapse of communism. In a seemingly more chaotic and needy world, sustainable development offers at least general guidance to those newly emerging countries that are seeking to accelerate their development. For already economically advanced countries, sustainable development contains the possibility for the emergence of new patterns of international relationships based on mutual interests and humanitarianism. For the world’s developing countries, but especially least developed countries, sustainable development offers renewed hope for increased self-sufficiency, independence, and positive growth. At an even more fundamental level, sustainable development can offer development specialists and laypeople alike the opportunity for beginning anew. This is possible inasmuch as the integrative power in sustainable development can help to ensure the satisfaction of both human and environmental needs without inflicting unnecessary harm on either. Indeed, sustainable development serves as the foundation for the fullest possible expression of human development. In closing, I quote a section from Al Gore’s impressive book, Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (1992:259). In the book, Gore cites a response given by Chief Seattle in 1855 to a request from U.S. President Franklin Pierce, who offered to buy the land of Chief Seattle’s tribe: How can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how

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can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people. . . . If we sell you own land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers. Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. One thing we know: Our God is also your God. The earth is precious to Him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator.

References Adams, N. (1993). World’s apart: The north/south divide and the international system. London: Zed Books. Afshart, H. (1991). Women, development and survival in the third world. New York: Longman. Ahmad, Yusuf J., et al. (1989). Environmental accounting for sustainable development. Washington: World Bank. Alinsky, S. (1972). Rules for radicals: A practical primer for realistic radicals. New York: Vintage Books. Arnold, S.  H. (1989). Sustainable development: A solution to the development puzzle? Development 2/3: 21–25. Azar, E. (1990). The management of protracted social conflict: Theory and cases. Aldershot U.K.: Dartmouth. Bergstrom, S. (1990). Sustainable development accounting: Taking advantage of rigorous theory. Development 3/4: 99–105. Billups, J. O. (1990). Toward social development as an organizing concept for social work and related social professions and movements. Social Development Issues 12, no. 3: 14–26.

102 The Context of Transmigration Bolan, R.  S. (1987). Social welfare, dependency and social development. Social Development Issues 11, no. 1: 3–20. Borgstrom, G. (1965). The hungry planet: The modern world at the edge of famine. New York: Macmillan. Boucher, J., et al. (1987). Ethnic conflict: International perspectives. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage. Braidotti, R., et al. (1993). Women, the environment and sustainable development. London: Zed Books. Brandon, H. (1992). In search of a new world order: The future of us-European relations. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution. Brandt Commission. (1980). North-South: A programme for survival. London: Pan Books. ———. (1983). Common crisis, North–South: Co-operation for recovery. London: Pan Books. Breton, M. (1988). The need for mutual aid groups in a drop-in for homeless women: The “sistering” case. Social Work with Groups 11, no. 4: 47–72. Brown, L. D. (1991). Bridging organizations and sustainable development. Human Relations 44, no. 8: 807–31. Brown, L.  R. (1970). Seeds of change: The green revolution and development in the 1970s. New York: Praeger. ——— (1992). State of the world, 1992. New York: Norton. Brown, M. (1993). Fair trade: Reforming the international trading system. London: Zed Books. Bruntland, G. H. (1989). Sustainable development: An overview. Development 2/3. Carson, R. (1962). Silent spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Cernea, M. (1987). Farmer organizations and institution building. Region Development Dialogue 8, no. 2: 1–24. Chetkow-Yanoov, B. (1990). Three patterns of establishment/ minority-group relations: Implications for conflict resolution. Social Development Issues 12, no. 3: 62–73. ———. (1991). Teaching conflict resolution at schools of social work: A proposal. International Social Work 34, no. 1: 57–68. Cnaan, R., and H. Adar (1987). An integrative model for group work in community organization practice. Social Work with Groups 10, no. 3: 5–24. Coates, J., and J. Jarratt (1989). What futurists believe. Bethesda, Md.: World Futurist Society. Colletta, N. J., et al. (1982). Cultural revitalization, participatory non-formal education and village development in Sri Lanka. Comparative Education Review 6, no. 2: 271–86. Commoner, B. (1958). Science and survival. New York: Viking. Cook, R., et al. (1985). Women: Progress toward equality. London: International Planned Parenthood Federation.

103 Toward Sustainable Development Costa, M. (1987). Current influences on social work in Brazil: Practice and education. International Social Work 30, no. 2: 115–28. David, G. (1987). Peace and development: Toward a more just and global society. Social Development Issues 11, no. 1: 21–37. Dubos, R. (1965). Man adapting. New Haven: Yale University Press. Ehrlich, P. (1968). The population bomb. San Francisco: Ballantine. Ehrlich, P. and A. (1970). Population, resources, environment: Issues in human ecology. San Francisco: Freeman. Ekins, P. (1992). A new world order: Grassroots movements for global change. London: Routledge. ESCAP (1991a). Enhancement of cooperation between governments and non-governmental organizations for human resources development. Bangkok: United Nations, ST/ ESCAP/1036. ——— (1991b). Report of the meeting of senior officials on environment and development in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: United Nations, E/ESCAP/817. ——— (1992a). Towards a regional social development strategy: The regional social situation and alternative policy and planning responses. Bangkok: United Nations. ——— (1992b). Social development strategy for the ESCAP region towards the year 2000 and beyond. Bangkok: United Nations, ST/ESCAP/1124. Esman, M. J., and N. T. Uphoff (1984). Local organizations: Intermediaries in rural development. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Estes, R. J. (1984). The social progress of nations. New York: Praeger. ——— (1988). Trends in world social development. New York: Praeger. ——— (1990). Social development under alternative political and economic systems. Social Development Issues 13, no. 1: 5–19. ——— (1992). Internationalizing social work education: A guide to resources for a new century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. ——— (1995). Social development trends in Africa. Social Development Issues 17, no. 1: 18–47. ——— (1996). Social development trends in Latin America, 1970–1974. Social Development Issues 18, no. 1: 25–52. Falk, R. (1968). Legal order in a violent world. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ——— (1972). This endangered planet: Prospects and proposals for human survival. New York: Vintage Books. ——— (ed.) (1992). Global civilization. New York: World Order Models Project. Falk, R., and S. Mendlovitz. (1967). The strategy of world order. 4 vols. New York: World Law Fund. Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth. New York: Grove. Finger, M. (1993). From political to global ecology: A social history of the green movement. London: Zed Books. Forrester, J. (1971). World dynamics. Cambridge, Mass.: Wright-Allen.

104 The Context of Transmigration Frazer, J.  G. (1922). The golden bough: A study in magic and religion. New York: Macmillan. Freedom House (1992). Freedom in the world: 1991–1992. New York: Freedom House. Friere, P. (1971). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Seabury Press. ——— (1973). Education for critical consciousness. New York: Seabury Press. ———. (1985). The politics of education: Culture, power, and liberation. South Hadley, Mass: Bergin and Garvey. Fuller, R. B. (1969). Utopia or oblivion: The prospects for humanity. New York: Bantam. Gallopin, G. C., et al. (1989). Global impoverishment, sustainable development and the environment: A conceptual approach. International Social Science Journal 121: 375–97. George, S. (1977). How the other half dies. Montclair N.J.: Allanheld, Osmun. Gore, A. (1992). Earth in the balance: Ecology and the human spirit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Group of Green Economists (1992). Ecological economics: A practical programme for global reform. London: Zed Books. Gutierrez, J. A. (1986). A theology of liberation. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books. Halperin, M. H., et al. (1992). Self-determination in the new world order. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Henderson, H. (1991). Paradigms in progress: Life beyond economics. Indianapolis: Knowledge Systems. Hollister, D. C. (1977). Social work skills and social development. Social Development Issues 1, no. 1: 9–20. Honadle, G., and J. Van Sant (1985). Implementation for sustainability: Lessons from integrated rural development. West Hartford, Conn.: Kumarian Press. Humana, C. (1992). World human rights guide. New York: Oxford University Press. Hunger Project (1985). Ending hunger: An idea whose time has come. New York: Praeger. International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) (1991). Radioactive heaven and earth: The health and environmental effects of nuclear weapons testing. London: Zed Books. Jacobs, M. (1990). The green economy: Environment, sustainable development, and the politics of the future. Concord, Mass.: Pluto. Jolly, R. (1987). Adjustment with a human face: Protecting the vulnerable and promoting growth. Oxford: Clarendon Press for UNICEF. Jones, J. T. (1981). Social development: Conceptual, methodological, and policy issues. New York: St. Martin’s. Kahn, H., and A. Wiener (1967). The year 2000: A framework for speculation on the next thirty-three years. New York: Macmillan. Khinduka, S. K. (1987). Development and peace: The complex nexus. Social Development Issues 10, no. 3: 19–30.

105 Toward Sustainable Development Klandermans, B. (1989). International social movement research. Vol. 2. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press. Korten, D. (1990). Getting to the 21st century: Voluntary action and the global agenda. West Hartford, Conn.: Kumarian Press. Latouche, S. (1993). The end of affluent society: An exploration of post-development. London: Zed Books. Lee, J. A. (ed.) (1988). Group Work With the Poor and Oppressed. Social Work with Groups 11, no. 4. Lindner, W. (1989). Preface. Development 2/3: 3. Lusk, M. (1981). Philosophical changes in Latin American social work. International Social Work 24, no. 2: 14–21. ———. (1992). Social development and the state in Latin America: A new approach. Social Development Issues 14, no. 1: 10–21. Mannheim, K. (1936). Ideology and utopia. New York: Harcourt, Brace. Matthews, B. (1982). District development councils in Sri Lanka. Asian Survey 22, no. 11: 1117–34. Max-Neef, M. A. (1992). From the outside looking in: Experiences in “barefoot economics.” London: Zed Books. Meadows, D., et al. (1972). The limits to growth. New York: Universe Books. Meinert, R., and E. Kohn (1987). Toward operationalization of social development concepts. Social Development Issues 10, no. 3: 4–18. Mesarovic, M., and E. Pestel (1974). Mankind at the turning point. New York: Dutton. Midgley, J. (1992). Development theory, the state, and social development in Asia. Social Development Issues 14, no. 1: 71–82. Mies, M., and V. Shiva (1993). Ecofeminism. London: Zed Books. Miller, M. (1990). Can development be sustainable? Development 3/4: 28–37. Mumford, L. (1962). The story of utopias. New York: Viking. Myrdal, G. (1970). The challenge of world poverty. New York: Pantheon. Paiva, F. X. (1977). A conception of social development. Social Service Review (June): 327–36. Piel, G. (1992a). Only one world: Our own to make and to keep. New York: Freeman. ——— (1992b). Agenda 21: Sustainable development. Scientific American (October): 128. Ponting, C. (1990). Historical perspectives on sustainable development. Environment 32: 4ff. Price, L. D. (1987). Global neighborhoods. Social Development Issues 11, no. 1: 49–55. Rahman, A. (1993). People’s self-development: Perspectives on participatory action research. London: Zed Books. Read, P. (1993). Responding to global warming: An integrated long-term strategy. London: Zed Books.

106 The Context of Transmigration Redclift, M. (1987). Sustainable development: Exploring the contradictions. New York: Methuen. Rose, K. (1992). Where women are leaders: The SEWA movement in India. London: Zed Books. Roszak, T. (1969). The making of a counter culture. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. Sacks, W. (1992). The development dictionary: A guide to knowledge as power. London: Zed Books. Sanders, D. S., and J. K. Matsuoka (1989). Peace and development: An interdisciplinary perspective. Honolulu: University of Hawaii School of Social Work. Schumacher, E. F. (1975). Small is beautiful. New York: Harper and Row. Schuurman, F.  J. (ed.) (1993). Beyond the impasse: New directions in development theory. London: Zed Books. Seabrook, J. (1993). Pioneers of change: Experiments in creating a humane society. London: Zed Books. Seidman, A., and F. Anang (eds.) (1992). 21st century Africa: Toward a new vision of self-sustainable development. Atlanta: African Studies Association Press. Shera, W. (1984). New resource communities: Dilemmas in social development. Social Develop-ment Issues 8, nos. 1/2: 144–57. Sivard, R. (1985). Women: A world survey. Washington, D.C.: World Priorities. Speth, J. G. (1990). Environmental security for the 1990s. Development 3/4: 9–15. Stockholm Initiative on Global Security and Governance. (1991). Common responsibility in the 1990s. Development 3/4: 27–28. Tandon, R. (1987). Networks as an instrument for strengthening adult education movements. New Delhi: Society for Participatory Research in India. Tinbergen, J. (1976). Reshaping the international order. New York: E. P. Dutton. Toffler, A. (1970). Future Shock. New York: Random House. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (1992). Agenda 21. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (1992). Human development report, 1992. New York: Oxford University Press. Van Soest, D. (1992). Peace and social justice: The unifying concepts. In Internationalizing social work education, ed. R. J. Estes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. Von Weizacker, E. U. (1993). Earth politics. London: Zed Books. Von Weizacker, E. U., and J. Jesinghaus (1992). Ecological Tax Reform. London: Zed Books. Ward, M. (1982). Accounting for the depletion of natural resources in the national accounts of developing economies. Paris: OECD. Wesley-King, S. W., and R. S. Sanchez-Meyers (1981). Developing self-help group: Integrating community organization strategies. Social Development Issues 5, nos. 2/3: 33–46.

107 Toward Sustainable Development Wheeler, J. (1992). The systemic challenges facing the UNCED. Development 2: 3–4. Wignaraja, P. (ed.) (1992). New social movements in the south: Empowering the people. London: Zed Books. Wilcox, B. A. (1992). Defining sustainable development. Environmental Science & Technology 26, no. 10: 1902. Williams, M. (1989). Sustainable development: A Society for International Development perspective. Development 2/3: 7–9. World Bank (1992). World Development Report, 1992. New York: World Bank. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987). Our common future: From One Earth to One World. New York: Oxford University Press. World Conservation Union (IUCN) (1980). World conservation strategy: Living resource conservation for sustainable development. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. World Resources Institute (WRI) (1992). World resources, 1992–93. New York: Oxford University Press.

[Part II]

Services to Transmigrants

[ 6 ]

Social Work Practice with Victims   of Transnational Human Trafficking Miriam Potocky

My name is Maria. I come from a small village in Guatemala. When I was eleven, my parents sold me to an adult villager named Fernando. I was informed shortly thereafter that Fernando and I were going to be smuggled into the United States I did not want to go but Fernando beat me often and I was only 12 years old, so I had to comply with his wishes. A “coyote” smuggled us into the United States, where Fernando’s brother owns a landscaping business. I was forced to wake up early every morning and cook for the entire landscaping work crew. When they left, I had to clean the entire home. When Fernando’s brother’s wife would leave the home, she would take all the telephones and lock them up. I was not allowed to leave the house. Fernando beat me often. Fernando and his brother argued about money. Fernando owed his brother $2,000. Fernando told his brother to have sex with me in exchange for the debt owed. When his brother would grab me and begin to sexually assault me, I would scream, cry, and resist; however, his brother’s wife refused to help me. Very infrequently I was allowed to accompany the family to the grocery store; however, I was locked in the car all the time and not allowed to come into the store with them. One morning, Fernando beat me savagely and left for work. Fernando’s brother’s wife saw me and she got very nervous. She ran across the street and asked a Hispanic neighbor lady to drive us to the hospital. The neighbor lady agreed to go and Fernando’s brother’s wife got some phony identification cards from her bedroom and presented the cards to the hospital staff. I was treated and after a few hours we went home. The neighbor looked distressed over this entire process, but I was never left alone so I could not tell her about my situation. A few days later, I was home alone and I heard a knock on the door.

112 Services to Transmigrants I had been given orders never to open the door, but I could see it was the neighbor so I walked into the side yard and she joined me there. I cried and told her my whole story. She told me to grab some personal belongings and come with her. She took me to her home and then drove me to a battered women’s shelter. I was contacted by the police there and initially refused to talk to them because I feared Fernando and being deported back to my country to possibly be rejoined with my angry family. The neighbor lady encouraged me to cooperate and help myself, so I told the police everything. —Florida Regional Community Policing Institute, 2006

Maria is a victim of human trafficking. Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery wherein victims are exploited for labor, including sex work. Traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to control their victims. Human trafficking is a crime, and as such it is an underground activity that is difficult and dangerous to uncover. Nonetheless, social workers may encounter human trafficking victims in their practice. As illustrated in Maria’s case, victims sometimes come into contact with social service organizations, such as hospitals and domestic violence shelters. Therefore, social workers need to understand what trafficking is and be aware of signs that someone may be a trafficking victim so that they can obtain appropriate protection and assistance. This chapter defines human trafficking, examines its scope worldwide and in the United States, and describes the experience of victims, policy responses, and methods for identifying and serving victims. Throughout the discussion, Maria’s case is used to illustrate key points.

Definition of Human Trafficking The defining element of human trafficking is the exploitation of a victim through force, fraud, or coercion for purposes of labor, including sex labor. Force may include rape, beatings, constraint, and confinement. Fraud may include false and deceptive offers of employment, marriage, or a better life. Coercion includes threats of serious harm or physical

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restraint to the victim or others, and abuse or threatened abuse of the legal system (USDHHS 2007a). Venues in which victims are exploited include prostitution, field labor, domestic service, servile marriage, exotic dancing, pornography, garment factory sweatshops, and restaurants. Human trafficking is most often conducted by organized crime syndicates (USDHHS 2007b). Actual physical movement of the victim is not necessary to constitute trafficking. Thus, trafficking can and does occur within national borders. However, in most usages, human trafficking refers to the movement of victims across international borders for purposes of exploitation. Human trafficking differs from migrant smuggling. In human trafficking, either victims do not consent to their situations or, if they initially consent, that consent is rendered meaningless by the actions of the traffickers. In contrast, migrant smuggling includes those who consent to being smuggled. Human trafficking involves the ongoing exploitation of victims to generate illicit profits for the traffickers; in contrast, smuggling is a one-time event that ends once the smuggled persons have entered the United States and paid their debts to the smugglers. Finally, smuggling always involves transnational movement, whereas human trafficking does not (USDHHS 2007b; U.S. Department of Justice 2006). The general public has numerous myths or misunderstandings about trafficking and sex work that inhibit identification of victims (USDHHS 2007a). One myth is that all prostitutes are willing participants. In fact, some women are told by traffickers in their home country that they will work in a legitimate job in the destination country, only to be forced into prostitution upon arrival. Other women agree to work in the sex industry, for example as dancers, but do not consent to prostitution, which they are then forced into. Another myth is that all immigrants who are smuggled do so willingly. In fact, as illustrated in Maria’s case, some people are smuggled against their will. A third myth is that all participants involved in human trafficking are criminals. In fact, it is the traffickers who are committing a crime, not the victims, even though the victims may be in the country as undocumented immigrants. Below are some diverse examples of human trafficking around the world that illustrate the foregoing definitions and distinctions (Salett 2006). • A young girl in Russia is promised a good job in France as a childcare worker, and ends up in Germany as a brothel worker.

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• A child in India is abducted from his parents’ home and taken to work in a carpet factory hundreds of miles away. • A young girl in Thailand is sold by her parents to work in the big city, forced into prostitution, and trafficked to Tokyo. • A seven-year-old boy in the Sudan is captured by marauders and made to live with herd animals for ten years in servitude to a local family. • A young Mexican man is captured at the U.S. border and forced to work in agriculture in Florida, in construction in Iowa, or in prostitution in Los Angeles. • A Moldovan woman is promised restaurant work and is trafficked via Ukraine to Turkey for prostitution. • A West African woman asked by her aunt to come to the United States on a domestic worker visa is on call twenty-four hours a day, abused, and never allowed to leave the household.

Scope of the Problem Human trafficking victims include men, women, and children. There are no reliable estimates of the number of trafficking victims, due to the underground nature of this activity. Estimates vary from 4 to 27 million victims worldwide (U.S. Department of State 2007). The U.S. government reports that approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders annually (U.S. Department of State 2007). The U.S. government further reports that 14,500 to 17,500 victims are trafficked to the United States annually (U.S. Department of Justice 2006). However, the methods used to arrive at this estimate are largely unknown and questionable (Clawson, Layne, and Small 2006; Markon 2007). Only 1,175 human trafficking victims have been officially identified (“certified”) by the U.S. government since the enactment of federal antitrafficking legislation in 2000 (U.S. Department of State 2007). There is an obvious gross disparity between the number of estimated victims entering the United States and the number officially identified.

Policy Responses Human trafficking has been a focus of governmental organizations only within the last several years. In 2000 the United Nations established the

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“Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.” Its purpose is to prevent and combat trafficking and facilitate international cooperation against trafficking. It also provides some measures to protect and assist victims (United Nations 2006). The United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), designed to combat trafficking through protection, prosecution, and prevention. Under the TVPA, victims who are willing to assist with the investigation and prosecution of traffickers become “certified” and thereby enabled to obtain legal immigration status, medical care, witness protection, income assistance, and other social service assistance. Additionally, as of 2006, twenty-seven states had enacted antitrafficking legislation to criminalize trafficking and facilitate victim assistance (U.S. Department of State 2007).

The Trafficking Victim Experience The trafficking experience has been described as consisting of four stages: recruitment, transportation and entry, delivery and marketing, and exploitation (Newman 2006). Victims are recruited in their home countries by family members, friends, acquaintances, or employment and travel agencies. The recruiters are often members of organized crime groups. Recruiters target vulnerable populations that include the poor, the young, and the uneducated. Recruitment is usually conducted by fraud through false promises of a legitimate job or work visa and passport. The recruiters often pay for the victim’s travel and later inform the victim that he or she is indebted for this payment. The transportation and entry stage may involve smuggling, as in Maria’s case. This typically entails a guide and concealment in vehicles. Other victims are transported by plane with forged documentation. In the delivery and marketing stage, recruiters may contact “buyers” through advertising in magazines or on the Internet. In other cases, like that of Maria, the recruitment and delivery/marketing stages are tied in that the “buyer” or “employer” is already identified at the recruitment stage. Finally, in the exploitation stage, victims are enslaved through violence, imprisonment, and isolation, as illustrated in the case of Maria, as well as techniques such as threats of violence to the victim’s family in the home country, debt bondage, threats to turn the victim in to authorities,

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seizure of passports and visas, and movement from place to place to keep victims unaware of their whereabouts. Victims fear and distrust the police, the government, and health care and social service providers. They fear being deported and fear for the safety of their families in their home countries. Victims may be unaware that what is being done to them is a crime. They often blame themselves for their situations. Seemingly paradoxically, victims may develop loyalty and positive feelings toward their traffickers. They may try to protect their traffickers from authorities. The list below describes these and other aspects of victims’ mindset (USDHHS 2007a). In essence, victims find themselves in an unexpected exploitative situation from which they cannot escape, in a foreign culture in which they cannot communicate. Their lives and those of their families are endangered, yet they may not identify themselves as victims. Many trafficking victims do not speak English and do not understand American culture. •  Preying upon the poor and destitute from countries in Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa, traffickers lure their victims into the United States with promises of marriage, a good job so they can provide for their families back home, and a better life. • These promises and dreams quickly turn to nightmares as victims find themselves trapped in the sex industry, the service industry, in sweatshops or in agricultural fields—living daily with inhumane treatment, physical and mental abuse, and threats to themselves or their families back home. Sometimes victims do not even know what city or country they are in because they are moved frequently to escape detection. •  Victims of trafficking have a fear or distrust of the government and police because they are afraid of being deported or because they come from countries where law enforcement is corrupt and feared. Sometimes they feel that it is their fault that they are in this situation. As a coping or survival skill, they may even develop loyalties and positive feelings toward their trafficker or try to protect them from authorities. •  Confidentiality is vital for victims of trafficking. Their lives and the lives of their families are often at great risk if they try to escape their servitude or initiate criminal investigations against their captors. Therefore, it is imperative that you minimize the number of staff members who come in contact with the victim. Ensure that all staff members who have contact with the victim, including interpreters and advocates, understand the importance of confiden-

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tiality for the safety of the person. Ensure that interpreters do not know the victim or the traffickers and do not otherwise have a conflict of interest. •  Many victims do not self-identify as victims. They also do not see themselves as people who are homeless or drug addicts who rely on shelters or assistance. Victims may not appear to need social services because they have a place to live, food to eat, medical care, and what they think is a paying job. When interacting with and providing assistance to potential trafficking victims, it is important to understand their mindset so you can provide them the best service and help them begin the process of restoring their lives.

Identifying and Serving Victims Based on the previously described disparity between the estimated number of human trafficking victims and those officially identified, it is clear that the most important role that social workers can play is in identifying victims. As illustrated in the case of Maria, victims occasionally interact with the social service system. However, in Maria’s case, personnel at the hospital failed to identify her as a trafficking victim, sending her back to her situation. This could have been avoided had the personnel been alert to signs of trafficking. Such signs include the following (USDHHS 2007a): • Is the potential victim accompanied by someone who seems to be controlling or who insists on providing information for the victim? • Are there signs of physical abuse? • Does the potential victim seem submissive or fearful? • Does the potential victim have any identification? Here are additional identification aids provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2007a) that focus on clues to control and coercion and methods of enslavement. victim identification A victim of trafficking may look like many of the people you help every day. You can help victims of trafficking get the assistance they need by looking beneath the surface for the following clues:

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• Evidence of being controlled • Evidence of an inability to move or leave job • Bruises or other signs of battering • Fear or depression • Non-English speaking • Recently brought to the country from Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, Canada, Africa, or India • Lack of passport, immigration or identification documentation Traffickers use various techniques to keep victims enslaved. Some traffickers keep their victims under lock and key. However, the more frequent practice is to use less obvious techniques, including: • Debt bondage—financial obligations, honor-bound to satisfy debt • Isolation from the public—limiting contact with outsiders and making sure that any contact is monitored or superficial in nature • Isolation from family members and members of their ethnic and religious community • Confiscation of passports, visas, and/or identification documents • Use or threat of violence toward victims and/or families of victims • The threat of shaming victims by exposing circumstances to family • Telling victims they will be imprisoned or deported for immigration violations if they contact authorities • Control of the victims’ money, e.g., holding their money for “safekeeping” The result of such techniques is to instill fear in victims. The victims’ isolation is further exacerbated because many do not speak English and are from countries where law enforcement is corrupt and feared. victim interaction • Asking the right questions may help you determine if someone is a victim of human trafficking. It is important to talk to a potential victim in a safe and confidential environment. If the victim is accompanied by someone who seems controlling, you should try to separate the victim from that person. The accompanying person could very well be the trafficker.

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•  You should also enlist the help of a staff member who speaks the potential victim’s language and understands his or her culture. Although not ideal, you can enlist interpreter services such as those provided by the ATT Language Line. •  If the victim is a child, it is important to enlist the help of a social services specialist who is skilled in interviewing minor trafficking or abuse victims. Screen interpreters to ensure they do not know the victim or the traffickers and do not otherwise have a conflict of interest. If a social worker suspects that someone may be a trafficking victim, he or she should ask screening questions such as those listed below (USDHHS 2007a), which inquire about the individual’s freedom of movement and living conditions. • Can you leave your job or situation if you want? • Can you come and go as you please? • Have you been threatened if you try to leave? • Have you been physically harmed in any way? • What are your working or living conditions like? • Where do you sleep and eat? • Do you sleep in a bed, on a cot or on the floor? • Have you ever been deprived of food, water, sleep, or medical care? • Do you have to ask permission to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom? • Are there locks on your doors and windows so you cannot get out? • Has anyone threatened your family? • Has your identification or documentation been taken from you? • Is anyone forcing you to do anything that you do not want to do? Bearing in mind that the person accompanying the possible victim may be a trafficker posing as a family member or employer, the social worker should state that it is his or her policy to speak to the person alone. If necessary, a trusted interpreter should be enlisted. Questions should be asked indirectly because the person may deny being a trafficking victim, and the phrase “trafficking victim” will have no meaning (USDHHS 2007a). Most victims of trafficking experience intense fear—of their traffickers and of being deported. Therefore, when interacting with potential trafficking victims, it is important for social workers to reassure them that they are safe

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so they can begin the process of helping them get the protection and assistance they need to rebuild their lives safely in the United States. Gaining the trust of human trafficking victims is an important first step in providing assistance (USDHHS 2007a). Sample messages to help gain this trust include: • We are here to help you. • Our first priority is your safety. • Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, victims of trafficking can apply for special visas or could receive other forms of immigration relief. • We will give you the medical care that you need. • We can find you a safe place to stay. • You have a right to live without being abused. • You deserve the chance to become self-sufficient and independent. • We can help get you what you need. • We can help to protect your family. • You can trust me. • We want to make sure what happened to you doesn’t happen to anyone else. • You have rights. • You are entitled to assistance. We can help you get assistance. • If you are a victim of trafficking, you can receive help to rebuild your life safely in this country. If, after screening, the social worker thinks the person is a trafficking victim and appears to be at risk of imminent harm, the worker should first call the local police. Further, the worker should call the federal Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline, 1-888-373-7888. The hotline will assist the worker to determine whether the person may be a victim and will coordinate with local service providers to protect the victim and deliver needed services. These include immediate assistance with housing, food, medical, safety, and security; language interpretation and legal services; mental health assistance; income assistance; and legal assistance (USDHHS 2007a). The considerations below from the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence (2004) highlight the fact that service models must be comprehensive in scope and uniquely tailored to the needs of this special population.

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•  Housing: Victims of trafficking may need shelter services and housing for long lengths of time. Victims cooperating with law enforcement in the prosecution of the traffickers must have stable, safe housing through the investigation and prosecution of the criminal case, which may take one to two years to complete. On the other hand, some victims may be referred to a domestic violence program after having spent time elsewhere or en route to another program, so the stay may be brief. •  Safety planning: Safety planning takes on an added complexity for victims of trafficking because they often face danger from organized crime or an extensive trafficking organization. Traffickers often threaten the trafficked person’s family in the country of origin as well, and such threats impact decisions made by a trafficked person. •  Mental health/trauma: Victims of trafficking may face mental health issues that may be similar to those of victims of torture. Victims of trafficking may not want to receive mental health services immediately, and it is important that they not be pushed into receiving them. Cultural issues may also come into play, and there may be stigmas to receiving these services. •  Interpretation needs: Agencies serving victims of trafficking often have faced unique interpretation needs, such as accessing an interpreter for particular dialects within a spoken language. Additionally, agencies may have to obtain translations of written consent forms and other documents. •  Providing services to child victims of trafficking: Many victims of trafficking are unaccompanied minors. Most domestic and sexual violence centers have policies against sheltering unaccompanied minors and/or sheltering children without the permission of a parent. Centers should plan for whether they want to, or even can, assist this population and if not, identify other providers in the community that can provide assistance. •  Intensive case management: Trafficking victims often need intensive case management and advocacy for long periods of time to assist them with immigration issues, federal prosecution of the trafficker, accessing special benefits, and other areas. •  Cooperation with law enforcement: To receive benefits, a victim of trafficking must agree to comply with all reasonable requests of law enforcement during the investigation and prosecution of the traffickers. Therefore, as federal and local law enforcement take the lead in investigating, assisting with the prosecution of, and certifying victims of trafficking, an agency may have to work with law enforcement in a much greater capacity

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than previously experienced. Agencies may have to educate law enforcement about certain agency policies and victim issues. •  Criminal culpability of victims of trafficking: Victims of trafficking may themselves be charged with federal or state crimes. Agencies should develop relationships with qualified criminal defense lawyers, including the federal and public defenders offices, who can assist victims. • Reaching out to ethnic communities: Agencies who wish to provide services to victims of trafficking will need to establish or actively build upon relationships with ethnic communities. When establishing new relationships, agencies should be aware that traffickers are often from these same ethnic communities. •  Establishing networks with additional service providers: Because of the unique needs of trafficking victims, agencies may have to identify and establish relationships with service providers—such as those who do refugee resettlement—with whom they have no previous relationship and assess the providers as potential referral sources. •  Media attention: Trafficking prosecutions often attract the interest of local, national, and international media. Agencies may have to obtain assistance with protecting the confidentiality of the victims and their location. A final important role that social workers can play is in educating the general public about human trafficking. As illustrated in Maria’s case, it was a neighbor who ultimately brought help. Because trafficking victims work in so many different venues, the public will have contact with them far more often than social service organizations will. Thus, social workers can conduct public awareness campaigns and can make presentations to various community groups to alert members of the public to the signs of trafficking and what to do if they think they have encountered a victim. Human trafficking is an egregious human rights violation and affront to human dignity. Social workers have an ethical obligation to combat this heinous practice through all means at their disposal. References Clawson, H. J, M. Layne, and K. Small (2006). Estimating human trafficking into the United States: Development of a methodology. Fairfax, Va.: Caliber.

123 Social Work Practice with Victims of Transnational Human Trafficking Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (2004). Human trafficking service provider manual for certified domestic violence centers. Tallahassee: Author. http:// www.fcadv.org. Florida Regional Community Policing Institute (2006). Introduction to human trafficking. St. Petersburg, Fla.: St. Petersburg College. http://cop.spcollege.edu/cop. Markon, J. (2007). Human trafficking evokes outrage, little evidence. Washington Post, September 23, A01. Newman, G.  R. (2006). The exploitation of trafficked women. Problem-Oriented Guides for Police, no. 38. http://www.cops.usdoj.gov. Salett, E. P. (2006). Human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Washington, D.C.: National Association of Social Workers. http://www.socialworkers.org. United Nations (2006). The protocol to prevent, suppress, and punish trafficking in persons (summary). http://www.unodc.org/unodc/trafficking_protocol.html. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) (2007a). Human trafficking social service toolkit. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/campaign_kits/ index.html. ——— (2007b). Report on activities to combat human trafficking. http://www.acf.hhs .gov/trafficking. U.S. Department of Justice (2006). Report on activities to combat human trafficking, fiscal years 2001–2005. http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/tpwetf.htm. U.S. Department of State (2007). Trafficking in persons report. http://www.state. gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt.

[ 7 ]

Social Work Practice   in Refugee Resettlement Miriam Potocky

Abdi is a 6-year-old refugee child from Somalia. In his native country, Abdi survived starvation, witnessed what he calls “an attack” on his mother and sister, and witnessed the killing of his family’s neighbors. He lived with his grandmother until she died. Then Abdi came to the United States to join his parents. After two months in the United States, Abdi’s parents enrolled him in the neighborhood school. It is unclear if Abdi knows that his grandmother died. He does not speak English. He is very aggressive, often kicking at other students. He also has trouble paying attention and looks very sad and confused (MDCFL 2002).

How can a social worker best help refugees like Abdi and his family? That is the subject of this chapter, as illustrated by the case of Abdi. The chapter first defines refugees and describes how their experience differs from that of immigrants. Then it describes the scope and distribution of refugee populations worldwide and in the United States, the transnational service delivery system, and the service needs of refugees in resettlement, concluding with practice principles for refugee resettlement work.

Definition of Refugees Refugees are very specifically defined by international law, namely, the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951. It

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states that a refugee is “a person who is outside his/her country and is unable or unwilling to return to that country because of a well-founded fear that he or she will be persecuted because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.” Thus, refugees are people who have been forced to leave their countries due to persecution. Some people are in circumstances that appear similar to those of refugees, but they are not refugees as defined above. For example, a person may have moved from one part of his or her own country into another part of that same country because of the same fear of persecution as described above. This frequently happens in civil wars. Although such people may have suffered from the same human rights violations as refugees and been forced to move out of their homes like refugees, they have not actually left their countries. Therefore they are not refugees, since the refugee definition refers to people who are outside their countries. Instead, such people are referred to as internally displaced persons. Another refugee-like situation occurs when people are forced to leave their countries because of natural disasters such as droughts or hurricanes. Like refugees, these people are referred to as forced migrants. However, they are not refugees because they were forced to leave by acts of nature and not acts of persecution by humans (Potocky-Tripodi 2002). In the case of Abdi, his family fled a long-standing civil war in Somalia that has included mass human rights violations and atrocities.

The Refugee Experience It is important for social workers to understand that refugees are different from immigrants, who leave their countries voluntarily, usually for better economic opportunities. The two groups generally differ in their outlooks, feelings, and experiences. Because of their experience of persecution and their involuntary migration, refugees tend to face more challenges and have more needs than immigrants. The refugee experience consists of several stages: premigration, transit, integration/resettlement, and repatriation. The premigration stage entails loss of family and friends and of a familiar environment. Generally, the losses are greater and the premigration experience is more traumatic for refugees than for immigrants. Because refugees live in politically oppressive conditions or in the midst of war, they may have been subject to

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discrimination, ostracization, imprisonment, violence, rape, torture, and death of family members (Potocky-Tripodi 2002). Refugees often leave under hurried, chaotic, and dangerous conditions. In many cases refugees flee in the midst of armed conflict. They may be victims of violence during this time, or they may witness violence, rape, torture, or killing. In some cases refugees leave in mass movements, with hundreds or thousands of people. Because refugees flee under these chaotic conditions, they usually must leave almost all their possessions behind. Thus, they lose their homes and other assets. Further, refugees do not know when, if ever, they will be able to return to their countries. Thus, leaving behind family and friends is particularly painful since they know they may never see them again (PotockyTripodi 2002). The experiences during the premigration stage influence the later stages of the migration process. In particular, these experiences affect refugees’ health and mental health later. Thus, it is important for the social worker to learn about a client’s experiences in the country of origin and during the departure. The premigration stressors in Abdi’s case are evident: he has suffered multiple losses, including the temporary loss of his parents, the loss of his grandmother, and the loss of his familiar surroundings. He has witnessed numerous acts of violence, including what appears to be rape of his family members, and murder. There remain many unanswered questions about Abdi’s premigration experience that the social worker should explore with Abdi’s parents: “What were the circumstances of his grandmother’s death? Does Abdi know about her death? Why or why not? Why did the parents come to the United States two years before Abdi? Was it immigration issues? Had the parents become separated from their children as they were displaced from their home? Was the grandmother the last relative in Somalia?” (MDCFL 2002:29). Finding the answers to these questions would provide the social worker with a fuller understanding of Abdi’s presenting problems. The transit stage of the refugee experience involves the physical move from one country to another. For refugees, the transit may be dangerous or life-threatening. Refugees may be passing through areas of armed conflict and may be subject to or witness the same atrocities as in the premigration stage. They may undertake a lengthy journey on foot dur-

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ing which they may face starvation, dehydration, hypothermia, or other physical ailments. Some refugees leave on boats, which are often in poor condition and overloaded. Sinking, drowning, and illness or death due to sun exposure are not uncommon. In many cases refugees are placed in refugee camps in neighboring countries before they are sent to a permanent home in a third country such as the United States. These camps usually consist of tent cities. They are often overcrowded and have poor sanitary conditions. Diseases and violence in the camps are not uncommon. Refugees may remain in such camps for years. Refugees seeking asylum (i.e., protection) may be placed in a detention center while their cases are decided. In some cases, these individuals have remained in detention for months or years. Again, trauma experienced during the transit can affect the person’s adaptation in the later stages (PotockyTripodi 2002). Following the transit stage, refugees face one of two possibilities: repatriation, that is, return to their native country; or integration/resettlement, that is, long-term residence in a host country. According to international law, refugees are not supposed to be returned to their native countries if they still face danger of persecution there (United Nations 1951). Unfortunately, this legal mandate is often violated, so that refugees are forced to return to the same oppressive or life-threatening situations they fled. Even in situations where the same danger no longer exists, for example, due to a change in political regimes, repatriated refugees often still face major problems. Just because a national regime has changed does not mean that local factions or power holders have; thus repatriated refugees may still experience persecution, or at the very least resentments and discrimination, from those who have remained in the native country (Long and Oxfeld 2004). Even if there is no danger, refugees usually have no actual home to return to, as property, livelihoods, and social networks are destroyed by war. For these repatriated refugees, starting a new life in the native country may in some ways not be too different from starting a new life in a new country. In the case of Abdi, the circumstances of his transit are unknown. The social worker should attempt to find out whether his transit was dangerous and/or traumatic, being careful not to retraumatize him while seeking this information. Refugees who are not repatriated and do not remain in transit are integrated or resettled. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner

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for Refugees distinguishes between integration and resettlement. The term integration is used for refugees who settle long-term in the country where they first received asylum, which is usually a neighboring country. The term resettlement is used for refugees who settle in a third country (after the native country and the asylum country). In everyday usage, however, the terms integration and resettlement are interchangeable. The integration/resettlement stage can be seen as lasting throughout the refugees’ stay in the new country. For refugees resettled in a third country, this is usually for the rest of their lives. In a minority of cases, refugees repatriate after having resettled. Refugees are likely to encounter numerous difficulties during the integration/resettlement stage. Language ability, employment, and housing are obvious and immediate challenges. Refugees may experience health problems and may face inadequate health care access. They are at risk of developing mental health problems due to the stressors and traumas experienced during the migration process. The process of acculturation, that is, adaptation to the new culture, is also stressful. Commonly observed mental health issues of refugees include grief, alienation and loneliness, decreased self-esteem, depression, anxiety, somatization, paranoia, guilt, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse. Additionally, the stressors of the migration process typically lead to changes in family roles and dynamics, often resulting in marital and intergenerational conflicts, which may include domestic violence, child abuse, and elder abuse. Finally, refugees may face prejudice, racism, and discrimination in the host society (Potocky-Tripodi 2002). For Abdi, English ability is an obvious issue at this stage. He may have health problems arising from the starvation he experienced in Somalia. He is exhibiting anger, which is probably a manifestation of grief over his losses and alienation from being in a strange new environment. Since he had not seen his parents in at least two years, he is living in a home with virtual strangers. Not only are his home and neighborhood different, but, since he is 6 years old, he has probably never attended school, so “everything from folders to schedules to lining up in the hallway is new” (MDCFL 2002:23). If there are no other Somali students in his class, he likely feels isolated and lonely. Additionally, Abdi may be a target of harassment by his schoolmates due to his skin color, religion, attire, or speech. Undoubtedly, Abdi’s arrival, while welcomed by his parents, has caused stress in the family system. The social worker should explore whether

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there are resulting conflicts in the home. If Abdi’s sister is in the home, she may resent having to share their parents’ attention with him. Abdi may not respect his parents’ authority since his grandmother was his authority figure previously. The family may be living in more crowded housing due to the addition of the new family member. Looking into the future, as Abdi grows older and acculturates to American norms, conflicts may arise between him and his parents, and he may experience identity conflict.

Scope of Refugee Populations It is estimated that there are approximately 10 million refugees worldwide (UNHCR 2007). This includes those in transit and integration, and those who have been in resettlement for ten years or less. It does not include repatriated refugees. Of the estimated 10 million, approximately 2.4 million are in sub-Saharan Africa; nearly 4 million are in Central and Southwest Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East; 1 million are in the Americas; nearly 1 million are in Asia, and 1.7 million in Europe. The major source countries of refugees in 2006 were Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burundi (UNHCR 2007). Approximately 70,000 refugees were resettled in third countries in 2006. The third-country nations resettling the most refugees were the United States, Australia, and Canada (U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants 2007). Approximately 41,000 refugees resettled in the United States in 2006. The major source countries of these resettled refugees were the former Soviet Union, Somalia, Cuba, Vietnam, Iran, and Liberia (ORR 2007a). In the past twenty-five years, nearly two million refugees have resettled in the United States (ORR 2007b). Over half a million of these are from Southeast Asia, and another half-million are from the former Soviet Union (ORR 2006).

Transnational Service Delivery Systems A vast and complex system of organizations delivers social services to refugees. International agencies, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), provide assistance during the premigration, transit, and repatriation

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stages. Services in these stages typically involve two or more countries. Premigration and transit services include compiling immigration documents, prescreening activities, obtaining exit permits and safe conduct passes, medical examinations, interviews and interpretation services, making logistical transportation arrangements, legal advising, language training, cultural orientation, and coordination with the receiving country (Potocky-Tripodi 2002). Repatriation services include preparing the refugees and the receiving country for return (IFSW 1998). Due to the complexity of the service delivery system, transnational services are not always delivered effectively and efficiently. To improve service delivery, intergovernmental agencies and NGOs should cooperate to expand definitions of refugees, coordinate governmental policies, and reduce service gaps and duplications (Potocky-Tripodi 2002). Although transnational social work involves all stages of the refugee experience, the integration/ resettlement stage is the one during which most social workers will work with refugees.

Service Needs in Resettlement As stated earlier, in view of the fundamental differences between refugees and immigrants, refugees have more needs in the resettlement phase than immigrants do. In recognition of this, U.S. policy treats the two groups very differently. There is a comprehensive and coordinated federal program for resettlement assistance for refugees, which does not exist for immigrants. This program was established by the Refugee Act of 1980. Additionally, both this act and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 provide refugees far more eligibility for public assistance than is available to immigrants. Some social workers are employed in agencies that specifically serve refugees, such as private agencies that contract with the government to provide resettlement assistance under the Refugee Act. However, most social workers’ contact with refugees will occur in the course of their work in mainstream social service organizations, such as family service agencies, child welfare agencies, schools, hospitals, and health and mental health clinics (Potocky-Tripodi 2002). For example, a school social worker might work with Abdi and his family. It is important for social workers to be familiar with the variety of available organizations and services in order

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to help clients navigate a social service system that can often be confusing and overwhelming. Because of their multiple needs, refugees in the resettlement phase require comprehensive services. Thus, information and referral and case management are fundamental tasks for social workers in working with this population. Information and referral entail providing information about an agency’s services and eligibility criteria, and referring to other agencies when appropriate. Case management involves matching clients with community resources, following up on referrals, and coordinating the multiple services from multiple agencies that a client receives. Beyond this, specific services for refugees may include employment services, such as career counseling, job training and placement, and job development; English as a second language (ESL) classes; housing services; counseling and treatment, such as individual, family, and group therapy or crisis intervention; protective services for cases of child abuse or domestic violence; and health services, such as health screening, primary care, and nutrition. Abdi needs ESL instruction. This can be provided in several ways, including bilingual education or English immersion, depending on the school district’s policy. Because Abdi is very young, he will likely learn English quickly, but he may be in danger of losing his native language ability. This could cause communication problems and conflicts with his parents later on, as well as a loss of cultural identity. Therefore, educators and social workers working with Abdi should strive toward a goal of bilingual competence. Abdi’s family may need new housing; the school social worker should assess this area and make a referral to a housing agency if appropriate. The social worker should also refer Abdi to the school nurse or other health care provider to assess his nutritional and health status. Abdi also needs mental health intervention to address his behavioral problems, which are likely rooted in his traumatic experiences and his alienation and isolation. The social worker can engage Abdi in play therapy using an interpreter and implement a behavioral intervention to reinforce appropriate behavior in the classroom. The worker could also implement educational activities to familiarize Abdi with his new school environment, which could include everything from learning how to use a pencil and paper to behavioral expectations. If there are other Somali students in the school, the social worker could find an older mentor for Abdi or develop a peer support group.

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Practice Principles Social work practice in refugee resettlement should be guided by the following core values (Canadian Council for Refugees 1998): •  Access—services must be accessible to all who need them. Practice principles for ensuring access include offering multilingual services, conducting outreach, and providing services at a site that is geographically accessible. For example, Abdi’s school location could serve as a neighborhood service center for Somali families. •  Inclusion—services should be sensitive to diversity among clients. Principles for ensuring inclusion include providing services that are nondiscriminatory, nonsexist, and nonjudgmental. •  Client empowerment—services should aim to promote client independence. Relevant principles include ensuring client involvement and participation in agency and personal decision making, building on client strengths, and supporting clients’ right to choose. For example, Abdi’s school social worker could involve his parents and other Somali families in deciding what services could be offered at the school’s service center. •  User-defined services—services must be responsive to clients’ needs as defined by the clients themselves. Practice principles for ensuring this core value include conducting individualized assessments, involving clients in goal setting, and providing service flexibility. Thus, Abdi’s social worker, together with the family, should develop an individualized service plan that identifies specific measurable objectives based on the family’s identified needs and strengths. •  Holistic approach—services need to be comprehensive. This is assured by recognizing clients’ multiple needs (physical, social, psychological, political, and spiritual), providing multiple services at one site, and recognizing that resettlement is a long-term process. For example, as mentioned earlier, Abdi and his family may face family conflicts as Abdi grows older. Thus, preventive services, in addition to the services addressing the immediate presenting problems, would be valuable. •  Respect for the individual—clients’ rights and dignity must be upheld in the service delivery process. Relevant practice principles include ensuring confidentiality, complying with ethics codes, and obtaining clients’ informed consent for all services.

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•  Cultural sensitivity—clients’ cultural norms need to be respected. Principles for achieving this include having bicultural service providers, being knowledgeable about clients’ cultures, and having agency policies on cultural competency. Before working with Abdi, the social worker should become familiar with Somali cultural norms and history and with the Islamic religion. The worker should also be aware of differing clans within the Somali community. •  Community development—refugee participation in the larger community should be fostered, along with communities that welcome of refugees. Principles for ensuring community development include building bridges between communities, improving public attitudes toward refugees, and working with refugees’ indigenous organizations. For example, Abdi’s social worker could organize a “Somali Day” at the school to celebrate that culture and enhance cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. •  Collaboration—there should be interagency coordination and cooperation. Practice principles for assuring collaboration include promoting agency partnerships that build on the strengths of each agency, communicating with others regularly, and building coalitions. •  Accountability—the agency is responsible to its multiple constituencies. Relevant practice principles include developing specific, measurable, and realistic agency outcomes, engaging in ongoing monitoring, and being fiscally responsible. •  Orientation toward positive change—clients’ well-being should be promoted, and society’s capacity to offer equal opportunities to all its members should be enhanced. Principles for achieving this include advocating for policy improvements, developing innovative programs and service models, and improving services through training and research. For example, Abdi’s social worker should work with the principal and staff to ensure that the school has an appropriate antibullying policy and that it is enforced. •  Reliability—services must be based on accurate data. Practice principles for ensuring reliability include maintaining timely information, utilizing research findings, and exchanging information. This chapter has provided introductory information for working with refugees in the resettlement phase. A multitude of resources on this subject have been developed in recent years, which provide much more depth than has been possible in this brief overview. Although this chapter has by

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necessity focused on problems and traumas, helping refugees regain a new life in a new country is often a highly fulfilling experience. questions for reflection and discussion 1.  What, if any, limitations or problems do you see with the United Nations definition of refugees? 2.  Who are major refugee groups in your local community? What are some key features of their histories and cultures? 3.  What might be three specific, measurable objectives for Abdi and his family? References Canadian Council for Refugees (1998). Best settlement practices. Montreal: Author. Available at http://www.ccrweb.ca//bpfina1.htm. International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) (1998). International policy on refugees. Available: www.ifsw.org. Long, L. D., and E. Oxfeld (eds.) (2004). Coming home? Refugees, migrants, and those who stayed at home. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning (MDCFL) (2002). Serving refugee students: Case studies of Somali, Bosnian, and Liberian students. Roseville, Minn.: Author. Available at http://cfl.state.mn.us/lep. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) (2006). Annual report to Congress, 2005. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http:// www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr. ——— (2007a). Fiscal year 2006 refugee arrivals. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr. ——— (2007b). Office of Refugee Resettlement fact sheet. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ orr. Potocky-Tripodi, M. (2002). Best practices for social work with refugees and immigrants. New York: Columbia University Press. United Nations (1951). Convention relating to the status of refugees. Geneva: Author. http://www.unhcr.org. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (2007). 2006 global trends. Geneva: Author. http://www.unhcr.org. U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (2007). World refugee survey 2007. Washington, D.C.: Author. http://www.refugees.org.

[ 8 ]

Transnational Men Rich Furman and Erin Casey

Although gender roles have a significant effect on both men and women, the literature has typically focused on women. When gender has been presented in ethical discussions within social work, the discussion typically has centered on the oppressive structures that affect women’s lives. This focus has been valuable and has allowed the profession to contribute to our understanding of sexual trafficking (Schatz and Furman 2002), systematic discrimination in the work place (Vermeulen and Mustard 2000), intimate partner violence (Commonwealth Fund 1999), and other types of sexual violence. Indeed, one of the priorities of the profession has been, and should continue to be, anti-oppressive practice with women and communities that addresses genderbased inequity. Correia and Bannon (2006:245) explore the manner in which social structures, gender, and power influence the lives of poor and marginal men: “Gender is also about the way social structures and authority give men power over other men, thus resulting in their marginalization, discrimination, and subordination. To ignore this other idea of gender is to ignore a critical variable in some of the most pressing issues.” Not only are the vast majority of the world’s men poor and “at risk” in their own right, it is clear that experiences of poverty and oppression

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are often contributing factors underlying men’s violence toward women. Fanon (1960) was one of the first to clearly articulate how those who have been oppressed over time can become oppressors themselves and victimize those with less power. David Gil (1990) referred to this type of violence as “reactive violence,” which occurs within a context of institutions that are structurally violent or that do not meet the basic and existential needs of people. Out of pain and desperation, those subjected to structural violence can act out this violence on themselves and others. The sociological nature of this violence does not excuse personal responsibility but instead requires the social work profession to address its causes and consequences. Therefore, the profession must consider the needs of men not only for their sake, but for their families as well. This is particularly true of the most marginalized of men, those who fall between the cracks of the social fabric of traditional nation-states: migrant and transmigrant men. The purposes of this chapter are to define the risks faced by men who migrate across national boundaries and to explore the applicability of social work practices for transmigrant men .

Transnational Men at Risk While there is little debate that women are more at risk for biopsychosocial concerns than are men due to the consequences of gender-based inequality and political and economic marginalization, it is arguable that the majority of the world’s men are at risk. Risk is defined as internal or external variables that increase the likelihood that an individual or group will experience future difficulties (Greene 2007). Risk also increases adverse outcomes and individual stress and reduces coping capacities (Ephross 2005). Overall, the health and safety outcomes for men are troubling. For example, in the United States, men are more likely than women to be victims of all crimes except for sexual assault and rape (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2005). Globally, the life expectancy of men is far less than that of women, at 63.89 years and 69.5 years, respectively. Men also struggle with substance abuse at greater rates than do women and suffer from some forms of mental health disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, at extremely high rates (Foa, Keane, and Friedman 2000).

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The nature of transmigration places migrant men at additional risk. The experience of migration itself predisposes men to various psychosocial problems and issues. By the time transmigrant men begin the journey to another country, their lives in their home country have often become characterized by crisis—the precipitating cause of the need to begin their transmigratory lives (Poole and Salgado de Snyder 2002). Economic uncertainty, loss of employment, social dislocation, political repression and abuse all lead men to leave their home countries. Away from their families and communities, these men exist without the protective supports of home and the means by which they normally contend with stress. Many transnational migrants do not have legal status in their receiving country and therefore have little legal protection from those who seek to take advantage of their vulnerable status. Transnational men who cross borders for work are often exploited by their employers and have no legal resource for action. This vulnerability has placed transnational men at high risk of occupational hazards, economic exploitation, social isolation, substance abuse, and other mental health problems (Pena-Lopez 2004). Health risks may be further exacerbated by transnational men’s legal status, lack of officially recognized employment, poverty, and language deficits. In many countries, transmigrant men do not have any access to health care or are reluctant to access health care due to their vulnerable migrant status (Poole 1996). Additionally, their transitory status hinders the development of robust supportive networks in the communities that transmigrant men move between. As these men move back and forth across borders, they run the risk of increased exploitation, violence, and involvement with legal systems. For instance, the drug-related violence on the U.S.–Mexican border has led to the death of many men who have not been directly involved in the drug trade yet are part of a transnational system for moving goods and people across the international border (Galen-Carpenter 2009). Increased security in the border region makes it more likely that transmigrant men will be arrested and deported or detained. When transmigrant men are detained, they often lose their primary source of income and may experience powerlessness and fear, as they lose contact with loved ones. These additive, layered experiences of stress, threats of or actual violence, resource loss, and oppression exacerbate the health and safety risks faced by transmigratory populations.

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Changing Masculinities in a Transnational World Men’s risk is also related to the ways in which they construct their identities as men, or are denied access to ideals of masculinity promoted in home and host countries. It is a hallmark of globalization that people from different cultural contexts will come into increased contact. This is especially true for transmigrant men, who through the nature of transmigratory processes will encounter groups with different cultural norms in both economic and social spheres. Men encounter each other and models of masculinity both in the industrial contexts within their own borders and in those across national boundaries. Additionally, the technological changes that will be discussed in chapter 11 have had profound impact on the nature of men’s lives and masculinity, as men have access to increased information about what it means to be a man in other societies. In fact, it is through this engagement with other men and women that masculinity is constructed and performed. The manner in which men construct their identities is often in relation to perceived identities and possibilities within other cultures. In a study of the transnational narratives of gay men from Martinique, Murray (2000:262) notes that “while Martinican public culture may maintain a uniform, rigid appearance, individuals and groups who are marginalized by virtue of some aspect of their personality or beliefs may find strength through awareness that somewhere else there exist similar people who face difficulties, and in some cases, who publicly resist their stigmatization.” Murray found that one of the key means for men to cope with antihomosexual sentiments within their own society was to create narratives of escape and fantasies about lives in places that are more tolerant. These beliefs become generated and shaped by men’s experience with tourists visiting their island, their experiences living abroad, and media representations. Therefore, even men who will never transmigrate themselves find their identity and world view shaped by the consequences and possibilities of transnationalism. Particularly relevant to the discussion of constructions of masculinity and men’s risk is the notion of hegemonic masculinity, a central concept in gender studies for two decades (Connell and Messerschmidt 2005). It refers to the form of masculinity (and accompanying roles, values, and ideas) that is privileged within a given society. The hegemonic ideal becomes a model for which men are expected to strive. Often termed “traditional” masculin-

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ity, the construction differs within each society. However, this ideal, which in American society has to do with dominance, wealth, power, and stoicism, is certainly not easy to achieve. Connell (2003:2) contends: “Not all men actually embody the hegemonic model, in fact, probably only a minority do. Yet the hierarchy around this version of masculinity is an important source of conflict and violence among men.” To Correia and Bannon (2006), the hegemonic idea becomes a yardstick by which individual men judge themselves. In fact, since material success is a powerful component of the hegemonic ideal, many poor and working-class men by definition are not able to achieve this standard. Correia and Bannon note how men from diverse communities are often discouraged from meeting these ideas by structural barriers such as poverty and discrimination, as well as by a disconnect between the hegemonic ideal and their own culture. This is particularly true for transmigrant men, whose migration status may make it difficult for them to access key institutions and services, and whose relationship with residents within their host country may be complex or at times even conflictual (i.e., the present anti-immigration sentiment in the United States, which is fueled by an economic downturns). Not only do notions of a dominant or “ideal” masculinity exclude many men, thereby increasing the likelihood that they may seek to establish dominance and power in other aspects of their lives, but many of the elements of hegemonic masculinity held up as desirable are the very traits that are associated with a range of health and safety risks for males. Men who strongly endorse “traditional” masculinity or rigid gender roles are more likely to engage in sexual risk-taking (O’Sullivan et al. 2006) and violence (Santana et al. 2006), and may be at greater risk of unintentional injury and health care services avoidance (see, for review, Courtenay 2000). As a whole, therefore, the risks associated with the ways masculinities are constructed and pursued, coupled with the economic, health, and safety vulnerabilities connected to transmigration, render transmigratory men a critical population of concern to the field of social work.

Social Work, Social Development, and Men Social work and social development scholars have increasingly begun to attend to the needs of men. The year 2008 saw the first national-level

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conference on Social Work and Men at the University of Alabama’s School of Social Work, and scholars are recognizing that resolving some of the most difficult and intractable problems faced by women requires working with men as partners in the process of social and community change (e.g., Greig, Kimmel , and Lang 2000). Social work’s analysis of problems as largely ecological suggests that interventions designed to address those problems must include men. Indeed, how could social change and transformation occur if nearly half the population was not accounted for? Beyond merely including men, or seeing them as legitimate service recipients, social work—particularly transnational social work—is well positioned to engage men’s considerable strengths and to partner with them in service of social change. Already, thousands of men globally have joined efforts to address violence in communities and families and to serve as role models for boys and younger men (Flood 2001). Across studies, research has reaffirmed that the vast majority of men hold values, beliefs, and attitudes consistent with their own and their families’ well-being. For example, studies of U.S. male college students have demonstrated that most place a high value on mutual consent in sexual relationships (Fabiano et al. 2003) and are often willing to intervene with other males who are behaving disrespectfully toward women (Banyard, Moynihan, and Plante 2007; Fabiano et al., 2003). Another example emerges from HIV prevention research, which has demonstrated that among myriad others, male Latino immigrants to the United States (Knipper et al. 2007), adolescent boys in the United States (Morrison et al. 2007), and men residing in rural South Africa (Hartung et al. 2002) tend to hold positive attitudes toward condoms, are knowledgeable about their use, and use them in a substantial number of sexual situations. In a summary of international programs that engage men and boys in a variety of health and safety interventions, Barker, Ricardo, and Nascimento (2007) conclude that men are willing both to engage in programs and to reassess their health and gender-related attitudes and behaviors. Social work interventions that capitalize on these positive attitudes and capacities and that see men as partners in fostering good health hold the potential to address not only the risks faced by male transnational migrants, but also the social and health issues encountered by their partners and children. Men’s antiviolence programs are a prominent example of positive engagement of men toward the goal of social change. Globally, dozens of

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organizations and programs have emerged that engage men as allies in efforts to end violence against women, and that do outreach and education with men and boys in their communities. Although the programs vary widely in theoretical orientation and approach, groups typically aim to challenge community and peer norms that support violence, disentangle ideas about “masculinity” from acceptance of the use of violence, use members’ status and privilege as males to confront peer misbehavior, and provide mentorship to younger boys and men (Barker, Ricardo, and Nascimento 2007; DeKeseredy, Schwartz, and Alvi 2000). Although most programs remain underevaluated, evidence of the effectiveness of these approaches is beginning to emerge. Examples include “Program H,” a gender violence prevention program originally developed by a coalition of Latin American nongovernmental organizations. Using a combination of small-group psycho-educational programming and social marketing with men to promote gender equality, the program successfully reduced violence-supportive attitudes and increased condom use among a sample of Brazilian men (see, for review, Barker 2006). This program has since been adapted for use in India and sub-Saharan Africa. Similarly, a media campaign targeting men in Nicaragua entitled “Violence Against Women: A Disaster We Can Prevent as Men” successfully increased male viewers’ beliefs that men have a role to play in reducing gender-based violence (as cited in Barker, Ricardo, and Nascimento 2007). “Bystander” approaches in the United States that engage men as antiviolence allies and provide them with skills to intervene when disrespectful comments are made or disrespectful behavior occurs have demonstrated success in increasing men’s ability and willingness to take action in the face of potential abuse of women (Banyard, Moynihan, and Plante 2007; Ward 2000. Although no programs specific to transnational migrants have been evaluated, the principle of engaging men as allies in social justice carries clear merits for both honoring men’s strengths and contributions and potentially reducing abusive conduct and other risk behaviors. Men’s antiviolence programs have also identified approaches to reaching men that are less likely to be effective or that can create unintended or negative consequences. For example, approaching men as the central cause of violence or other health and safety issues is likely to engender far more defensiveness, resistance, and attrition than approaching them as allies and a vital part of the solution (Berkowitz 2002). Further, prevention or intervention programs that are not culturally or linguistically tailored

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or that use prevention workers whose race or gender does not match that of program participants may hold diminished value for the participants (Heppner et al. 1999). In his meta-analysis of social development programs for men that have been shown to have positive outcomes, Barker (2006) posits two key implications: (1) the need to promote gender-equitable role models and social norms in young men’s community settings, and (2) providing interventions that assist young men, their parents, and their broader social contexts in critically evaluating the costs of traditional forms of masculinity. From these lessons, Barker promotes change strategies from an ecological perspective that point to the importance of “promoting critical reflections of gender and socialization in educational activities, (ii) the creation of environments in which individual and group-level changes are supported by changes in social norms and institutions and (iii) broader alliance-building across government, civil society and local communities to contribute to reinforcing positive changes in norms around gender and sexuality” (8). Examples of programming that incorporate this type of reflection on gender socialization within multilevel interventions include the Stepping Stones project, a prevention program aimed at improving gender relations, communication, and HIV prevention behaviors in African communities. The approach incorporates a package of activities that include tailored, peerbased discussion of gender and gender roles and how these are related to health and relationship behaviors. In a rigorous trial in South Africa, outcomes of the Stepping Stones project included reduced rates of HIV infections and intimate partner violence perpetration, and increased condom use among male participants (Jewkes et al. 2007). In the United States, promising programs that explicitly examine masculinity include the Men of Strength (MOST) clubs created by Men Can Stop Rape in Washington, D.C. (MCSR 2006). MOST club members participate in a sixteen-week curriculum designed to examine masculine ideologies, reframe conceptualizations of male “strength,” and promote skills for future antisexism activism and positive bystander behavior. Participants are then encouraged to engage in skill building, awareness events, and coalition building in their larger communities. In a recent pre–post evaluation of MOST club participants, after sixteen weeks of club participation high school–age boys reported a greater willingness to intervene in a scenario involving a young woman being inappropriately touched (Hawkins 2005). Although these kinds of programs have not been tailored or evaluated for transmigrant men, their principles

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of partnering with men, creating supportive environments, and providing space to critically assess attitudes and beliefs may support social workers in engaging men across the spectrum of their needs and vulnerabilities. At the same time, research and intervention development that speak to the unique needs of transmigrant men are urgently needed. Given the unique political, economic, safety, and health vulnerabilities to which transmigrant men are exposed, as well as the health risks generated for all men through striving to meet often unattainable masculine ideals, the social work field needs to augment its theory and practice in relation to transmigratory male populations. Rather than constituting a shift toward focusing resources on a privileged group (men), social work practice with transmigrant men holds the potential to ameliorate not only the struggles faced by males who cross national borders for work, but those of the families and communities to which they contribute. Recognizing the sources of marginalization of transmigrant men and engaging them in the processes of social change will enhance the well-being of men and the ecological layers surrounding them. References Banyard, V. L., M. M. Moynihan, and E. G. Plante (2007). Sexual violence prevention through bystander education: An experimental evaluation. Journal of Community Psychology 35:463–81. Barker, G. (2006). Engaging boys and men to empower girls: Reflections from practice and evidence of impact. Florence, Italy: United Nations. Barker, G., C. Ricardo, and M. Nascimento (2007). Engaging men and boys in changing gender-based inequity in heath: Evidence from programme interventions. Geneva: World HealthOrganization. Berkowitz, A. D. (2002). Fostering men’s responsibility for preventing sexual assault. In Preventing violence in relationships, ed. P. Schewe. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. Böhnisch, L. (2008). The current discussion on men and masculinities. Social Work and Society 6, no. 1. http://www.socwork.net/2007/festschrift/esw/boehnisch. Accessed August 10, 2008. Bureau of Justice Statistics (2005). Victim’s statistics. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_v.htm. Accessed November 25, 2006. Cavanaugh, K., and V. E. Cree. (eds.) (1996). Working with men: Feminism and social work. London: Routledge.

144 Services to Transmigrants Commonwealth Fund (1999). Health concerns across a woman’s lifespan: 1998 Survey of women’s health. New York: Author. Connell, R. W. (1998). Masculinities and globalization. Men and Masculinity, 1(1), 3–23. ——— (2000). Masculinity and violence in world perspective. In Frieden, kultur und geschlecht, ed. A. Godenzi, 65–83. Freiburg: Freiburg University Press. Connell, R. W., and J. W. Messerschmidt (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender and Society 19, no. 6: 829–59. Correia, M. C., and I. Bannon (2006). Gender and its discontents: Moving to menstreaming development. In The other half of gender, ed. I. Bannon and M. C. Correia, 245–60. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. Courtenay, W. H. (2000). Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men’s well-being: A theory of gender and health. Social Science and Medicine 50: 1385–1401. DeKeseredy, W.  S., M. D. Schwartz, and S. Alvi (2000). The role of profeminist men in dealing with woman abuse on the Canadian college campus. Violence Against Women 6: 918–35. Ephross, P. H. (2005). Social work with groups: Practice principles. In Group work with populations at risk, ed. G. L. Greif and P. H. Ephross, 1–14. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press. Fabiano, P. M., et al. (2003). Engaging men as social justice allies in ending violence against women: Evidence for a social norms approach. Journal of American College Health 52: 105–13. Fanon, F. (1960). The wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Atlantic. Flood, M. (2001) Men stopping violence: Men’s collective anti-violence activism and the struggle for gender justice. Development 44: 42–47. Foa, E. B., T. M. Keane, and M. J. Friedman (eds.) (2000). Effective treatments for PTSD: Practice guidelines from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. New York: Guilford Press. Galen-Carpenter, T. (2009). Mexico’s drug violence poses a threat to the United States. Policy Analysis no. 631. Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute. Gil, D. (1990). Unraveling social policy. Rochester: Schenkman Books. Greene, R. R. (2007). Social work practice: A risk and resiliency perspective. Belmont, Calif.: Brooks/Cole. Greig, A., M. Kimmel, and J. Lang (2000) Men, masculinities and development: Broadening our work towards gender equality. Gender in Development Monograph Series no. 10. New York: United Nations Development Program. Hartung, T. K., et al. (2002). AIDS awareness and sexual behaviour in a high HIV

145 Transnational Men prevalence area in rural northern Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. International Journal of STDs and AIDS 13: 829–32. Hawkins, S. R. (2005). Evaluations findings: Men Can Stop Rape, Men of Strength Clubs 2004–2005. http://www.mencanstoprape.org. Accessed August 8, 2007. Heppner, M. J., et al. (1999). Examining immediate and long-term efficacy of rape prevention programming with racially diverse college men. Journal of Counseling Psychology 46: 16–26. Jewkes, R., et al. (2007). Evaluation of Stepping Stones: A gender transformative HIV prevention intervention. Pretoria: Medical Research Council. Knipper, E., et al. (2007). Condom use among heterosexual immigrant Latino men in the Southeastern United States. AIDS Education and Prevention 19: 436–47. Kosberg, J. I. (2002). Heterosexual males: A group forgotten by the profession of social work. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare 29, no. 3: 50–70. ——— (2005). Meeting the needs of older men: Challenges for those in the helping professions. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare 32, no. 1: 9–31. Men Can Stop Rape (MCSR) (2006). http://www.mencanstoprape.org. Accessed August 22, 2006. Morrison, D. M., et al. (2007). Replicating a teen HIV/STD preventive intervention in a multicultural city. AIDS Education and Prevention 19: 258–73. Murray, D. B. (2000). Between a rock and a hard place: The power and powerlessness of transnational narratives among gay Martinican men. American Anthropologist 122, no. 2: 261–70. National Association of Social Workers (1999). Code of ethics. Washington, D.C.: Author. O’Sullivan, L., et al. (2006). Men, multiple sex partners and young adults’ sexual relationships: Understanding the role of gender in the study of risk. Journal of Urban Health 83: 695–708. Pena-Lopez, A. A. (2004). Central American labor migration. Dialogo 8: 3–13. Poole, D. (1996). NAFTA, Mexican health, American health: They tie together. Health and Social Work 21, no. 1: 3–7. Poole, D. L., and V. N. Salgado de Snyder (2002). Pathways to health and mental health care: Guidelines for culturally competent practice. In Social workers’ desk reference, ed. A. Greene, 51–56. New York: Oxford University Press. Santana, M. C., et al. (2006). Masculine gender roles associated with increased sexual risk and intimate partner violence perpetration among young adult men. Journal of Urban Health 83, no. 4: 575–85. Schatz, M. C. S., and R. Furman (2002). Sexual trafficking of women: Strategies for developing trauma recovery response teams. Social Development Issues 24, no. 2: 60–67.

146 Services to Transmigrants Vermeulen, M., and C. Mustard (2000). Gender differences in job strain, social support at work, and psychological distress. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 5, no. 4: 428–40. Ward, K. (2000). MVP: Evaluation 1999–2000. Boston: Northeastern University Center for Study of Sport and Society.

[ 9 ]

The Unintended Consequences of Migration: Exploring the Importance of Transnational   Migration Between Ecuador and New York Brad Jokisch and David Kyle

In 1999 Brad Jokisch met “Antonio” in Biblicay, a small agricultural community near Cuenca, in the Ecuadorian Andes. He was in his fifties and lived with his wife and two of his youngest daughters. He had spent many of the previous twenty years in New Jersey, sewing shoes, washing dishes, and working as a restaurant handyman. First migrating in 1980 with the goal of earning enough to build a house and help his children, by 1998 he had made three unauthorized trips. Antonio was caught in Mexico and at the U.S.–Mexico border several times; he convinced border patrol agents that he was Nicaraguan so that he would not be shipped back to Ecuador. (He could still sing parts of the Nicaraguan national anthem.) Antonio was a candidate for the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) amnesty program but lost his chance at residency when he returned to Ecuador to be with his ill wife. Antonio’s savings built a modern, three-story home made of cement blocks; the previous adobe home became a chicken coup. He also saved money to buy land and, more important, finance the clandestine departure of several children to New York. His eldest daughter’s three-story house was under construction. She, like most everyone else in this community, departed with plans to return to an improved socioeconomic standing. Yet, when both authors met with Antonio in Ecuador in 2003 and 2005, his adult children had not returned and his daughter’s house remained unfinished. Two of his children, now legal permanent residents, had purchased a house in New Jersey, and his eldest son was attempting to bring him and his wife to the United States as sponsored legal immigrants. They were eager to go; although both had toiled many years for an improved life in their community, where Antonio anticipated retiring in relative

148 Services to Transmigrants luxury, all that had changed. With the exception of one daughter, their children and all his grandchildren were living in the United States, and they had no intention of returning to Ecuador for anything more than a short visit. The community Antonio and his children had invested in was nearly gone. The brick and concrete block houses were still there, but the people were not; they had transplanted to New Jersey, and their transnational style of long distance commuting had come to an end. Antonio’s story reveals several issues related to transnational migration from southern Ecuador. First, it was financially rewarding and transformative for him, his family, and the region. He and thousands of other transnational migrants changed the regional economy by earning dollars and spending them in a weak Ecuadorian economy. In about one generation, this poor agricultural region was transformed into a landscape littered with modern houses, renovated churches, new trucks, and other consumption items. Yet, this consumer success came with a high cost; Antonio’s legal status made him vulnerable. He was detained several times, was forced to adopt a foreign identity, and had to choose between legal residency and attending to his ill wife. Antonio’s story also reveals the unintended consequences of transnational migration. The financial success of numerous migrants and the persistently bad Ecuadorian economy provided an incentive for Antonio’s children to see their future in the United States. Eventually, Antonio’s concept of “home” drifted from a rural village in the Andes to urban New Jersey.

This chapter explores some of the opportunities and vulnerabilities that transnationalism creates for migrant households such as Antonio. Specifically, by focusing on the legal-economic and family-related issues faced by transnational migrants, we show how the location and character of “home” can change and with it transnational practices. There is a vast literature on transnational migration, but rather than attempting a review of the literature on each of these topics, we borrow eclectically from the literature and present anecdotes and findings from our research. Our

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research began in the early to mid-1990s, when we independently conducted research in communities near Cuenca. In 2003, as a team, we conducted follow-up research in those communities. We have also interviewed Ecuadorians living in Spain and metro New York intermittently since the 1990s.

The Ecuadorian Presence in the United States Nearly half a million Ecuadorians live in the United States, with nearly twothirds located in metropolitan New York and 100,000 in Queens alone. Ecuadorians are the third largest Latin American immigrant group in metro New York, and the seventh nationally. Although the concentration is remarkable, like other Latin American immigrants, they too are locating in less-common destinations such as Columbus, Ohio, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and numerous suburban destinations. Although there is noticeable variability, most Ecuadorians living in the United States are from modest, working-class backgrounds, and many are from minority groups in Ecuador. In 2007 an estimated 14.2 percent lived in poverty; the median household income was $45,700, and 30 percent had less than a high school education (U.S. Census Bureau 2008). These figures are better than for Hispanics/Latinos as a whole but are appreciably below the U.S. average and South Americans as an aggregate. Not surprisingly, most Ecuadorians have low-end service jobs; over half of men work in construction, transportation, or landscaping. The Ecuadorian population in New York dates to the 1940s, when a small number of men and a smaller number of women began arriving from rural communities in southern Ecuador. The numbers grew slowly but steadily until the 1980s, when Ecuador entered what became a prolonged economic crisis and thousands of Ecuadorians emigrated. The provinces of Azuay and Cañar and Ecuador’s third largest city, Cuenca, became the “core” migrant sending zone in Ecuador during the 1970s and 1980s, and the region remains intimately linked with metro New York through its migrants and remittance economy (Carpio 1992; Kyle 2000; Jokisch 1997). Ecuador suffered another economic crisis from 1999 to 2002, and more than 400,000 people emigrated, mostly to Spain. Migrants from the Cuenca region, however, continued to enter the United States because

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the networks linking the region to New York were in place (Jokisch and Pribilsky 2002). Ecuadorian immigration, both documented and undocumented, continues. From 2000 to 2008, an average of 10,731 Ecuadorians became legal permanent residents annually. Exactly how many of the 500,000 Ecuadorians arrived without legal permission is not clear, but it is suspected that well over half of the immigrants paid intermediaries—coyotes or document forgers—to travel to the United States. The cost of the trip was as little as $1,200 in the early 1980s but increased to over $13,000 in 2005. The money was usually acquired from relatives in the United States or loans from surreptitious money lenders (chulqueros) who charged exorbitant interest rates of between 3 percent and 6 percent compounded monthly. Several authors have described the transnational dimension that has connected New York with southern Ecuador (Kyle 2000; Jokisch and Pribilsky 2002; Pribilsky 2007). Communication and transportation technologies permit migrants to participate in daily economic and social practices in Ecuador. Delgado Travel and numerous other multipurpose agencies facilitate the movement of letters, videos, food (including guinea pig and alcohol), and other goods between the two countries. On Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, New York, an Ecuadorian department store Créditos Economicos has a showroom of appliances (televisions, stoves, DVD players, etc.) where Ecuadorians purchase items for delivery in Ecuador. Delgado Travel operates a transnational radio service whereby Ecuadorians and Ecuadorian immigrants listen to the same news broadcasts, which emanate from New York and several Ecuadorian cities. Of course, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the United States to Ecuador. Remittances constitute an important source of revenue for Ecuador and for thousands of households. In 2007 remittances were estimated at $3.1 billion (IADB 2009), which is equivalent to between 4–7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and amounts to $222 per capita. Remittances are the second most important source of international revenue, after oil, and exceed foreign direct investment and overseas development aid combined. Some 3–5 percent of households regularly receive remittances. Most remittances go to the neediest populations; an estimated 35 percent go to the lowest economic quintile and slightly over half to the lowest two quintiles of the population (Fajnzylber and López 2008). We preface our comments on the issues facing Ecuadorian transnational migrants with a note of caution about the complexity and volatil-

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ity of transnational migration and immigrant livelihoods. Migrants come from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences; they vary by age, sex, ethnicity, English language abilities, legal status, goals, and even emotional ability to handle stress. Transnationalism also takes many forms. It may be sporadic or persistent, and Internet-based technologies (e.g., Skype, Facebook) have rapidly altered how people communicate across borders.

Legal and Economic Issues For thousands of Ecuadorians living in the United States, the transnational issues began before departing Ecuador because a U.S. visa is required to enter the country. In the absence of a visa, which is very difficult for a working-class young person to obtain (especially if a family member lives in the United States), migrants may contract a document forger, who, for a fee, can produce a falsified U.S. or Mexican visa or replace the picture on a passport containing a legitimate U.S. visa with the picture of the would-be migrant. Alternatively, migrants may seek the services of a coyote, a person who can arrange for a clandestine trip to the United States. Obtaining the thousands of dollars needed to pay for the trip becomes a transnational issue in one of two ways. A migrant may be able to borrow money from a relative or friend in the United States, but that requires a migrant to be both willing and able to provide it. Second, a migrant can borrow money from family in Ecuador and/or from a chulquero. Family possessions, especially land, are commonly used as collateral for the loan. This loan places immediate pressure on the migrant. If a migrant borrowed $10,000 at 5 percent per month, then he or she owes $500 just in interest at the end of the month. If the migrant arrives at the destination without being detained or deported, the need to find work in order to pay off the loan is immediate, in no small part because the family is counting on it. Yet, the migrant’s legal status is a profound hindrance to obtaining safe, reliable employment (see Schmalzbauer 2005; Mahler 1995). Migrants who do get jobs may be paid cash, under the table, but more likely they purchase a false identity, complete with a green card and social security number. This identity may belong to someone else or be invented. These documents may help with getting a job, but at any time they can be discovered as false and the migrant fired and possibly reported to the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The lack of legal

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papers also makes it difficult if not impossible to obtain a driver’s license. Being able to drive a car is from a luxury, as many migrants who work at suburban locations or places without good public transportation need to be able to travel to numerous job sites or to second jobs located elsewhere.

Family Issues The literature on transnational families and transnational mothering makes it clear that separated families create tremendous emotional and financial burdens for migrants, and these strains affect nearly every decision migrants make (see Bryceson and Vuorela 2002; Schmalzbauer 2005). Anthropologist Leah Schmalzbauer (2005:64) succinctly captures this reality in her discussion of Honduran transnational migrants. “In the United States, transnational migrants endure great sacrifice in order to accumulate a surplus to send to their families. They face the emotional burden of separation from their families and home country, as well as the economic and physical insecurity that comes from working in low paying jobs that have no benefits and terrible working conditions.” The Ecuadorian case appears to be no different; we have witnessed and heard of numerous stories of Ecuadorians working tough jobs so that their families can prosper or at least have a brighter economic future. We have also witnessed the great efforts Ecuadorians have exerted to unite families. Based on our experience, we make two observations. First, it is important to remember that the pressures on transnational migrants depend on the stage of the migrant’s life-cycle. Young migrants who depart their home country prior to marriage commonly have fewer people relying on them, although they do feel family pressure to succeed and remove debt that may be mortgaged by their relatives. They also feel pressure to marry and establish their own households (see Pribilsky 2007). The pressure increases with marriage and especially children. With time, the pressures commonly change from immediate family to aging parents. At any age, however, a friend, or more likely a close relative, can place pressure on a migrant to loan money for a clandestine trip. Migrants must make tough decisions about guarding their savings versus helping someone close to them or their family. Second, we have observed that there is considerable variability in the ability of migrants to reunite the family. That variability, in the case of

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Ecuador, has been influenced by the timing of the migration. The timing has been critical because relatively early migrants encountered a less hostile political climate and had a greater ability to become legal permanent residents. Those migrating during the 1990s and especially after 2001, however, have encountered a much more hostile political climate and have had much more difficulty gaining residency. Legal permanent residency, of course, is a less expensive and much safer way to reunite the family than paying for another clandestine trip. We offer a comparison of two communities to illustrate our point. Biblicay (Antonio’s community) is a small community of fewer than 100 households. The pioneer migrant departed for New York in the late 1960s, and during the 1970s dozens of men and fewer women followed. The economic crisis of the 1980s saw the emigration continue. The first migrants were nearly all men. Gender imbalances became so pronounced that communities like Biblicay were known colloquially as communities without men or of “women and children only.” Although this perception was exaggerated, nonetheless it reflects an important phase of transnational migration when a predominantly male migration pattern meant that transnational families stretched from New York to southern Ecuador. Most families engaged in the transnational practices described earlier. Some, like Antonio, made multiple trips. More than a few migrants returned to Ecuador with the intention of staying, only to remigrate once they became disillusioned with their economic predicament in Ecuador (Jokisch and Kyle 2005). The transnational family, however, began to change in Biblicay and in similar communities in the 1990s. Women started to migrate also; some were sponsored by their husband or another family member who had obtained legal permanent residency or citizenship, but most migrated without legal documents, commonly accompanied by a male relative. This partial unification meant that children were left behind in the care of relatives, commonly a grandmother or aunt. Fortunately, for most families in Biblicay, this transnational separation did not endure long. Many families were able to reunite their families legally in the United States, leaving a near ghost town. In 2003, when we documented that over 85 percent of households had at least one family member living in the United States, we heard the phrase “aun los abuelos han ido” (even the grandparents have gone) on several occasions, reflecting the fact that Ecuadorians in the United States were not only reuniting the nuclear family, but also the extended family. Most of the migrant houses were occupied by or overseen

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by family members or neighbors. Transnationalism in Biblicay and other ghost towns has ended for most households. The situation in another research community, Quipal, is strikingly different. The community had grown since the early 1990s and by 2003 had approximately 300 families. Nearly 200 people, or approximately 33 percent of the adult population, lived in the United States. The vast majority of the emigrants departed after 1994, nearly all without legal documents. Similar to other communities, migrant remittances were used to build large houses and renovate a church. Because the migration did not take off until the early 1990s, only fifteen migrants were U.S. residents or citizens, all of whom were living in the United States. Dozens of families were transnational families, split between Quipal and Boston, New York, or Philadelphia. Numerous couples have grown tired of the long-term separation and reunited in the United States, leaving children with grandparents or other relatives. Sixty-six children had both of their parents living in the United States. These families find themselves in “transnational limbo.” They continue communicating with phone calls and letters, but also with emails, video conferencing technologies, and Internet technologies. It is unlikely that the migrants will get residency, and therefore they face the unenviable task of deciding how the transnational family will be constituted. The situation in Quipal is more common in southern Ecuador than the situation in Biblicay. Hundreds of families live separated, with children growing up without their father or either parent. Transnational families became even more common throughout Ecuador in the early 2000s when the exodus to Spain ensued. Anecdotally, this situation has proven traumatic for many children, who feel a sense of abandonment or rejection. Teachers openly speak of children who raise themselves, suffer depression or anxiety, and participate in drug and alcohol abuse. One report claims that juvenile suicides have skyrocketed (Kraul 2007). Both groups of migrants face a fear that has arisen with the consumerism of transnational migration. Robbers, sometimes organized gangs, have targeted migrant communities in southern Ecuador. They have staged home invasions and occasionally targeted return migrants whom they suspect carry their savings in cash. Quipal has suffered such incidents, and in response community leaders developed an alarm system to alert the community when a robbery takes place. How this concern will affect migrant remittance behavior, settlement decisions, or displays of conspicuous consumption in Ecuador is uncertain.

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As our case studies show, the transnationalism that migrants exhibit in the United States is strongly influenced by when they and their community became enmeshed in the transnational migrant networks. Many Ecuadorian migrants who have obtained residency have transplanted their families, effectively ending transnationalism in the sense of maintaining two households, while migrants without residency have fewer opportunities to reunite their families and endure a transnationalism that is necessary to maintain their family.

To Return or Not The decision to return to Ecuador is complicated by legal issues, family obligations (transnational or not), issues of cultural adjustment, and the location of economic opportunities. Many migrants without residency face the option of living long-term as “illegal” in the United States or returning and exchanging economic possibilities in the United States for an uncertain economic future in Ecuador. In Quipal nearly thirty migrants had returned after an extended stay in the United States, but without obtaining residency. Many of these return migrants explained that their return was prompted by the emotional difficulties of being separated from their immediate family. One man, who had spent nearly nine years in the United States, fought back tears as he explained that he could not stand the emotional pain of being separated from his children. He had provided for them financially, but they were growing up without him knowing them. His attempts at obtaining residency had failed, and he decided to return despite the bleak economic outlook in Quipal. His neighbor made a different decision. A woman decided to join her husband in the United States, and, tragically, she died en route, near the U.S.–Mexico border. Many migrants with U.S. residency maintain their ideal of returning to Ecuador but realize that there are many forces that prevent them from simply returning. Research has shown that the longer migrants live in the host country, the less likely they are to return to their original country (MoranTaylor and Menjívar 2005; Hondagneu-Sotelo 1995). This appears to be the case for Ecuadorians as well. Even though they may have invested in land and a house in Ecuador, it appears that few long-term migrants, especially those with residency, will actually return. In Queens, a long-term immigrant in his late fifties told Jokisch that he planned to return to southern

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Ecuador once he took care of a few matters in Queens. When he was asked skeptically if he would really live in Ecuador when his grandchildren were in New York, he equivocated and explained that he would like to live parttime in Ecuador and take his grandchildren for the summer. Another man explained that it was the dream of every Ecuadorian immigrant to “dejar sus huesos” (leave your bones) in Ecuador. As we reported elsewhere (Jokisch and Kyle 2005), a migrant told David Kyle in the 1990s that he would never take his family to the United States because he wanted his children to be Ecuadorian. In 2003 we met him in Ecuador when he was home for a visit. He indeed had transplanted his family to New York and explained that he tried to return, but his dream “flew away.” Some Ecuadorians who were raised in both Ecuador and New York and have residency or citizenship return to visit family and friends, but even those visits can be difficult for people who have grown accustomed to the pace of New York. In Biblicay an Ecuadorian in his late twenties, who could be classified as generation 1.5 (born in Ecuador but raised in New York since his youth), told Jokisch that when he was younger he loved to return to Ecuador to party with friends, but now he is bored by the second week and usually changes his ticket to return to New York sooner than planned. The current Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, launched a campaign “Plan de Retorno” (Return Plan) in 2008 to get Ecuadorians living overseas to return to Ecuador. He campaigned on numerous promises to migrants, including the pledge that his administration would make Ecuador a place where migrants would want to return. Plan de Retorno has yet to witness many Ecuadorians respond, although it has mostly targeted Ecuadorians in Spain. The decision to return has not been voluntary for an increasing number of Ecuadorians. Since 2005 an average of 1,601 Ecuadorians have been deported (“removed”) by ICE; over 75 percent were noncriminals. If Ecuadorians follow the trend reported for Salvadorans (Hagan, Eschbach, and Rodriguez 2009), more than half will leave a spouse or child in the United States. Based on a study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center (Passel and Cohn 2009), which found that 73 percent of children of unauthorized immigrants are U.S. citizens, it is likely that the deportations are separating Ecuadorian children with citizenship from their parents who are forced to return to Ecuador. Alternatively, children who have been raised in the United States are forced to live in Ecuador, which they may know only through pictures and their relatives’ stories.

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Concluding Thoughts By using the example of Ecuadorian transnationalism from southern Ecuador to New York, we have attempted to demonstrate several points. First, transnational migration and immigrant livelihoods are complex and volatile, and they subject migrants to vulnerabilities and opportunities. Transnational migration developed when migrants sought to earn money in the United States and expand the economic opportunities for their families in Ecuador. The result was that transnational migration transformed the economy and landscape of southern Ecuador, but it came with large personal sacrifices and financial risks. Second, we showed that when Ecuadorians became transnational migrants was critical because earlier migrants had a much greater chance of obtaining residency. The difference was stark in our contrast between Biblicay, where transnationalism has ended, and Quipal, where residents endure separated families and use transnational practices to maintain families and invest in a future in Ecuador. Finally, we demonstrated some of the factors that affect a migrant’s decision to return to Ecuador. Many legal residents maintain the dream of returning, but they now have family and networks in New York and few economic opportunities in Ecuador. Migrants without legal authorization face the risk of deportation and an uncertain future. References Bryceson, D., and U. Vuorela (2002). The transnational family: New European frontiers and global networks. New York: Oxford University Press. Carpio, P. (1992). Entre pueblos y metropolis: La migracíon internacional en comunidades Austroandinas en el Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador: Instituto Latinoamericano de Investigaciones Sociales. Fajnzylber, P., and J. H. López (2007). Close to Home: The Development Impact of Remittances in Latin America. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. Hagan, J., K. Eschbach, and N. Rodriguez (2008). U.S. deportation policy, family separation, and circular migration. International Migration Review 42, no. 1: 64–88. Hondagneu-Sotelo, P. (1995). Beyond the long they stay (and say they will stay): Women and Mexican immigrant settlement. Qualitative Sociology 18, no. 1: 21–43. Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) (2009). Website. http://www.iadb.org.

158 Services to Transmigrants Jokisch, B. (1997). From circulation to international migration: The case of SouthCentral Ecuador. Yearbook, Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers. Austin: University of Texas Press. ——— (2002). Migration and agricultural change: The case of smallholder agriculture in the highlands of South-Central Ecuador. Human Ecology 30, no. 4: 523–50. Jokisch, B., and D. Kyle (2005). Las transformaciones en la migración transnacional del Ecuador 1993–2003. In La migración ecuatoriana: transnacionalismo, redes, e identidades, ed. G. Herrera, M. C. Carillo, and A. Torres, 57–69. Quito, Ecuador: FLACSO. Jokisch, B., and J. Pribilsky (2002). The panic to leave: Geographic dimensions of recent Ecuadorian emigration. International Migration 40, no. 3:75–101. Kraul, C. (2007). Ecuador’s dark side of emigration. Los Angeles Times, January 28. http://www.latimes.com. Kyle, D. (2000). Transnational peasants: Migrations, networks, and ethnicity in Andean Ecuador. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Mahler, S. (1995). American dreaming: Immigrant life on the margins. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Moran-Taylor, M., and C. Menjívar (2005). Unpacking longings to return: Guatemalans and Salvadorans in Phoenix, Arizona. International Migration 43, no. 4: 91–121. Passel, J., and D. V. Cohn (2009). A portrait of unauthorized immigrants in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center. http://www.pewhispanic.org. Pribilsky, J. (2007). La chulla vida: Gender, migration, and the family in Andean Ecuador and New York City. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. Schmalzbauer, L. (2005). Striving and surviving: A daily life analysis of Honduran transnational families. New York: Routledge. Suro, R. (2003). Remittance senders and receivers: Tracking the transnational channels. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center. U.S. Census Bureau (2008). 2005–2007 American community survey. http://www .census.gov. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2008). 2007 yearbook of immigration statistics. http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/publications/yearbook.shtm.

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Migrant Workers in South Africa   and the United Arab Emirates Emmerentie Oliphant and Leon Holtzhausen

Realities of migrant workers are clearly observable throughout the world; marginalization, social dislocation, downward social mobility, and family fragmentation are just some of the problems related to the everyday functioning of migrant workers. This situation is compounded by the fact that migrant work by its very nature is located in the often duplicitous international arena of national and regional migration laws, procedures, and policies that differ greatly from place to place and person to person. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the patterns and social realities of migrant workers in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Although both countries are defined as third world countries, many characteristics of first world countries are present. These include accessible social and welfare services, stable economy and political scenarios, and work opportunities. As countries with first world characteristics in areas that are mainly third world, these countries became ideal attractions for social workers interested in working in this challenging field of practice. This chapter compares the realities within the two countries and postulates that patterns of migrant workers are very much the same. It provides

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an overview of migrant workers within each country, focuses on the realities migrant workers experience, and identifies strategies to address the needs of migrant workers. These guidelines center on the universal responsibility of social workers as well as pertinent ethical issues within the international domain. The goal of this chapter is to explore the psychosocial realities of migrant workers in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates in order to provide guidelines for possible transnational social work intervention, program design and development, and policies to deal with this global phenomenon. In an effort to bring the realities of migrant work home, various case studies and narrative stories are included to highlight the important patterns and conclusions within the theoretical discussion.

Globalization and Transnational Migration Globalization has engendered the phenomenal growth of transnational economic migration, with its opportunities and heartaches. The economic interdependence of countries has resulted not only in the exchange of goods but also in the exchange of services, in the form of the movement of migrant contract workers from poorer economies to more affluent ones. The need to maximize profit by factoring the least cost in production has brought about the massive importation of cheap labor (Battistela 1997). For many, migration is a symbol of hope because it provides an alternative to being unemployed or underemployed, living in poverty, or having a life that is qualitatively less than one’s aspirations. Furthermore, remittances (transfer of funds) sent by a family member working overseas can give significant economic help to a household back home. Terry (2005:6) mentions that “the driving force behind this process [of migration] is a fundamentally human connection: workers move abroad to support family members and protect their futures at home.” However, according to Gorospe (2007), labor migration also means marginalization, social dislocation, downward social mobility, and family fragmentation. Migrants pay a severe price by ultimately becoming marginalized in the host country in two ways. First, they become socially and structurally invisible in relation to the host society. It is almost as if they disappear into other people’s homes, hospitals, nursing homes, and manufacturing centres in other countries. Second, migrants experience a subaltern existence. The pain of marginality is made acute when migrants are regarded as mere

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instruments of policy and being subjected to ethnic, economic, and social differentiation. Migrant workers are often seen as mere objects to advance the interests of both the country of destination and the country of origin, without regard to the personal and family fragmentation and disempowerment that this produces. As Gorospe (2007:373) states, “Those who work as domestic workers are vulnerable to abuse since, as live-in workers, they are dependent on their employers and have no private spaces of their own or complete control of their time. As foreigners who are employed in jobs on the lowest rung of the economic and social ladder, they are also subject to prejudice. Moreover, as temporary residents, they do not have adequate legal and civil rights to protect them from being exploited.” Added to the marginalization and social dislocation of migrant workers is the creation of a new kind of family structure and system, the “transnational family,” with its own unique challenges. Terry (2005:7) defines the transnational family as “a new kind of family being forged by remitters and their families—the transnational family—living in and contributing to two cultures, two countries and two economies at the same time.” Parreñas (2001:16) defines a particular process of migration: (1) the outflow of migration; (2) formation of the migrant household; (3) entrance into the labor market; and (4) formation of the migrant community.

Migrant Workers in South Africa Migrant workers in South Africa experience the exact effects outlined by Gorospe (2007), namely, marginalization, social dislocation, downward social mobility, and family fragmentation. As in most other countries, poverty, family destruction, uncertainty, and instability are just some of the problems impacting the quality of life of migrant workers. Legal and illegal migrant workers work in the agricultural and mining industries of South Africa. South Africa’s diamond, gold, and platinum mines are ideal work environments for migrant workers from neighboring countries. Migrants from Mozambique, Botswana, and Lesotho are currently working in the mines of Gauteng and Northern Cape Province. These migrant workers have left not only their homes but also the comfort and familiar life of their own country to come and work in the mining industry. Benefits ensure that miners and other workers have an opportunity to provide the necessary quality of life for families in their country of origin.

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Political and socioeconomic changes influence the current trends related to regional migration in South Africa and neighboring countries. The mining industry in South Africa, for instance, is experiencing transformation that impacts migrant workers, including corporate downsizing, closing of mines in smaller towns, and corporate mergers. Migrant workers who loose their jobs often find themselves having to look for jobs in large cities such as Johannesburg and Kimberley. In many cases they cannot find jobs and have to return to their own country. Transnational migration related to the South African context can be divided into three categories: • South African professionals who migrate from South Africa to other countries in order to obtain a better lifestyle and to pursue career opportunities • Non-South African laborers who migrate from sub-Saharan countries (such as Mozambique and Zimbabwe) to pursue work opportunities and a better life in South Africa • South African laborers who immigrate within the boundaries of South Africa Although these groups differ in terms of economic capacity, the rationale for their migration is in essence the same. People on the African continent migrate to enhance their lifestyle and to pursue better employment. Better employment is naturally accompanied by improved financial circumstances. When looking at migration in South Africa, it is important to understand the realities that migrant workers experience. For the purpose of this section four realities have been identified: (1) social isolation and family disintegration; (2) children as migrant workers; (3) the spread of HIV/ AIDS; and (4) xenophobia and ethnic cleansing.

Social Isolation and Family Disintegration The main purpose of work migration is to find a suitable job and enhance one’s quality of life. However, leaving a family behind in the country of origin, by its very essence, influences quality of life. The migrant worker does not necessarily have enough money to visit the family often, which results in emotional separation from family members. Migrants who work

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far from their children are not physically present to observe the important milestones in their children’s lives. This emotional separation eventually may result in difficult readjustment once the family is reunified. When children stay behind in a township or village, grandparents, aunts and uncles, or siblings may have to take care of them. This implies a role change mostly affecting the migrant workers. The migrant worker becomes a financial caretaker only; the emotional, social, and educational caretaking is done by someone else. This in itself is difficult for the migrant worker, who may already be vulnerable to feeling isolated from his or her family. In South Africa it is common for the spouses or partners of migrant workers to work in different parts of the country. A typical example would be a husband who works in the gold mines of Gauteng and a wife who works as a servant for a family in the Mapumalanga. Children are often left behind in the care of family in remote villages of South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, or Zimbabwe. Because migrant workers send as much money as possible back to the village, the husband and wife may have limited contact with each other.

The Story of Nkosi Nkosi (not her real name) is a 40-year-old woman who lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. She first left her village in the Limpopo Province twenty years ago to look for a job. At the time there was no work near her village or even in the bigger cities in Limpopo Province. Nkosi has only completed first grade in school. She is able to write down numbers but cannot write anything else. She speaks English, which helped her to get a job. Compared with people who are unemployed, Nkosi has a satisfactory life. She has two jobs as a servant in Cape Town and is able to rent a small house near both the jobs. She lives with her partner, who is a migrant worker from Mozambique. On the outside she is able to show a good life, but on the inside it is another story. When she left her village, it was to find work so she could feed her little boy, who stayed behind in the village. When she returned for the first time, she discovered that he was gone—taken away by family—and she has never been reunited with him. She goes home every Christmas and stays with her sisters for three weeks. During this time she works in the house so that the sisters can have a rest. They also expect her to bring money home, and all money is then taken away from her.

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Children as Migrant Workers Julia Zingu, Save the Children UK’s country director in South Africa, states that “every country has an obligation to make sure that migrant children are kept safe and given the support and assistance they need, whatever their nationality or status. In South Africa, the policies and legislation that protect children are so often not applied to migrant children because of the mistaken belief that these children do not have any rights” (2007). One of the current patterns observed in southern Africa is unaccompanied minors who move from one country to another in order to work. The increase in HIV/AIDS and the growing number of orphans in southern Africa force young children to work in order to survive. Often these children are the heads of families and are taking care of younger siblings who are dependent on them for money. The South African government is engaged in efforts to protect young migrant workers by providing social support to these children. However, the children still find themselves in vulnerable and disempowered positions. In a study conducted amongst three hundred unaccompanied migrant children under the age of 18, the harsh realities experienced by them became clear. Some of the children who were interviewed experienced dangers in crossing the border to South Africa. Migrating from countries such as Mozambique and Swaziland, children reported crocodile-infested rivers, fear of border patrols, and limited knowledge about their unknown future in South Africa. Once in South Africa, these children experienced poverty and hunger; in their efforts to avoid the cycle of poverty, hunger, and abuse, survival became, for many of them, their only purpose. According to the study, many of the children indicated that they had become migrant workers as a result of the loss of parents to HIV/AIDS and poverty. It is clear that these migrant children have to survive difficulties on a day-to-day basis. They are, however, strongly motivated to find jobs so that they can take money back to their younger siblings in their country of origin, who continue to experience hardships and poverty. Besides experiencing the difficulties involved in simply surviving and making money in South Africa, children also reported that they are at times either underpaid or not paid at all by employers. They often have to use the only opportunities available to them to make money, which often include sex work or living on the streets and begging for money.

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Clearly, these children are vulnerable and find themselves in the most difficult situation to survive. They often become the street children of South Africa who disappear in the streets of bigger cities, such as Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban. Although governmental efforts are in place to protect the children, their facelessness in the society influences the lack of effectiveness of protection services. The Story of Dhumisani Dhumisani left his mother’s house in Mozambique when he was 9 years old. He is now 14 and is living on the streets of Johannesburg, which provide shelter, food, and social companionship. Dhumisani’s mother asked him to leave the house and school in order to seek a job. This was important because his mother had to take care of four other children younger than him, as well as herself and their grandmother. Dhumisani’s father is also a migrant worker in South Africa. When Dhumisani left his house, he first wanted to get a job in Mozambique. This appeared to be too difficult, but he heard of the City of Gold (Johannesburg), where there were many opportunities to work. When he first arrived in Johannesburg he lived on the streets of Hillbrow begging for food. He found shelter with a group of children his age. They work in a team cleaning cars and showing drivers parking spaces. Members of the group share money, shelter, and food. They sleep under bridges of the city in shelters they have made from cardboard. When authorities discovered that Dhumisani was a minor from another country, he was detained and put on a train back to Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique, and then taken to the village where his mother lives. Back at home, Dhumisani realized that he had no other choice than to return to South Africa, and he immediately started his journey back to the now familiar streets of Johannesburg.

The Spread of HIV/AIDS Migrant workers, like so many other at-risk populations in South Africa, experience the reality of HIV/AIDS. Although migrants can work for many years without becoming severely ill, once illness becomes a reality the effect is devastating. Migrant workers are often not only isolated from their

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families but are living in an unfamiliar country and generally do not have the benefits needed to treat their illnesses. Migrant workers who are in South Africa illegally find themselves more isolated and living in fear than those who are working there legally. Alone and socially isolated, they often have little hope. With the negative effects of HIV/AIDS coupled with discrimination, it is clear that migrant workers constitute a severely at-risk international population.

Xenophobia and Ethnic Cleansing One of the most dangerous realties migrant workers face is xenophobia. In May 2008, over a period of three weeks, more than fifty thousand migrant workers, mostly from Zimbabwe and Mozambique, were displaced during various xenophobic attacks in and around Johannesburg and Durban. During the same period, fifty-two people were viciously murdered in attacks resembling the early 1990s Soweto uprisings and the infamous “necklace” method (victims stoned and kicked or beaten to death, after which rubber tires are hung around their necks and set alight). The snapshot below of Cato Manor, an informal township just outside of Durban, describes one of the sites where the xenophobic attacks took place.

The Elbow Test The low-income black township in Durban that suffered more than any other during apartheid, Cato Manor, was the scene of a test performed on a Mozambican last Wednesday morning. At 6:45 a.m., in the warmth of a rising subtropical winter sun, two unemployed men strolling on Belair Road approached the middle-aged immigrant. They accosted him and demanded, in the local indigenous language isiZulu, that he say the word meaning “elbow” (this they referred to with their hand). The man answered “idolo,” which unfortunately means “knee.” The correct answer is “indololwane.” His punishment: being beat up severely, and then told to “go home.” Source: Manzi and Bond (2008)

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What was going through the minds these two young men? And, more important, why did others like them go on a three-week-long killing spree, leaving tens of thousands to flee their homes and abandon their possessions? As the genocide unfolded, it became apparent that what happened in Cato Manor was not an isolated incident. The same scene played out dozens if not hundreds of times in Durban’s sprawling townships. Manzi and Bond (2008) describe other incidents of ethnic cleansing that took place in the townships of Chatsworth and Bottlebrush, Durban: A 15-minute drive south of Cato Manor is Chatsworth, whose best-known community activist is Orlean Naidoo. She joined Patrick Bond at central Durban’s main place of safety, Emmanuel Cathedral, on Thursday night. The Catholic Church had taken in 150 terrified Zimbabweans, and that night Naidoo helped rescue another 100 from Chatsworth’s Bottlebrush shack settlement. By Sunday that number of refugees at Emmanuel had doubled again. And in Bottlebrush, low-income Africans were apparently incited—and immigrants terrorized—by an anonymous pamphlet telling foreigners to leave. Naidoo notes the rise of racial and class tensions here: “Bottlebrush settlement has never been properly organized,” she says. “It is not an easy thing to do, when people are subject to arrest at any time due to lack of formal documents.

Manzi and Bond (2008) note that thousands of immigrants were asked similar questions by assailants during this violent time in South Africa. Many millions heard of the elbow test and saw press coverage of immigrants being burned to death in Johannesburg’s eastern townships, which ironically house the reserve pools of labor closest to Africa’s busiest airport, O. R. Tambo International, the gateway to and from the continent. As a result, thousands of migrant workers living in Johannesburg and Durban fled to the borders, but most went to nearby police stations, community centers, and churches for shelter. Ironically, the notoriously corrupt Cato Manor police station became a safe haven for several hundred people sheltering in the immediate vicinity, some hiding out in a large tent that was erected for shelter by one of the local church organizations. It is important to note that instead of originating from KwaZulu, Venda, Bophuthatswana, or Transkei, the most desperate migrant workers in South Africa’s major cities are from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique,

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and Zambia—countries partially deindustrialized by Johannesburg capital’s expansion up-continent. Although it could be argued that these migrant workers helped to contribute to the phenomenal growth in South Africa’s corporate earnings, with profit rates soaring from 1994 to 2001 to the ninth highest in the world (according to a Bank of England study), sadly, these same workers were left to fend for themselves during the xenophobic attacks of May 2008. The then leader of South Africa’s ruling party, Thabo Mbeki, mostly ignored the problem and did not bother to visit the conflict sites. Elsewhere the South African Defense Force was sent in to “police” the situation—“a dangerous new development,” in the words of Manzi and Bond (2008). The xenophobic attacks in South Africa on migrant workers, during which “bitter residents cheered on beatings and ethnic cleansing” made one thing clear: “there are deep fault lines in the social fabric of South African communities that appears endemic” (Manzi and Bond 2008). One plausible explanation for the social fault lines is situated in an understanding of the psychological ties that bind people together in communities. Clark (1973) contends that community is a sense of solidarity based on psychological identification with others, a collective identity. A collective identity goes beyond mere social interactions to a deep-seated sense of “we-ness” that can be place-specific or can transcend place (Netting, Kettner, and McMurtry 2004:140). This point of view emphasizes the sense of community that people feel or do not feel in relationship to others. People are assimilated into a community when their sense of identity is tied to the mainstream culture of the host country. In other words, groups like migrant workers become part of existing host communities when they are successfully assimilated into the collective identity of the host community. In an ideal world, migrant workers are assimilated into host communities through a process of pluralistic integration, where the workers, confident in their own cultural identities, do not give up their distinctiveness. They actively participate among and with people from other cultures without losing a sense of who they are (Netting, Kettner, and McMurtry 2004). The militant direct action seen in the murderous attacks against migrant workers in May 2008 by South African citizens made it abundantly clear that people from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia had not been successfully assimilated or integrated into their respective host communities. It would seem that migrant workers were separated into coexisting

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parallel communities perpetually living on the edge of the collective identity of host communities. Clearly a tipping point was reached during the attacks. Up until that moment, migrant workers were grudgingly tolerated in their South African host communities, but they had not become part of the so-called we-ness. Many causes could be cited for the May 2008 tipping point, though full discussion of them is beyond the scope of this chapter. Contributing factors included a high unemployment rate (all-time high of 40 percent), poverty, lack of services and resources for those living in informal settlements, and high levels of crime perpetuated against South African citizens by illegal foreigners from countries like Nigeria and Kenya. These need to be explored through further research. Similar to the human immune system, which differentiates self from nonself and neutralizes potentially pathogenic organisms or substances, communities like Cato Manor and Bottlebrush differentiated self (weness) from nonself migrant workers, and specific defenses were collectively activated to neutralize potentially hazardous members, the foreign migrant workers. How did the specific community system “know” what was foreign and what was part of the system? Again akin to the human body’s immune system, use was made of a kind of pass code, the “elbow test,” to differentiate and segregate migrant workers from locals. After failing the elbow test, migrant workers were actively separated into structurally visible “us vs. them” groups and targeted for abuse, assault, and even murder by roving groups of vigilante youngsters—the communities’ defenders.

Migrant Workers in the United Arab Emirates Middle- and upper-class Emirate families in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere in the Middle East often employ maids, drivers, and other domestic workers from overseas. By definition, domestic workers are employees paid by individuals or families to provide care for older people, childcare, and/or housecleaning in private homes (Parreñas 2001:15). Local Emirate and even affluent expatriate families actively utilize as domestic workers immigrants from various countries, such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, and India, to mention but a few.

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The United Arab Emirates—Fast Facts The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is composed of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm AlQaiwain, Ras AlKhaimah, and Fujairah. The city of Abu Dhabi is the capital of the state. The total area of the country is 83,600 square kilometers. This includes an archipelago with an area about 5,900 sq km. The total population in 1995 was 2,411,041 people. The UAE is governed by a federal government, consisting of the Federal National Council and the Supreme Council for the Federation. The Federal National Council is composed of the rulers of the seven emirates, presided over by H. H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. It is the highest authority in the country, responsible for the formulation of both internal and external policy. Source: United Arab Emirates General Information Authority

Migrant workers indicate that their primary motivation for migrating to the UAE is the hope that their overseas earnings will help meet the subsistence needs of their own families back home and possibly also provide access to previously hard to get consumer products, health, care and an overall better quality of life. The following responses were given by migrant workers when asked, “Why did you come to the UAE?” • “To have a job and earn money”—28-year-old Filipino male • “It’s because I want to have a good work and to have a good salary so that I can give my family a good life and wealth.”—25-year-old Filipino female • “Main reason is all about salary. Compare to the salary that we’re getting from our country the salary here is better and we have more benefits.”—31-year-old Filipino female Unfortunately the price migrant workers pay for “a better life abroad” is almost always in the currency of marginalization, social dislocation, downward social mobility, and family fragmentation. For the purposes of exploring the psychosocial realities of migrant work in the UAE, I analyze the narratives of a single Sri Lankan female migrant worker; Kommari, whom I have known for more than three years in the

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capacity of part-time domestic worker and, at some stage, full-time nanny and live-in maid for my family. The analysis of her narratives is intended neither as a critique of UAE migrants’ motivations nor as an authoritative, transparent view of all UAE migrants’ psychosocial realities or voices. Rather, this exposition is geared toward documenting and analyzing some of the ramifications of how a single female migrant framed her life as she navigated the often troubled waters of international migrant work. The discourse of realities of migrant work provided by Parreñas (2001) in her book Servants of Globalization: Women, Migration, and Domestic Work provides structure for the analysis of Kommari’s narratives on migrant life in the UAE, namely, the maintenance of transnational households; the pain of family separation; the experience of contradictory class mobility and inconsistent social status in the labor market; and the encounter of both social exclusion and feelings of nonbelonging in the formation of the migrant community. Scholars, policy makers, and the migrants themselves are concerned about how women’s transnational migration is affecting migrants’ family members who remain in the country of origin (Parreñas 2001). For most transnational domestic workers, overseas employment involves separation from their children, parents, and/or spouses, an experience that evokes longing and sadness. According to Parreñas (2001:94), the macro processes of globalization prompt the formation of transnational households. Migrants create transnational households to maximize resources and opportunities in the global economy. Parreñas defines a transnational household or family as follows: “Transnational families or households refer to families whose core members are located in at least two nation-states.” Most of the UAE migrant workers interviewed maintained transnational households. This was certainly the case with Kommari.

The Case of Kommari Kommari is 40-year-old housemaid from Sri Lanka. She has been working in the UAE since 2001 in various local households as a domestic worker, full-time nanny and part-time caretaker of children. Before coming to the UAE she worked as a nanny for a wealthy family in Greece. (continued)

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“l looked after their children,” she said during the one of our many discussions. She left Sri Lanka primarily to find work and generate an income to support her family in Colombo: “My family needs the money, that’s why I came here . . . to get money.” She also left Sri Lanka because she wanted to escape from her abusive husband, who she divorced prior to migrating to the UAE. When I asked why she divorced her husband, Kommari mentioned that “He was a bad man. He used to take my salary to buy drink with, got drunk and beat me and the children,” and “He had many other women.” She has two children in Colombo: an older boy, 21, and a daughter, 18. Her son lives on his own and has been between jobs for sometime. Her daughter lives with Kommari’s parents and studies computer engineering during the day. Kommari financially supports her daughter and, from time to time, her son. She also pays for the house that her parents and daughter stay in. She keeps in contact with her family (mainly her daughter) via cell phone, spending large amounts of money every month on international calls. Kommari mentioned that she is much closer to her daughter than her son. She feels that her son is lazy and irresponsible and wastes her money on his girlfriends. On numerous occasions she has sent him money to pay for his studies, only to find out later that he spent it on his girlfriends buying jewelry and clothes. On her previous vacation, Kommari bought him a new cell phone so that she can keep in contact with him, which he promptly gave to his girlfriend as a gift. Kommari has been experiencing severe headaches and loss of sleep on and off for some time. She was diagnosed at one of the local hospitals with stress-induced migraine. When asked about the reasons for her stress, she indicated that she is very worried about her daughter back home in Colombo. She said, “My parents only want money all the time. . . . As long as Kommari sends money home they treat my daughter well, as soon as I stop sending money home, the parents start yelling at my daughter.”

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The realities experienced by Kommari include social isolation and family disintegration. Like so many other migrant workers, the main purpose of her work in the UAE is to provide sufficient funds to her family. However, she is not able to visit her children as often as she wants. The physical and emotional distance from her family results in family conflict. The isolation from her children is possibly also contributing to her son’s irresponsible behavior. The pain of the family’s separation could also result in physical problems, such as the severe headaches Kommari is experiencing. It is clear from conversations with migrant workers that they experience problems related to their social status in the labor market in the UAE. A young Indian woman indicated that she has a degree from her country but that she was working as a waitress. She felt uncomfortable working as a waitress and disrespected despite of her position back in her own country. A man from Sri Lanka felt that he was working all the time and that he had no social life. He felt that he was working in another country with the sole purpose to make money and that in itself influenced his social status.

United Arab Emirates and South Africa Compared The notion that transnational migrant workers are in fact an international population at risk is clear from the discussions related to the two different countries. There are specific patterns which occur in both the United Arab Emirates and South Africa. A comparison of the patterns between these two country focuses on the similarities rather than the differences. The negative impact on quality of life is evident. Transnational migrant workers move from one country to another with the main purpose of bettering their lives and those of their families. However, working in another country often implies working for a basic income, under supervision of people who could mislead or abuse the workers, and living in impoverished circumstances. The impact on family life is not only negative but also potentially destructive. Leaving spouses and children behind for the sake of earning a living is difficult enough. Migrant workers have limited contact with their families and are not always able to visit them often. This results in years going by without much contact. Social isolation, loneliness, and emotional isolation are some of the realities experienced by migrant workers. Being removed from their family and having to survive the difficulties of a work environment in a foreign

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country disempowers migrants workers. Combined with health risks such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, the fight for survival becomes more than merely a fight for financial stability. The need to protect transnational migrant workers is evident. International policy has an impact on transnational migrant workers in both countries. It is, however, important to ensure that services to protect this population are in place in order to guide migrant workers toward a better quality of life. Even more important, international social workers need to understand the underlying social functions and processes of the communities in which they work. One such social function relevant to understanding the South African migrant crisis is “defense.” According to Pantoja and Perry (1992), defense is the way in which a community takes care of and protects its members. This function becomes exceedingly important in communities that are seen to be unsafe and dangerous to their members. With one of the highest violent crime rates in the world, South African slum communities and informal settlements, commonly the target of these violent crimes, could be labeled as “defended communities.”. Defended communities constantly devote a great deal of civic effort toward looking after and protecting their members from perceived “outside” dangers that threaten their continued survival and collective identity (Netting, Kettner, and McMurtry 2004:132). Services should include free access to counseling and social welfare services when necessary. For instance, counseling services related to health issues such as sexually transmitted diseases are extremely important. In the spirit of empowerment, transnational migrant workers should be educated in basic skills, to be applied in their own countries. Skills related to entrepreneurship will enable them to establish microbusiness enterprises. By focusing on empowerment rather than only provision of a job, the longterm problem could be addressed. The need to advocate for this population is ongoing and extremely urgent, and an issue in which countries like the United Arab Emirates and South Africa are actively involved. This chapter provided an overview of the patterns of transmigration workers in two countries experiencing both first world and third world conditions. By comparing the realities in the two countries, it became clear that social isolation, health risk, vulnerability, and disengagement from the family are the most important experiences. Transnational migrant workers are trying to survive the financial difficulties in their own country, only to find that there are so many other difficulties in the country where they

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choose to work. Lastly, despite of the fact that there is an international outcry to protect migrant workers, this population becomes faceless and voiceless in a world which their only purpose is to provide for a family back home.

References Battistela, Graziano (1997). Transnational mobility of people in relation to patterns of industrialization and impact on individuals and family in Asia. In Colloquium on church in Asia in the 21st century, 117–38. Manila: Office for Human Development, Federation of Asia Bishops Conference. Clark, D. C. (1973). The concept of community: A reexamination. Sociological Review 21: 397–416. Emirate of Dubai (2005). General census for population, housing and establishments. http://www.zu.ac.ae/library. Gorospe, A. E. (2007). Case study: Overseas Philipino workers. Evangelical Review of Theology, Paternoster Periodicals. Manzi, T., and P. Bond (2008). Xenophobia tears apart SA’s working class. South Africa: Center for Civil Society. http://www.zmag.org. Accessed May 29, 2008. Netting, F. E., P. M. Kettner, and S. L. McMurtry (2004). Social work macro practice. 3rd ed. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Pantoja, A., and W. Perry (1992). Community development and restoration: A perspective. In Community organizing in a diverse society, ed. F. G. Rivera and J. L. Erlich, 223–49. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Parreñas, R.  S. (2001). Servants of globalization: Women, migration, and domestic work. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Terry, F. D. (2005). Beyond small change: Making migrant remittances count. Washington, D.C.: Inter-American Development Bank. Zingu, J. (2007). Unaccompanied migrant children need protecting in South Africa. International Save the Children Alliance, ReutersAlertnet Foundation. http:// www.alertnet.org/thepeople/members/108056969662.htm.

[ 11 ]

Using Internet Technology for Transnational Social Work Practice and Education John G. McNutt

This chapter discusses the critical role of information technology in the conduct of transnational social work practice and education. Transnational practice can occur at many places along the continuum of relationships between nations. While transnational practice occurred prior to the advent of the Internet, the limitations placed on this type of practice by distance and resources made it difficult to conduct. The Internet has made transnational social work less of a niche specialty and more of a mainstream part of the social work profession. In many ways, the development of Internet technology made globalization, at the rate we have seen it in recent years, probable and the internationalization of social work education and practice on a large scale practicable. We live in a society characterized as a global information economy. It is no longer possible to conceive of the social environment from anything but an international basis. Thomas Friedman’s influential book The Earth is Flat (2005) makes the point that technology has driven the process of globalization to a stage where American communities directly compete

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with communities in other nations. This has been a benefit for some and a disaster for others. It has important, but unstated, implications for social work. If we fail to understand the global environment and technology, we do so at our peril. Some have advanced the view that the nation-state has become less and less relevant because of the global economy. Multinational corporations have power that rivals small governments and may even be difficult for larger nations to deal with effectively. Communications networks, such as the Internet, make it possible to bypass national borders and go directly to individuals. While governments have tried to block this communications channel, their effectiveness in preventing communications has met with mixed success. The Internet has greatly affected the way that governments and economies behave. It has created the means for addressing global problems, and some have gone so far as to describe the Internet as a “second superpower” (Moore 2003). In any case, national boundaries have become less of a barrier to economic and social forces, and very few processes remain entirely local.

Social Work’s Role in the Global Information Economy The history of the social work profession tells us that social welfare is largely a domestic effort delivered in local communities by local workers. (It should be noted however, that prior to the poor laws, social welfare was run in part by the Catholic Church, a transnational institution. In addition, two of the touchstones of American social work, the Settlement House Movement and the Charities Organization Society, were started in Great Britain and diffused to the United States.) Federal policies, at least in the United States, were late in coming (Trattner 2004). State policies were supplemented by local policies and by the action of churches and nonprofit agencies. The welfare state that greeted the coming of the information society was one with precious few concerns for international social welfare or for global well-being. Social work practice mostly occurred within organizations that were sanctioned at the local, state, or national level or in private practice. Licensing of practitioners in the United States is on a state-by-state basis. For many social workers, leaving their geographic jurisdiction means going beyond the authority of their agency and possibly their license. This could

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be a scary new world when facing the necessity of transnational practice, and there will be legal and policy issues that will have to be confronted. Social work education exists in a similar way, taking place within educational institutions. Some education occurs off campus through extension sites, field education, and distance education. While social work education is nationally accredited in the United States, it is also generally controlled by both regional accrediting agencies and often state education departments. Approvals from corresponding organizations in other nations might be needed for transnational social work education, especially for traditionally delivered classes. The enormous growth of distance education is changing many of these dynamics in important ways. Legitimacy and financing issues will have to be confronted as more and more students participate around the globe. While American social welfare, social work, and social work education have been predominantly domestic activities, there were always exceptions. Practice spanned national boundaries in many border areas and in areas such as foreign aid, disaster assistance, military social work, and a small number of other situations. Social workers have always worked with immigrants from other nations. In fact, immigration was one of the issues that led to the formation of the profession. There were and are exchanges of social workers. There are international treaties that act in similar ways to domestic social policies. Given the substantial relationship between economic policies and social well-being, the impact of the emerging international economic and trade framework will continue to affect social welfare at the national level in important ways. We are beginning to see a new environment for social welfare and for the social work profession. Information and communications technology extends the reach of social work practice. Globalization opens up new markets for social work services in much the same ways that it extends other types of markets for other types of services. Information technology creates the possibility that services can be delivered over national boundaries. The same developments have occurred for social work education. The international competition for students means that social work education programs in the United States will compete, even for local students, with the entire world of social work education. What can this technology do? Most important, it facilitates communication and information sharing over distances. Communication is central to what social workers do, so this is of primary significance. The technol-

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ogy also makes great amounts of information available quickly and easily. Since social work is an information- and evidence-based profession, it is vital that such resources be available. Technology can also help us to analyze and understand the information. It can magnify the voice of the individual and empower him or her. Anyone can put up a website or blog and have his or her thoughts included in the marketplace of ideas. It can make possible relationships that were excluded by the barriers of time and distance. It can also free us of repetitive tasks that sap our energy and enthusiasm. Technology is a tool, not a magic genie. It takes people to run it, define it, and use it.

Social Work Practice Social work practice has yet to undergo the type of information technology–led change that other fields have found expedient. Law, medicine, education, public administration, and nursing have all benefited from the technology revolution. Technology is a part of both professional practice and education in these fields. Sadly, that is not the case in social work, and there appears to be little pressure or significant effort from either the Council on Social Work Education or the National Association of Social Workers to bring the profession more into the information age. On balance, agency realities have led many social workers to obtain technology skills, and agencies are beginning to require such skills. Market pressure and competition from collateral fields should eventually force social work toward more extensive use of technology. Technology is a part of social work practice and will become more important as the information economy evolves. Social work practice exists at multiple levels and works with many different population groups, either individually or in larger groups. Technology is currently in use at all these levels, as is transnational social work practice.

Micro Social Work Practice Social work with individuals, families, and small groups has evolved a number of technology-powered modalities that lend themselves to

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transnational practice (Mallen et al. 2005; Rochlen, Zack, and Speyer 2004). The development of online therapy is certainly one type of approach that can span national boundaries. This can mean therapy via chat, e-mail, or even voice and video over the Internet. In addition, the psychiatric/mental health application of telemedicine often involves social work services. These systems use Internet-based and other technologies to provide direct treatment to individuals, families, and others. Using distance education technology, programs such as family life education and parenting education are possible. In addition to education, another social work service that can be delivered over the Internet, and often is, is information and referral. The conclusion is that we can offer a range of direct social work interventions via information and communications technology. While these interventions bridge distances within a nation, they can also span national boundaries. There are limitations, however. Social work is a licensed profession, and licensing does not always transfer across national borders (or state borders for that matter). A legally sanctioned social worker in one state might find himself or herself breaking the law by engaging in online therapy with a client located in another jurisdiction. Liability insurance might restrict practice to certain areas, and standards of care may vary from place to place. While some of this might be remedied by securing multiple licenses, that may still restrict us to a small number of areas. These are legal issues that are not unique to social work. Solving these issues will require policy solutions, but they are not permanent barriers. Cultural issues have always existed in social work practice, but in an online environment there are new wrinkles. First, there are cultural issues about technology that may need to be addressed. Second, social workers may find themselves working with people who represent a culture that they have never before encountered. These problems could be greatly complicated if a worker encounters clients from several cultures. While that certainly can happen domestically, the prospect exists that multiple clients in multiple nations could occur in one worker’s caseload.

Macro Social Work Practice Macro practice has traditionally been considered to be social administration and community organization and development. The social admin-

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istration of transnational programs offers many opportunities to apply Internet-based technologies in support of social work practice. The Internet makes possible substantial expansion of the number of agencies that operate across national boundaries. Contemporary agencies, such as adoption agencies, humanitarian care agencies (like the Red Cross), and international development agencies, can have a presence in multiple nations, but the need to establish a physical site makes it an expensive proposition. Internet technology can make this type of activity more cost effective by coordinating activity and making information widely available within the organization. It also makes virtual offices possible. The development of virtual teams and virtual workspaces would be very useful in this context. The use of technology tools, often called collaborative technologies or groupware, can facilitate the work of people who are not physically situated together. These tools allow people to share information, collaborate on documents, communicate about tasks, and so forth. The next phase is the development of virtual agencies based on a virtual organization model (Cooper and Muench 2000). A virtual organization is one that has a central core of functions performed internally and that handles all other matters through outsourcing. This type of organization requires a good deal of attention to organization and coordination. It is much more agile than traditional organizations because it can acquire and divest organizational units as situations change. Since technology excels at solving many of the problems of coordination that plague farflung organizations, it is uniquely suited to the creation of organizations that exist by outsourcing many of their functions. Agencies, particularly those that operate across national borders, are likely to find this type of approach beneficial. Much of this activity will get a major boost from what is being referred to as the Web 2.0 revolution. This is a group of technologies that allow collaboration and sharing and the ability of users to create their own content (Addison 2006; Bryant 2006; Germany 2006). Some of the tools that support the Web 2.0 concept are blogs (online journals in which one can post and receive comments on posts), wikis (websites that can be edited by users—Wikipedia is a good example), social bookmarking (systems that share what people have found useful), social networking (sites that facilitate networking and sharing, including Facebook, MySpace, and Twitterr), videosharing and image sharing (such as YouTube and Flickr), and alternative reality/worlds (such as Second Life). Web 2.0 goes far beyond

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traditional approaches in building relationships, networks, and other elements of the social capital that holds any organization together. These tools have shown tremendous potential to make virtual working systems more effective and to facilitate the types of relationships that sustain and enrich transnational social work. Finally, Internet technology has demonstrated a major ability to raise funds from a wide range of groups. Online fundraising has emerged as a major way to raise funds for agencies, social causes, and political candidates. There are different ways to do online fundraising (Grobman and Grant 2006). The most obvious is a secure server so that people can donate over the Internet. There are also charity malls (many related solicitations group together) and Shop for a Cause sites, where an organization places a merchant’s icon on its website, the shopper clicks on the icon, and organization then receives a donation from the merchant. With Internet-based fundraising, it should be possible to raise money from supporters all over the world. Social administration is a rich environment for the application of Internet tools to transnational practice because of the huge body of experience in other administrative venues that is available. This includes international business management, international public administration and public policy, and the considerable expertise of the international development community. These groups can help social workers create new efforts in global practice using technology. There are also significant applications of Internet-based technologies in the community practice field as it applies to transnational populations. Internet tools can be used to support the organizing community groups, the planning and evaluation of community projects, and the creation of new organizations. The movement toward virtual volunteers (volunteers who work exclusively online) is also growing (see http://www.serviceleader.org/new/ for more information). In 2004–2005 virtual volunteers aided people caught in the tsunami in the Indian Ocean and victims of the Katrina, Wilma, and Rita hurricanes along the American Gulf Coast (McNutt et al. 2006). Organizing virtual communities is a new challenge for community organization (see McNutt 2000; McNutt and Quiero-Tajalli 2007). One type of transnational community that Internet-based community organization is particularly appropriate for is diaspora communities composed of people who have had to leave their own countries and now reside in

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exile in another nation (see Brainard and Brinkerhoff 2006). The Internet can be used to build a network of people who were forced to leave but want contact with their fellow citizens who are in similar circumstances. The network may take the form of an effort to build social capital or an eventual vehicle for social and political change (Brinkerhoff 2004). The same argument can be made for immigrants to another nation, particularly undocumented immigrants. Community economic development is another area where the Internet can make a substantial impact. The Internet can be used to create a virtual enterprise that can connect consumers in the North with producers in the South or within nations (Schuler 1996). It can also help to market and promote these efforts and products. While the cultural and legal issues are often different from those found in the clinical area, they will still be present. The legal status of corporations varies from nation to nation. There are issues of national policy and political institutions. Coordinating people from different cultures requires sensitivity to a variety of issues about power and responsibility. Language issues are also critical. Although translation programs are available, it will be years before they reach the stage where whole enterprises can run without bilingual people People and organizations involved in planning, administration, and community organizing/development face many challenges as they move into the transnational arena. Technology can help them meet these challenges in ways that preserve the profession’s values and provide high-quality services to the people that they serve.

Policy Practice and Advocacy The social policy world for transnational social work is highly complex. Since a real world government does not exist, the policy practitioner is caught within a bewildering array of treaties, domestic social policies, and a political no man’s land of economic forces and the actions of social and political movements. Much of the work in the policy arena is performed by transnational advocacy groups that work in the area between national boundaries (Batliwala 2002; Young et al. 1999). These organizations are very active in human rights, the environment, trade policy, and related issues. Some examples

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are Greenpeace (www.greenpeace.org), Amnesty International (www. amnesty.org), and Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org). The Internet has revolutionized advocacy practice for many groups, but this force has been especially valuable to these organizations (Hick and McNutt 2002; QuieroTajalli, McNutt, and Campbell 2003). Online advocates use the Internet in many ways to gather information, educate the public, organize supporters, and pressure decision makers (McNutt and Penkaukas 1999). Online tools run the entire range of technologies, from email and websites to many of the Web.2.0 technologies discussed above. The Internet has created transnational virtual advocacy organizations that have grown in size and stature. Perhaps the best known of these is MoveOn (www.moveon.org) (Cornfield 2004). Started as a limited effort created by two software designers in the wake of the Clinton impeachment, MoveOn has grown to one of the world’s largest advocacy organizations. It is still largely a virtual organization with a small core staff. Much of the actual work of organizing is accomplished with technology. All through the world there are similar organizations with similar commitment and goals. There are also local organizations that have used the Internet to gain the support of the international community for their efforts. Local social movement organizations are often at a disadvantage when dealing with the power of global interests. The Internet has made it possible to oppose that power and succeed in the movement toward social justice. The Zapatista Army of National Liberation began as a local effort for social justice in the Chiapas area of Mexico. In many such cases, a group’s actions are overwhelmed by the local power structure. The Zapatista Army began using traditional social movement techniques but had more success as they used technology to expand their organizing efforts beyond the local communities. They gained international recognition and support for their cause by using the Internet (Garrido and Halavais 2003; Meikle 2002). The Narmada Bachao Andolan had similar success in bringing world attention to a part of rural India and its battle for local environmental sustainability against the forces of local and global powers (Routledge 2000). These organizations have used the Internet to bring their local fight to the world stage. Through a range of technologies, they have created an international constituency for efforts that could have been easily defeated by local power structures. This demonstrates not only the power of the technology but also the interdependence of local communities and global societies.

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This entire process continues to evolve and develop. New technology continues to enter the advocacy process. In June 2009 Iranians, unhappy with the results of the presidential election in their nation, took to Facebook and Twitter to protest following a virtual international news blackout of the street protests (Murphy 2009). Traditional media in many ways took a backseat to new media in this instance. Similar actions have been undertaken in Moldavia and elsewhere. These developments may change the relationship among citizens, government, and the media. U.S. President Barack Obama used Web 2.0 tools extensively in his 2008 run for the White House (Smith 2009). There is evidence that the Obama presidency will also use these same tools to govern (Swire 2009). The U.S. State Department, for example, is beginning to think about person-to-person diplomacy using the Internet. This could radically change the nature of transnational advocacy and policy making by bringing more actors into the process. Advocacy organizations are carrying the banner of social justice in the transnational arena. The Internet makes their work more effective and extends their reach into many nations. What we have seen so far really only scratches the surface of what is possible.

Social Work Education Social work education, like all education, has been affected by technology and the Internet in major ways (Lasarenko 1997). New dimensions of teaching and learning are possible as well as new frontiers for research and community service. The potential of the Internet to revolutionize social work education has barely been explored. Globalization has also affected social work education in a major fashion (Caragata and Sanchez 2002). Social work education has had international programs for at least the last few decades. Many schools have academic exchanges for students and faculty, and some offer courses and even entire social work programs in other nations. At least some social work courses have been offered via distance education for a long time (although some schools do not offer social work practice courses by distance education). Distance education can mean anywhere from instructional television to web-based courses. A number of

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schools have made part of their program available online, and at least one school is experimenting with a completely online program. Transnational social work education programs have evolved, tying U.S. programs to populations of potential social workers throughout the globe. Some of these programs do not use technology widely or even at all. Technology could help the delivery of high-quality social work education in nations that do not have schools of social work or where the schools they have are not up to meeting the need. This would also allow specialty courses to be taught at one school and transmitted around the world. It goes without saying that all social workers need to have technological literacy, and higher levels of expertise are also needed. While students will have some of these skills from the rising levels of technology competence in the population as a whole, there is absolutely no excuse for social work education to ignore this need when other professions do not. There is a growing awareness about the need for a global view in higher education. Social work education must explore these new possibilities if we are to survive. The world changes, and organizations and institutions that do not change with it become obsolete.

Conclusion We live in a global society that affects both our day-to-day lives and our professional careers in many intense ways. No longer can we ignore a problem or issue half a world away. Anyone’s challenge has become everyone’s challenge. Every form of social work practice is, in reality, transnational practice. Fortunately, we have a way to stay in touch with those issues and even intervene when appropriate: we have access to much of the world through information technology. The current tools that we have and the ones that are likely to develop offer us unsurpassed contact. It is critical that social workers make technology a part of their transnational practice. These are tools that can turn difficult tasks into doable tasks. Their potential cannot be ignored anymore than the global environment can be overlooked. There are some issues that will have to be resolved. Privacy, security, and confidentiality are serious considerations in working with vulnerable people online. These issues can be resolved by careful attention to policy and the right kind of technology.

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Another issue is the international digital divide (Norris 2001). Access to the Internet and technology is not universal throughout the world, and many people lack the skills to use technology. Projects such as the $100 laptop program, which makes very low-cost laptops available to children in third world nations, will help make this better, and improvements in technology will enhance the ability of networks to serve poorer populations. The blocking and filtering of Internet technologies by some nations, preventing access to some or all Internet content, is another wrinkle that should be considered. This is usually done for political reasons. We have seen this recently in China and Iran, but many other nations also interfere with Internet communications. A final major issue is that social workers will have to be trained to engage in global practice over the Internet. The current ad hoc approach to technology training will not be enough. Students will need an understanding of both technology in general and how to use technology in social work. Social work education must assure those abilities in its graduates. This will include assessing student competencies, supplying opportunities to develop the needed skills, and firmly integrating this material with other parts of the curriculum. While there are certainly many ways that this content can be addressed (formal courses, online experiences, workshops, tutorials, and so forth), the use of technology needs to be infused in the curriculum as an essential professional skill. The context of social work is changing from local to global. A major part of the global context is information technology and the information economy. Social workers will need information technology skills to deal with this new reality. This is an exciting time to be a professional social worker. We are facing new challenges and new opportunities. The possibilities are enormous, but the dangers are daunting. questions 1. Some people argue that technology will dehumanize social work. Do you agree? 2. Transnational social work preceded the Internet. Having the technology that we now possess, what are the pros and cons of doing this kind of practice the old way? 3. Why do some social workers resist using technology? What do you think are the consequences of this resistance?

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4. What would be some of the benefits of transnational virtual volunteering for social work students? 5.  What are the pros and cons of completing a social work degree by distance education? What will you miss? What will be better? 6. Can social work be outsourced? Is it possible for social workers in other nations to serve American clients?

References Addison, C. (2006). Web 2.0: A new chapter in development practice? Development in Practice 16, no. 6: 623–27. Batliwala, S. (2002), Grassroots movements as transnational actors: Implications for global civil society. Voluntas 13, no. 4: 393–409. Brainard, L., and J. Brinkerhoff (2006). Sovereignty under siege, or a circuitous path for strengthening the state? Digital diasporas and human rights. International Journal of Public Administration 29, no. 8: 595–618. Brinkerhoff, J. (2004). Digital diasporas and international development: AfghanAmericans and the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Public Administration and Development 24, no. 5: 397–413. Bryant, A. (2006). Wiki and the agora: “It’s organizing Jim, but not as we know it.” Development in Practice 16, no. 6: 559–69. Caragata, L., and M. Sanchez (2002). Globalization and global need: The new imperatives for expanding international social work education in North America International Social Work 45, no. 2: 217–38. Cooper, W. W., and M. L. Muench (2000).Virtual organizations: Practice and the literature. Journal of the Organizational Computing and Electronic Computing 10, no. 3: 189–208. Cornfield, M. (2004). Politics moves online. Washington, D.C.; Brookings. Finn, J., and G. Holden (eds.) (2000). Human services online: A new arena for service delivery. New York: Haworth Press. Friedman, T. L. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Garrido, M., and A. Halavais (2003). Mapping networks of support for the Zapatista movement. In Cyberactivism: On-line activism in theory and practice, ed. M. McCaughey and M. D. Ayers, 165–84. New York: Routledge. Germany, J. B. (ed.) (2006). Person to person to person: Harnessing the political power of on-line social networks and user generated content. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet, George Washington University.

189 Using Internet Technology for Transnational Social Work Grobman, G., and G. Grant (2006). Fundraising online. Harrisburg, Pa.: White Hat Communication. Hick, S., and J. G. McNutt (2002). Advocacy and activism on the Internet: Perspectives from community organization and social policy. Chicago: Lyceum Books. Lasarenko, J. (1997). Wired for learning: Harness the power of the Internet for education. Indianapolis: Que Books. McNutt, J. G. (2000). Organizing cyberspace: Strategies for teaching about community practice and technology. Journal of Community Practice 7, no. 1: 95–109. McNutt, J. G., and K. Penkauskas (2000). Electronic advocacy. Presentation at Getting Wired: Advocacy in Cyberspace. The First Boston College Conference on Electronic Advocacy in Social Work Practice, Chestnut Hill, Mass., April 14. McNutt, J. G., et al. (2006). The cyber commons responds to a major disaster: A Study of on-line volunteers in the face of a natural disaster. Paper presented at the 35th Annual ARNOVA Conference, Chicago, November. McNutt, J.  G., and I. Quiero-Tajalli (2007). Organizing the digital natives. Paper presented at the 2007 Community Development Society/National Rural Development Society Conference symposium, Appleton, Wisconsin, June 17–20. Mallen, M.  J., et al. (2005). Online counseling: Reviewing the literature from a counseling psychology framework. Counseling Psychologist 33, no. 6: 819–71. Meikle, G. (2002). Future active: Media activism and the Internet. New York: Routledge. Moore, J. F. (2003). The second superpower rears its beautiful head. Cambridge: Harvard University Law School, Berkman Center for Internet and Society. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jmoore/secondsuperpower.html. Accessed October 4, 2005. Murphy, D. (2009). Twitter, YouTube, and the force of the movement for change in Iran make it difficult for the government to paint the protesters as tools of foreign powers. Christian Science Monitor, July 5. http://www.csmonitor. com/2009/0705/p06s05-wome.html. Accessed July 6, 2009. Norris, P. (2001). Digital divide. New York: Cambridge University Press. Quiero-Tajalli, I., J. G. McNutt, and C. Campbell (2003). International social and economic justice, social work and on-line advocacy. International Social Work 46, no. 2:149–61. Rochlen, A., J. Zack, and C. Speyer (2004). Online therapy: Review of relevant definitions, debates, and current empirical support. Journal of Clinical Psychology 60, no. 3:269–83. Routledge, P. (2000). “Our resistance will be as transnational as capital”: Convergence space and strategy in globalising resistance. Geojournal 52, no. 1: 25–33. Schuler, D. (1996). New community networks: Wired for change. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.

190 Services to Transmigrants Smith, A. (2009). The Internet’s role in campaign 2008. Washington, D.C.: Pew Internet and American Life Project. Swire, P. P. (2009). It’s not the campaign any more. How the White House is using Web 2.0 technology so far. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/06/ web2.0_memo.html. Accessed June 1, 2009. Trattner, W.  J. (2004). From poor law to welfare state: A history of social welfare in America. 6th ed. New York: Free Press. Young, D. R., et al. (1999). Strategy and structure in managing global associations. Voluntas 10, no. 4: 323–43.

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Macro Social Work Practice   with Transmigrants Brij Mohan and Julia E. Clark Prickett

The great benefit of science is that it can contribute tremendously to the alleviation of suffering at the physical level, but it is only through the cultivation of the qualities of the human heart and the transformation of our attitudes that we can begin to address and overcome our mental suffering. In other words, the enhancement of fundamental human values is indispensable to our basic quest for happiness. —The Dalai Lama, 2005

In a fast-changing, globalized world, transmigration has become a crossnational phenomenon with variegated dimensions. Transmigration poses a daunting challenge for individuals, societies, and cultures that are not yet equipped, materially and conceptually, to accept and integrate the new arrivals from different shores. The evolving nature of international relationships, however, warrants modalities of cross-national interactions that demand both attention and understanding. This chapter offers a macro conceptual framework to begin to address transnational social welfare problems. Throughout history, the political map of the world has changed as a result of fluctuations in power. In recent times, the fall of the Berlin Wall tore down the iron curtain that divided East and West Germans during the cold war years. Currently, the United States is erecting a wall on its Mexican border. Israel has nearly accomplished a walled-nation status in the world’s most culturally diverse region. India is bordering off its boundaries with Bangladesh. While the Great Wall of China is beginning to erode, other barriers

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are cropping up in varied forms. In this post-9/11 world, security measures have generated xenophobia, which “profiles” those who look or act different. As physical and psychological borders continue to be built globally, the ability to travel and communicate across these borders has increased with the rapid advancements in technology. In many regions world conflicts, wars, famine, hunger, ethnic cleansing, cross-national border disputes, and natural disasters displace those who lack necessary alternative support systems. However, in spite of having to relocate to foreign areas, many of these migrants find ways to maintain aspects of their lives in their homelands. According to Pries (2004), these migrants, known as transmigrants, maintain physical and cultural ties to two countries as opposed to traditional migrants, who discontinue moving between boundaries with the lapse of time. Thus as transmigrants increase their global presence, previously local and regional problems become international issues influencing various nationalities, a fact that must be recognized in order to provide effective social work for this unique population. As social work assumes an international character and recognition, and as it serves an increasingly international population, academic professionals and practitioners must recognize the ways in which macro social work skills are essential in achieving social justice at all levels. In addition to presenting a new framework to conceptualize transnationality within the context of certain assumptions of the social work profession, this chapter outlines practical ways in which macro-level social workers can use their skills of advocacy, community organization, fundraising, development, and administration to promote social justice among transmigrant populations.

Transmigrants: Necessities for Integration The growing body of literature exploring the lives of transmigrants reveals the various accommodations needed by transmigrants to successfully integrate into the receiving country. In their study of Chinese migrants in New Zealand, Nash, Wong, and Trlin (2006) draw on an ecological framework to recognize the importance of encouraging integration into the new society rather than assimilation, which entails the casting off of the native culture in order to adopt the culture of the new society. They argue that integration requires providing equal access to social institutions and culturally sensitive services, as well as an emphasis on community development and

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inclusion. Thomas-Hope (2003:191) studied Jamaican transmigrants and found that “the strength of the identity of migrants of all types is largely based on the ease and extent of incorporation into the ‘new’ society. The greater the difference and the more difficult the incorporation, the more distinctly separate the identity.” Thus, the smoother the transition into the society, the more integrated transmigrants will become. An important process to ease this transition comes in the form of social inclusion, including access to institutional support and resources. Nash, Wong, and Trlin (2006:357) note the importance of receiving social and institutional support for immigrant integration, stating that “in the course of this adjustment process they face emotional, cultural and other difficulties which often call for support from established ethnic communities and the host population (via appropriate policies, programmes and social services) as well as self-help.” Additionally, Furman and Negi (2007:110) argue that transmigrants need access to basic educational, social, and health services to overcome marginalizing forces. This includes the need for “social and political legitimacy.” Not only do transmigrants need access to inclusion and resources, but they also need reliable and effective services. Thus Furman and Negi advocate for multiservice welfare agencies that can effectively address the various needs of transmigrants. To be effective, services to transmigrants must include an awareness of the cultural and historical context from which they come. Smith and Guarnizo (1998) recognize this fact, stating that transmigrants can be understood only within the context of their experiences with the globalization of capitalism, global political transformations, the technological revolution and its effect on transnational relationships, and the social networks that reproduce migration. Tripodi and Potocky-Tripodi (2007) also include a discussion of the importance of an awareness of the international laws affecting transmigrants. Only with a specialized knowledge of the unique issues faced by transmigrants, along with an awareness of cultural values, can culturally competent services be provided and social integration be achieved (Fauri, Wernet, and Netting 2004; Potocky-Tripodi 2002).

Failure of Market, Developmental, and Political Systems Some may look to the free market or development or politics to solve global social problems and ease the struggles of vulnerable populations like

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transmigrants. And indeed, these forces serve many important functions at all levels of society and have made various contributions to international citizens, including facilitating the maintenance of transnational lifestyles. However these systems more frequently serve to exclude transmigrants from access to power or mobility. For example, while increasing capital for the wealthy, the globalization of a capitalist market economy has also brought many serious consequences for the poorest nations and individuals. Brueggemann (2002:409) discusses the impact of major players in the market economy, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. He states, “Instead of improving the economic capacity of underdeveloped nations, they have stabilized world economies for the benefit of large multinational corporations, preserved the balance of payments structure, or protected the investments that wealthy nations have made in nations that do not have strong market economies.” Additionally, in many cases market forces have led to the economic exploitation of less powerful countries as well as increasing their dependence on foreign capital, thus increasing poverty levels. Development and modernization, often perceived as desirable means of advancing third world countries, have also failed to help the position of transmigrants. Lauderdale (2008:411) explains ways in which developmental globalization has contributed to forced assimilation of indigenous cultures, leading to the erosion of communities. He argues that as a result of globalization and modernization, “people were invariably worse off than before, stripped of their culture, their communities, their land, or even themselves.” William Easterly (2006) also posits in his analysis of foreign aid donors that Western development fails to bring prosperity to poor countries. Identifying a group he calls “Planners,” he illustrates the weaknesses in the belief that imposing top-down big plans on poor countries leads to positive outcomes. By imposing white, Western culture on other countries, developers have devalued indigenous knowledge and weakened many important cultural resources. Similarly, politics have also failed to truly enhance the well-being of transmigrants and other vulnerable populations. Brueggemann (2002) demonstrates that those in power, often from elite backgrounds, protect their own interests at the expense of impoverished, often voiceless citizens. Governments throughout history have used brutality to keep citizens fearful and compliant. Even in democratic nations, leaders don’t necessarily honor the wishes of those they represent, allowing very little direct participation in political decisions.

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Thus, although they serve important roles in global social cohesion, market, developmental, and political forces are largely controlled by elite global players who seek to maintain their symbolic and economic power. By lacking a focus on recognizing cultural values and serving the poor, these systems often overlook the needs of the most vulnerable populations, which in turn leads to oppressive and exclusive policies.

Global Civil Society and Macro Social Work In response to the failures of market, political, and developmental systems to advance the livelihoods of vulnerable populations, many scholars propose global civil society as an alternative. Global civil society encompasses facilitating democracy and protection of citizen rights on a global scale (Negi 2005). Powell (2001:118) describes the voluntary sector as an important component of civil society that provides “(1) an alternative to state bureaucracy and professional elitism and (2) a public space between government and market.” He depicts civil society as incorporating citizens at all levels in an active decision-making process, thus leading to empowerment. Brueggemann (2002:409) similarly recognizes the necessity of granting citizens the power to make their own decisions, stating that “poverty will only be eradicated as people in their own local communities take charge of their lives.” With an emphasis on social justice, service, empowerment, and recognizing the worth of each person, social work helps facilitate civil society. In working with transmigrants, social workers must take the concept of civil society to an international level, requiring macrolevel skills to address the many issues affecting transmigrant communities. Below we explore the practical ways that macro social workers can use their skills to aid transmigrant populations in their integration into their new societies.

Toward a Transnational Framework To contextualize macro social workers’ capabilities for helping transmigrants, it is first necessary to understand the underlying premises of the social work field. Transnational practice is postulated on certain formulations that define the nature and contours of international social work (Mohan 2008) and is based on the following assumptions:

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1. Social problems must be recognized within an international context. Poverty, genocide, AIDS, inequality, authoritarianism, fundamentalism, terrorism, and lack of understanding and tolerance have increasingly international repercussions. 2. Intersubjectivity and interpretive hermeneutics, which guide the ability to understand and appreciate the lived experiences of another, are crucial elements to theorize human behavior with sincerity. 3. By utilizing a strengths perspective, social work identifies the assets of an individual or community and builds on them to create positive change. 4. Social workers recognize the impossibility of objectivity and thus recognize the need to identify and overcome personal biases; the true measure of any objective social practice lies in its effectiveness in short- and long-term resolutions. 5. “Interlocking” and “person-in-environment” (PIE) perspectives help unravel issues by contextualizing each person and population within the broader social and physical environment. 6. Friedman’s (2005) “flattening” theory, which describes globalization as a flattening or equalization of the international playing field, does not adequately explain dissolutions marked by terrorism, AIDS, poverty, refugees, and ethnic cleansing (e.g., Darfur). 7. A comparative analytic approach to studying international issues is a step toward scientific exploration. “Our science is not knowledge (episteme): it can never claim to have attained truth, or even substitute for it, such as probability” (Popper 1968:278). Based on these assumptions of international social work and the analyses of the needs of transmigrants, formulation of a framework as a unifying construct is attempted here to define and delineate the dimensions of transmigrants’ problems and issues. Implicit here is an approach to studying transmigration as a social phenomenon embedded with problems and issues calling for concerted attention for purposes of education, practice, and research. It is premised on the assumption that transnationality as an ideal offers opportunities to analyze basic issues and problems during the transmigration process. It implies hope and

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resilience against the vagaries of a difficult and uncertain future. Here is a three-dimensional model for analyzing transnationality as a goal for macro intervention: conceptualizing transnationality: a three-dimensional model A. Diversity a. Race, gender, and class b. Equality (justice) and inequality (injustice) c. Strengths and weaknesses B. Dimensions a. General exclusions 1. Ethnocentrism 2. Xenophobia 3. Racism 4. Legality b. Ethno-religious conflicts C. Dialectics a. Illusions (and delusions) b. Cyber-tribal dualism

Diversity When conceptualizing the experiences of transmigrants, it is imperative to account for diversity among different groups. Although grouped together based on the common factor of maintaining lives in two different countries, transmigrants represent a diverse assembly of individuals who experience various levels of acceptance in the sending and receiving countries. Influenced by their race, gender, and class, transmigrants may find equality and even privilege in some areas of their life while experiencing injustice in others. Additionally, originating in countries all over the world, transmigrants come equipped with various cultural strengths upon which they depend for survival in their new home. Similarly, they may come from situations of oppression that left them with limited financial resources and low educational attainment, thus creating areas of weakness in their transnational opportunities for success.

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Dimensions One must also consider various dimensions of transnationality. Many transmigrants face structural general exclusions from full societal integration in the home country, the receiving country, or both. Some major exclusions occur as a result of ethnocentrism, xenophobia, and racism. Additionally, some transmigrants live in their new countries illegally and therefore find themselves excluded from needed resources, employment options, and opportunities for mobility. Another important dimension in conceptualizing transnationality is the factor of ethno-religious conflicts. Many transmigrants have encountered a wide range of trauma and oppression in their home countries due to these conflicts, a factor that greatly influences their social and psychological well-being even after they remove themselves from their country of origin.

Dialectics Another important aspect of transnationality takes the form of dialectics, or reasoning that juxtaposes contradictory ideas. For example, transmigration has always been propelled by illusions and delusions, shaped and reshaped by alienation and the instinct for survival. Whether the pastures turned out “green” or not, people have crossed known and unknown frontiers in search of the possibility of improved opportunities. Cyber-tribal dualism constitutes another dialectical process experienced by many transmigrants. Even rural cultures have access to ever-increasing technology, which can both enhance and undermine traditional values. Therefore, although this information revolution facilitates the possibility of a transnational lifestyle, in many cases it has also created dissatisfaction with indigenous ways of life and initiated the desire to migrate.

Practice: Principles and Modalities of Macro Intervention In order for macro social workers to successfully use their skills to empower transmigrants, they must incorporate the elements of diversity, dimensions, and dialectics in every aspect of their practice. Therefore, drawing on an understanding of social work assumptions within this transnational

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framework, we outline below ways in which macro social work practice can play an integral role in addressing the needs of transmigrants.

Advocacy Macro social workers utilize the important skill of advocacy. As Long, Tice, and Morrison (2006:57) state, “Social workers serve as advocates when they advance or champion the causes of consumers.” Advocacy can take on a variety of forms as social workers seek to assist transmigrants in gaining access to opportunities. Advocates seek out individuals and communities to identify their needs in the areas in which they lack sufficient power to make changes for themselves. As previously discussed, transmigrants face various injustices and, due to their tenuous social status, often benefit from social workers who advocate on their behalf. Social work advocates also have the skills to gain knowledge of domestic and international law influencing transmigrants, which is fundamental for understanding the context of transnationality (Tripodi and Potocky-Tripodi 2007). Advocates analyze and evaluate these laws and can push for change in oppressive policies at various levels of government both in the United States and abroad. In addition to governmental advocacy, macro social workers can promote social justice for transmigrants among corporations, international organizations, and local agencies. Drawing on relevant research and transmigrant experiences, macro social workers can identify arguments to convince powerful entities to consider their impact on transmigrant communities. By pushing for policies of inclusion and justice, advocates help initiate the reconstruction of existing discriminatory “knowledge” about the identities of the displaced people. Thus they facilitate legitimizing local knowledge on a more international level (Falicov 2007). With the recognition of individuals and groups as human beings and new members of a community, advocates can offer a voice to the transmigrant communities that often find themselves without the necessary resources to represent themselves.

Community Organization Many macro social workers also perform the role of community organizer. Community organization can take on a variety of forms, but all have the

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common goal of empowering the served groups. Long, Tice, and Morrison (2006:18) describe empowerment as “the central and direct involvement of consumers in defining and determining their own struggles, strengths, and future.” Thus macro social workers help communities learn to advocate for their own rights and resources. This skill is especially important in dealing with transmigrants, who, as a relatively newly identified group, have unique needs that cannot simply be identified by a social worker on their behalf. Instead, community organizers will need to incorporate transmigrant perspectives and experiences into every stage of change. In helping transmigrants address the issues they face, community organizers can assist them in identifying strengths and resources on which they can build. Drawing on these strengths, social workers can use their organizing skills to mobilize volunteers within the community to help start up important community-based programs for transmigrants, such as support groups, community centers, and venues for resource sharing. Macro social workers also serve as liaisons among individuals, communities, and larger bureaucracies that often exclude vulnerable immigrant populations (Nash, Wong, and Trlin 2006). Similarly, they can help organize public and private resources and agencies, including governmental offices, to insure collective measures in defense of migrants’ physical security and protection.

Development Development involves strategic planning to create effective programs that address certain issues. To adopt successful means of empowering transmigrant communities, macro social workers must develop programs that adequately support transmigrants and are cohesive with other interventions/policies on a regional, national, and global level. Social workers use their development skills by consulting with other organizations to learn about existing resources and find out ways to supplement services already provided. On a local level, this could mean working with multiple agencies in a city, as demonstrated in Austin, Texas, to develop an online network offering transmigrants information about available resources and services (Negi 2009). Additionally, because transmigrants have livelihoods in multiple countries, social workers also need to develop and/or join transnational alliances among international organizations in order to work with sending countries to provide the best services possible.

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With feedback and support from other organizations and transmigrants themselves, social workers can develop programs that help transmigrants effectively integrate into the larger society (Nash, Wong, and Trlin 2006). This may include the development of plans to raise public awareness of issues faced by transmigrants in an attempt to overcome dominant attitudes of prejudice and exclusion. Macro social workers can also engage in the mobilization of preventive measures to thwart possible occurrences that may lead to violent reaction against new immigrants.

Fund-raising Vital to the success of any program, fund-raising constitutes another macro social work skill useful in addressing the needs of transmigrants. Social workers recognize that the provision of required amenities for transmigrants is a societal obligation involving public and private resources. Thus fund-raising for the purposes of empowering transmigrants involves the solicitation of support and assistance through local, national, and international resources. Fund-raisers must consider multiple factors in developing a plan to raise support. They at times serve as social planners, engaging potential donors through organizing events that raise awareness of social issues. Fund-raisers are responsible for public relations and raising adequate awareness of a particular agency, group, or cause. Additionally, Long, Tice, and Morrison (2006:59) argue that “the idea, impetus, and personhours for these endeavors should be consumer-based.” More than simply raising necessary resources, macro social workers can use fund-raising as a means of organizing transmigrants, who often feel a sense of isolation from society, in working together toward a common goal. Grant writing constitutes another component of fund-raising. Because of the international nature of the transmigrant population being served, macro social workers can target organizations and governments on both a local and a global level in searching for grant opportunities.

Administration Social workers also play an administrative role, monitoring whether or not programs and organizations serve target populations. Responsible for

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ensuring ongoing growth and effectiveness, administrators provide supervision and support for the microlevel social workers that implement programs. They also create and monitor budgets and establish and enforce organizational policy. Administrators have the responsibility of evaluating programs, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and implementing any necessary changes. Administrative social workers serving transmigrants must think on a more global level than traditionally required. In utilizing a framework of understanding the diversity, dimensions, and dialectics of transnationality, they can enhance their commitment to ensuring culturally appropriate services for transmigrants. In areas such as evaluation, supervision, and implementation, administrators take into account multiple cultural variables that can influence success rates. When implementing a budget, they can allocate sufficient funds to appropriately serve transmigrants at both a micro and a macro level. Their skills can also be used to analyze the effectiveness of programs in their international, rather than simply local or national, context.

Conclusion In the absence of adequate support from market, political, and developmental systems, transmigrants often find themselves in new societies where they may lack the basic resources necessary for a decent standard of living. With its unique emphasis on recognizing human dignity and pursuing social justice, social work offers an alternative and effective means of aiding this population. As outlined above, macro social workers have valuable skills they can use to address the issues faced by the transmigrant community. However, their success will be determined in large part by an awareness of the global forces influencing transmigrants, recognizing that social problems are international rather than just local. Therefore we have offered a framework for conceptualizing transnationality on which social workers can draw in order to contextualize transmigrants in their environments. In the words of the Dalai Lama (2005:4), “The enhancement of fundamental human values is indispensable to our basic quest for happiness.” With a foundational assumption of the inherent value of all humans, macro social workers can help empower transmigrants to pursue their personal “quest for happiness.”

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Questions for Review 1. Discuss the three-dimensional model for conceptualizing transnationality. How do the factors of diversity, dimensions, and dialectics influence the experiences of transmigrants? 2. What are the five macrolevel social work skills outlined in the chapter as important in addressing the issues of transmigrants? Describe specific ways that each skill can contribute to social work practice with this population. 3. View any one of the following films and review, analyze, and critique commonalities of transmigrant experiences. What would you do as a macro practitioner to help alleviate and prevent unwarranted misfortunes of new immigrants?

• Provoked (2007) • Anatomy of a Springroll series (documentary, Paul Kwan, 1995) • Yesterday in Rwanda (documentary, Davina Pardo, 2005) • The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez Gomez (documentary, Gary Weomberg and Catherine Ryan (www.filmakers.com)

References Brueggemann, W.  G. (2002). The practice of macro social work. Belmont, Calif.: Brooks/Cole. Dalai Lama (2005). The universe in a single atom: The convergence of science and spirituality. New York: Morgan Road Books. Easterly, W. (2006). The whiteman’s burden: Why the West’s efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good. New York: Penguin. Falicov, C. J. (2007). Working with transnational immigrants: Expanding meanings of family, community, and culture. Family Process 46, no. 2: 157–71. Fauri, D. P., S. P. Wernet, and F. E. Netting (2004). Cases in maco social work practice. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Friedman, T. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Furman, R., and N. J. Negi (2007). Social work practice with transnational Latino populations. International Social Work 50, no. 1: 107–12. Lauderdale, P. (2008). Indigenous peoples in the face of globalization. American Behavioral Scientist 51, no. 12: 1836–43.

204 Services to Transmigrants Long, D. D, J. T. Tice, and J. D. Morrison (2006). Macro social work practice: A strengths perspective. Belmont, Calif.: Thomson Brooks/Cole. Mohan, B. (2008). Rethinking international social work. International Social Work 51, no. 1: 11-24. Nash, M., J. Wong, and A. Trlin (2006). Civic and social integration: A new field of social work practice with immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. International Social Work 49, no. 3: 345–63. Negi, N. J., and D. Poole (2010). The social welfare of labor transmigrants: Implications for international social work practice. In Social work practice with Latinos, eds. Furman, K. and Negi, N. Chicago: Lyceum Books. Negi, N. J., and R. C. Furman (2009). Providing social services to Mexico—USA transmigrants: a case study of the experiences of social service providers. Journal of Poverty, 13, no. 3: 293–308. Popper, K. (1968). The logic of scientific discovery. New York: Harper and Row. Potocky-Tripodi, M. (2002). Best practices for social work with refugees and immigrants. New York: Columbia University Press. Powell, F. (2001). The politics of social work. London: Sage. Pries, L. (2004). Determining the causes and durability of transnational labor migration between Mexico and the United States: Some empirical findings. International Migration 42, no. 2: 1–39. Smith, M.  P., and L. E. Guarnizo (1998). The locations of transnationalism. In (Eds.), Comparative urban and community research: Vol. 6. Transnationalism from below, ed. M. P. Smith and L. E. Guarnizo. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction. Thomas-Hope, E. (2003). Transnational livelihoods and identities in return migration to the Caribbean: The case of skilled returnees to Jamaica. In Work and migration: Life and livelihoods in a globalizing world, ed. N. N. Sørenson and K. F. Olwig, 187–201. New York: Routledge. Tripodi, T., and M. Potocky-Tripodi (2007). International social work research: Issues and prospects. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Incorporating Transnational Social Work   into the Curriculum Susan Kidd Webster, Andrea-Teresa Arenas,   and Sandy Magaña

A frequently seen billboard in Wisconsin reads, “You Are Here, Where Is Your Family?” It is part of a campaign for evacuation planning in case of an emergency. But to the thousands of transmigrants working in Wisconsin, it probably has another meaning, that is, the constant negotiating of the web of economic, political, and social systems that interface with their livelihoods and definitions of “home” and “family” as they move between two or more nation-states. Helping families deal with these interfaces and complexities is an increasing role of social workers in hospitals, schools, jails, adoption agencies, child welfare agencies, senior programs, mental health programs, and other settings. The concept of transnationalism is itself swiftly migrating across interdisciplinary boundaries (Smith and Guarnizo 1998), and social work is emerging as a core discipline. To respond to these needs, it is imperative and increasingly urgent that social work training and curriculum prepare students for transnational understanding and action at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Since transnational social work falls within the realm of

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international social work, this chapter first takes a historical view of practice and preparation in this broader international field and then focuses on transnational social work itself, which for these purposes refers to social work with people with linkages and movements between two or more nation-states. The chapter also discusses social work practice in transnational settings across micro, mezzo, and macro levels, as well as the growing recognition in the profession of the need to prepare students for transnational social work. Finally, we present a description of a transnational interdisciplinary course as a case example.

Brief History of International Social Work Lynn Healy eloquently documented the roots and evolution of international social work in International Social Work (2001). Healy discusses how social work began to emerge as a profession with formalized training in the United States and Europe at the turn of the nineteenth century largely in response to social problems associated with the Industrial Revolution, including immigration, crowded settlement communities, and unfair labor practices. By the 1920s social work as a practice had spread to Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and international influences were a driving force in the development of the profession. Internationally, social workers formed linkages to forge the rights of women and, with a world war on the horizon, took up the cause of pacifism. But this exchange and camaraderie were derailed by emerging nationalism and divisions brought about in two ensuing world wars. Post–World War II, the tide shifted back to encouraging international social work as social workers, working in cooperation with the United Nations, took an active role in relief and rebuilding after the devastation of war in Europe and China. For the first time, social case workers were sent abroad, and social work training was offered to indigenous populations with support from the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The growth in social work training and preparation continued in the 1950s and 1960s as African and Caribbean countries became independent from colonial rule and looked to improve the quality of life for their citizens. The United Nations funded the establishment of schools of social work such as the one at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, which continues to have a vibrant program today (Healy 2001).

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In the 1970s developing countries and indigenous peoples, tired of looking to the United States and Europe to answer their own problems, rejected Western methods of social work (primarily casework) and creatively developed their own theories and models for social change. Interestingly, models of active radicalism and community organizing developed by social workers and the social change movement in Latin America influenced U.S. social workers and activists during the civil rights and Vietnam eras (Healy 2001). The 1980s and 1990s brought the end of the cold war and breakup of the Soviet Union, which had significant impact on international social work as Eastern Europe sought to develop social services and training programs for social workers. Though social work had existed under the Soviet Union, new country boundaries, governments, and policies and a new population of migrants required an overhaul of social work methods. Exchanges of consultants and professors of social work became commonplace, and as word got out “the stampede was on” (Guzzetta 1995). At the same time, in China, schools of social work, which had been shut down during the Cultural Revolution, reopened and Asian exchanges were reactivated and continue today. The more recent development of the European Union and European unification has ushered in the need for professional social work integration requiring mutual recognition of professional qualifications and standards, which has obvious benefits for responding to the emerging transnational populations of this region (Guzzetta 1995). The development of these “transnational spaces” along the Dutch–German border is detailed by Struver (2005). While this is a rich history, its focus is on the development of social work programs around the world and of social work as a global profession, and on how international engagement among social workers and social work faculty has ebbed and flowed with world events. The rise of social work as a global profession has naturally led to a body of literature that uses a mostly comparative analysis approach, especially with regard to social policy. There is much less historical knowledge in social work literature about how social work training and practice have evolved with regard to global competence in a transnational world (Furman and Negi 2007).

Preparing Social Work Students to Practice in a Transnational World Since social workers are schooled in the work of Jane Adams and have historically worked with immigrants, why the call for enhanced training to

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respond to transnational migrants? Though they may share struggles and challenges 0with former immigrant populations, these newer transmigrants lives and their issues are more complex, posing many complicated problems for social workers around the world to address. Understanding the dual spaces or cultures that people move between and how the legal, religious, social, and political contexts push and pull families is crucial to helping and problem solving. International migration has existed for centuries, but modern life, with the Internet and inexpensive calling cards— which are “the social glue of migrant transnationalism” and allow families to “engage in kitchen table talk from afar”—can be both celebratory and problematic as people try to sustain dual nationalities and dual loyalties (Rogers 2005). Yet, many social work students today lack exposure to international or global content and experiences. This indicates the need for curriculum changes that prepare students to work in international settings (Healy 2001). While there are a growing number of courses related to international social work issues, most are relegated to electives and are typically taken by students with an expressed interest in international affairs or study abroad. At the same time, almost all students working at a micro, mezzo, and macro levels find themselves in need of cultural and global competence as soon as they enter their fieldwork agencies (Healy 2001). Social work students are well trained in the ecological approach and in understanding systems theory. This training should include applying these theories and interventions in a global or transnational context. On a direct service level, social workers may be called upon to determine if immigrants, both legal and undocumented, are eligible for social services. They may also need to console and advocate for clients who feel they have been victims of racial profiling during security checks. They may serve as liaisons for international adoptions or need to investigate child abuse or neglect involving immigrant families, which often involves interviews using interpreters. In each of these situations, students must have a framework for understanding and assisting individuals and families interfacing with dual cultures. On the mezzo level, students need to know how to assess and improve their agency’s cultural and global competence and how to work within transnational communities. For example, is it more beneficial to encourage Latino mothers who have children with disabilities to join already established, primarily European American, parent support groups or to

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help them start one in which Spanish is spoken, that can address cultural issues and concerns, and where they may have more natural affiliation with peers? Many other countries have great successes at bringing about social change at the community level. Students in the United States and Europe could learn much from community organizers in Latin America who find creative and sometimes ingenious ways of addressing national and global problems on the local level (Lappe and Lappe 2003). Goldring (1997) discusses power and status in transnational social spaces, including how transnational communities may permit the development of new economic or social stratification as well as alternative power hierarchies. At the mezzo level, such knowledge can be valuable in networking and community organizing. On the macro level, students need an understanding of how one country’s policies or an international policy affect people across countries or borders. These policies can include not only social service policies, but also economic, banking, agricultural, and military policies. If we truly want to prepare social work students to be advocates for social change, it is crucial that they have a basic understanding of how global trends such as trade agreements (e.g., the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA), political movements (e.g., neoliberalism), and international monetary policies (e.g., the World Bank’s insistence that global South countries reduce social spending and move toward market-based economies) affect people’s lives. Jim Hightower (2003), former agricultural commissioner in Texas, relates how NAFTA allows large U.S. corporations to cheaply export U.S.grown rice and beans to Mexico, and how U.S. agricultural policy continues to provide subsidies to large farmers, undermining and putting out of business thousands of Mexican farmers. In turn, unemployed Mexican farmers enter the United States as illegal immigrants or move north to work in the factories that pollute the air and water of border towns, resulting in significant health issues and social problems. As social workers, do we focus on starting health clinics in the border towns, assisting with environmental cleanups, educating families about asthma, advocating with influential members of Congress who write the farm bills, or all of the above? Another example of how macro international policy affects human wellbeing across borders is health worker migration. In some countries like the Philippines, where approximately 10 percent of the population lives abroad,

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many of whom are physicians and nurses (Bach 2003), such migration and transmigration has become an actual industry. African countries are also well aware of the societal effects of “brain drain.” This is exemplified in Zimbabwe, where due to poor wages and mismanaged health care system, thousands of nurses migrate abroad, leaving acute shortages of health workers at home (Stilwell et al. 2004). Similarly, the number of South African nurses who work abroad has increased eightfold since 1991 (CSWE 2003). While the remittances workers send home greatly raise the standard of living in their countries of origin, the strain on workers abroad and the families left at home can be huge. Sri Lanka, where a quarter of adult women leave their families and country to work primarily as caretakers or housekeepers, also has the world’s highest rate of female suicide (World Health Organization 2003). Social workers in both host and home countries need to be prepared to help and support individuals and their families as well as influence policies that have a positive or negative impact on the larger societies. On a recent trip to Sri Lanka, Webster visited a home for very young unwed mothers, most of whom were incest victims—daughters who were forced to take the role of “wife” with their fathers while their mothers were away working in the United Arab Emirates and other nearby countries. Sarvodya, the Sri Lankan nongovernmental organization (NGO) that houses the mothers and children, provides a nurturing and safe environment and helps the young women sort out familial issues caused by transmigration of their mothers. Since human rights often becomes an issue in transnational social work and is an assumed core value of social work, macrolevel knowledge of how international human rights laws and declarations such as the Geneva Convention are interpreted and applied across borders is essential for social workers. Lopez and Smith’s (1998) research on more than 150 transnational human rights NGOs provides an excellent resource for students to understand how NGOs operate and interact transnationally to promote human rights. Rather than allowing corporations and national institutions to violate human rights or avoid social responsibility, social workers can promote and advocate for policies similar to those emerging in the European Union that give laborers the right to migrate, insure minimum wages and the principle of equal pay and treatment for women at work, and provide portable social security coverage (Sherraden 2001).

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Growing Recognition for Social Work Preparation   in Global Competence The Council on Social Work Education’s 2001 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standard (CSWE EPAS) was a major step in advancing knowledge and skills in transnational social work education. Though they did not refer to transnationalism directly, these standards placed an emphasis on training for students to have a global perspective and understand the “global context of social work practice” (CSWE 2001, Educational Policy 1.0). However, the new 2008 CSWE EPAS are less clear about this. The 2008 EPAS 2.1.5 states that social workers should recognize the global interconnections of oppression, but very little else refers to global or international social work. EPAS 2.1.4 discusses the need for engaging diversity and difference in practice, which is certainly relevant. Therefore, further attention must be placed in both the classroom and within field placement to develop skills toward cultural responsiveness (Link and Healy 2005). Along with enhanced student preparation, faculty and staff in academic programs need to increase their own global competency. This is especially important to infusing global content across the curriculum. A recent graduate social work student was dismayed when her social work instructor did not know what an NGO was. No doubt there is a real need to launch continuing professional education and development strategies related to global competency similar to efforts currently under way in many departments and agencies to improve “cultural competency.” With global interdependence, the mantra of the new millennium, the need for social workers to be globally competent is paramount, especially in relation to working with transnational populations. This requires a shift from merely understanding cultural differences or comparative social policies to broadening the lens so that students also see the linkages that influence human well-being, with all their ambiguities and complexities. Healy (2001) does broaden the lens in her chapter “Global Interdependence in Social Work” when she discusses how countries’ environmental, economic, cultural, security, and social welfare interdependence create opportunities for social workers to mutually share and solve problems. We assert that social work must also engage more actively with other disciplines to address global issues and problems. With global interdependence and the rapid expanse of information and complexities to sort through, it is of course not possible for social work students to master such a breadth

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of content. However, according to Gardner (2006), they can develop a “synthesizing mind,” which enables them to scan, sift, and select information from other sectors that can be useful in problem solving and to learn and work collaboratively with other professionals with shared goals. Such cross-pollination often greatly expands options and possible solutions. The following description of an interdisciplinary service-learning course, Crossing Borders: Environmental Justice at the U.S.–Mexico Border, provides such an example.

Case Study: The Crossing Borders Course U.S.–Mexico Border Realities What could be more transnational than the U.S.–Mexico border? The twothousand-mile border between the United States and Mexico is the longest border in the world that separates a developed country from a developing country. This in itself creates many realities, including a continual push and pull for Mexicans to migrate to the United States. The Crossing Borders course takes place along the furthest eastern end of the border in Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico. This is a region known as the Rio Grande Valley, where the Rio Grande (known as the Rio Bravo on the Mexican side) meets the Gulf of Mexico. In this area alone there are approximately three hundred assembly plants, called maquiladoras, and 120,000 workers (Environmental Health Coalition 1998). There are tremendous problems with environmental justice (EJ) in this twin city area, given the high number of maquiladoras. One problem is the steady influx of people from southern parts of Mexico who travel north to live and work at the plants in Matamoros. The city itself does not have a strong infrastructure for this growing population. For example, Matamoros has no sewage system. Human waste is dumped into small streams, the Rio Bravo, and the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of this dumping, waterways are overwhelmed with sewage, which creates environmental and health problems. Birth defects have been reported along the U.S.–Mexico border since the rise of maquiladoras and the passing of NAFTA. Brownsville and Matamoros in particular have had disproportionate problems with birth defects. In the 1990s a cluster of cases of anencephaly (children born with no brain) was discovered in those locations (Missmer et al. 2006). Birth

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defects became the symbol for all that is deemed wrong with maquiladoras in Matamoros by local EJ activists. An outpouring of protest rallies, marches, boycotts, and other EJ tactics demanded that the Matamoros landfill (which had been on fire for several years) be closed and cleaned up and that the owners of the maquiladoras be required to stop illegal dumping and help pay for the cleanup of landfill.

Class Structure and Content Evolves The Crossing Borders course not only explores environmental justice issues affecting the border, but also allows students to address these issues firsthand through service-learning projects. This three-week summer servicelearning course provides a set of transformative experiences. The course is taught by an interdisciplinary University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty team, including a social work faculty member, along with professors from the University of Texas at Brownsville and Instituto Tecnologico de Matamoros (ITM). Furthermore, activists and government officials from both countries provide lectures to the class, giving the students an array of information from different perspectives. Class field trips have included visits to the Matamoros landfills, a historical museum, the Deltronico maquiladora (which assembles car radios), Audubon Society’s Sabal Palms Reserve in Brownsville, and a Toxic Tour. An interdisciplinary curriculum provides a more thorough examination of the EJ issues, their causes, and possible remedies. This comprehensive framework is crucial to students’ successful navigation within a colonia (neighborhood) while engaged in their service-learning projects. In designing the course, particular care was taken to use an interdisciplinary approach. Content includes lectures and readings on environmental justice, community organizing, health issues, social policy, political science, Chicano/indigenous history and culture, and social issues along the border. Living, working, and learning together in this environment also helps students understand the complexities that go into the formulation of environmental policies on the border. Hearing different perspectives of each problem has allowed students to evaluate their own prejudices and opinions. This method of presenting differing views also allows the students to weigh all inputs, learn the intricacies of the border and its politics, and ultimately form their own opinions. For example, students hear from Mexican

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environmental protection officials about their policies, enforcement, and the thrill of finding and punishing a maquiladora that is abusing the community with toxins. In contrast, they hear some U.S. officials blame the Mexican government for letting U.S. companies get away with EJ abuses. The students are there to decide for themselves, with probing and long discussions to deconstruct both governments’ perspectives, while also witnessing how these policies (or lack thereof) affect the local community.

Learning Structure on the Border While in either city, the class time is a combination of in-class lectures and laboratory learning. The lab learning includes field trips, lectures, and service learning. The students spent twenty-six hours participating in class lectures, about thirty-four hours in lab learning via field trips and lectures, and at least thirty hours in service learning. In course evaluations, students asserted that their service-learning projects were so engaging that during the little free time they had, they decided to return to the service-learning site and volunteer additional hours. Several lectures emerged as favorites in the students’ daily journals, midterms, and conversations, including lectures on the history of the EJ movement, landfill history of Matamoros, religion and politics, and environmental injustice and grassroots politics. After conducting our first Crossing Borders course, we were thrilled to learn that the course received the North American Association of Summer Session Award in January 2007 for innovative curriculum.

Criteria for Service-Learning Projects: Setting Standards to Ensure Lasting Change Some of the most difficult work each summer is to find appropriate servicelearning projects. The difficulty lies in finding projects that will increase students’ understanding of the course learning goals and objectives, allow students to integrate the experience with the intellectual inputs or academic pieces, and benefit the communities. In the first year of Crossing Borders, service-learning projects were determined by convenience and low cost. By year three, several sites were taken into consideration when creating a project. We needed to answer

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the following questions to determine adequate service-learning projects. Of course not all questions required yes answers, but they gave us information on what could be gained by a particular site: 1. Can we identify grassroots activists and/or EJ nonprofit organizations in the region that are able and willing to work with social work and other students (e.g., Brownsville Community Health Clinic, The Border Campaign)? 2. Is there sufficient time to obtain buy-in from the local community that will be affected by the service-learning project? 3. Are the resources from higher education institutional partners available to Crossing Borders students? 4. Can the results of projects be shared with local governments, communities, and environmental groups to create new policies or practices, and/or can projects continue after the end of the semester? 5. Will the projects identify and cultivate new cohorts of local EJ activists who have been exposed to EJ principles and use them in the future? 6. Can the service-learning projects be replicated in the future in other colonias? 7. Does the project have the potential to create solutions and/or improve the living conditions of the colonia residents? 8. Can service-learning projects be completed within twenty-five to thirty hours of service learning? 9. Are service-learning site supervisors available for directing/managing the SL projects? 10. Can low-cost transportation in Mexico be arranged? 11. Can service-learning site supervisors serve as Spanish translators if the student team is not fully bilingual in Spanish and English?

Year One Projects: Starting from Zero During the first year our partnerships were new, and therefore our projects were arranged with limited experience on the border. Nonetheless, the service-learning projects did breathe environmental justice and social change and provided data that could be used to create social change in other

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communities. One of the first things we learned at the border is the difference between a colonia in Texas and a colonia in Mexico. Colonia means neighborhood in Spanish and carries this meaning in Mexico and other Latin American countries. However, in Texas it means a particular type of neighborhood that has developed along the border as a result of recent settlement of immigrants, largely from Mexico. One such colonia, Cameron Park, was the service-learning site for one group of students who worked with Father Mike Seifert of Proyecto Digna, a nonprofit, church-affiliated agency. Father Mike guided students in conducting awareness campaigns on the risks of poisoning from household pesticides and insecticides and arranged for large-item trash pickup (such trash had become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and increased the risks of Dengue fever in that particular colonia). Another service-learning team of students conducted a survey of the Buena Vida Colonia in Brownsville and Derechos Humanos Colonia in Matamoros to determine if the residents perceived any health problems attributed to the environment in which they lived. During their work the students found that most residents did not attribute their various illnesses or maladies to toxins in the air or landfill fires. The students learned that this community lacked that necessary information and resources to combat the EJ problems that they were faced with. The third group worked with the Brownsville Community Health Clinic and made home visits in Cameron Park to help determine the health care needs of the community and inform residents of health care services available at the clinic. Students also informed young families of the risks of poisons in the home and the need to keep their homes free of toxic trash.

Year Two Projects In the second year of Crossing Borders (2007), one group of students engaged in a trash-sorting project in Matamoras that lasted for two weeks. The team worked in the Derecho Humanos Colonia to organize the residents and train them in sorting their trash into household waste and recyclables, separating inorganic from organic waste. The students weighed and measured the trash for thirty households. The purpose of this data collection project was to provide evidence to the municipal trash collection agency that the residents can fully participate in the city’s trash collection

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ground rules and thus be provided with at least monthly trash pickup. Having trash picked up on a regular basis would have significant impact on the sanitation and overall pride in the community. This project led to the residents taking pride in their neighborhood. Women from other colonias (who have been active in EJ work) met with the women of the project and shared ideas on beautification strategies. Some women have created small flower gardens in front of their homes. Rather than having piles of burning garbage in the front of the house, the trash piles have been replaced with the flower gardens. In the second project, the students worked in La Herradura Colonia in Matamoros, helping a widow and her adult son to remove the various layers of toxins they had put on the outside walls to prevent infestation by rats, insects, and so forth. The outside walls had actually become toxic themselves and created more of a health concern than the pests had created in the first place. The colonia president was not thrilled that the widow was using the students to do the rehab work. According to him, he was the one that makes decisions about what happens in the colonia, not the widow, and certainly not students from Wisconsin. Despite this, the students continued their work and during the course of the project learned a great deal about the role of women, the work ethic and political structure of the colonia, the support that neighbors can bring to a problem, and how to piece together resources for a project. The president of this colonia has since announced that he is thinking of expanding house cleanups, given the success of this service-learning project.

The Course Evolves Over Time While the course had many success stories, faculty members continue to enhance this course in several ways. We decided to change the course from three weeks to four, adding a week of lectures in Madison before students travel to the Texas–Mexico border. This strategy is a cost-savings measure given that there is no need to fly other faculty to the border. Having one week of lectures in Madison also provides the students with more background information before traveling and allows for more time for the service-learning projects once they arrive on the border. We were able to obtain an Honors designation option for students and paid work-study translator positions for them. We also arranged for students to live in Matamoros half

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of the time and in Brownsville the other half due to feedback from students after the first year.

Impact on Student Learning Students who have attended the courses so far have been juniors, seniors, and master’s-level students from several disciplines, including social work, political science, Latin American studies, environmental studies, and international studies. By the end of the course, students were linking race, class, and gender to political and environmental issues. They demonstrated this progress in their daily journals and through the following quotes collected from the course evaluation: Getting the chance to see the issues at play first hand is really powerful. The combination of lectures/readings/movies/fieldtrips/service-learning/discussion has really given me the chance to look at many different angles and opinions. Awesome course! The issues and service have transformed the way I see the world around me. Before, I had a hard time explaining to people what environmental justice was about. Now I have a broad scope of many different EJ issues; the Frontera, economic aspects, and immigration, and would feel confident discussing these issues in depth with a solid base. Service learning gave me an opportunity to organize in a community with very different issues than my own. I got to learn about so many important things about Environmental Justice and I got to experience and see some of them first hand. I thought it was a wonderful learning experience just being here and seeing what is going on. I feel like I’ve learned so much and I know I’ll apply what I’ve learned in the future. My understanding of race was greatly improved. Before the course I knew of the injustices faced by people of color, but now I have seen them first hand.

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A very powerful student outcome of the course was that students in the first course started a student organization at the University of Wisconsin called Action for EJ. One of the student leaders of this organization went with us the second year to guide other students and then decided to do community organizing in Brownsville/Matamoros for one year after he graduated, working with a local community activist. Nine action EJ students organized an alternative break experience over the winter break of 2008 to continue working in neighborhoods in Brownsville and study the conditions in Matamoros. The group plans to return each winter break.

Impact on Faculty Crossing Borders not only invigorated the students, but also had a powerful impact on the faculty. One faculty member stated: “I was especially impressed by how the students became such wonderful ambassadors for the university. The students worked incredibly hard and were respectful to community residents without letting the new cultural context paralyze them. We came home feeling exhausted but inspired.” Another faculty member said that “the Crossing Borders course really enabled me to get out in the field and learn about social justice and environmental issues first hand alongside students. I was also able to see changes in the students’ thinking and learning processes in a short period. I have never seen students so enthusiastic about a course long after the course was completed! Being a part of an intense, well designed and organized course made an important impact on my thinking about the benefits of service learning and hands on pedagogy.” Finally, a different faculty member stated that the students “engaged in active learning, were thirsty for new information, and synthesized what they learned.” In summary, this service-learning course on the U.S.–Mexico border was the result of numerous partnerships: five faculty members from three universities, five nonprofit EJ agencies in either Brownsville or Matamoros, two U.S. government agencies, four EJ activists, and five Mexican government agencies. Social work faculty and students played a key role, and the interdisciplinary nature of the course gave social work students a much broader view of the world and potential allies. The idea of

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cross-pollination presented earlier in this chapter has truly played out for students who attended this course. The full impact of the course for students and for the communities they served may never be known. However, based on the students’ reflection journal entries and course evaluations, Crossing Borders appears to have reached its goal of offering a dynamic and engaging curriculum. As one student stated in the final evaluation, “This course has been life changing in a variety of ways.” References Bach, S. (2003). International migration of health workers, labour and social issues, working paper 209. Geneva: United Nations International Labour Office. Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) (2003). CSWE educational policy and accreditation standards 2001. Economist, May 17: 33. Environmental Health Coalition (1998), Border toxics fact sheet. http://www.environmentalhealth.org. Furman, R., and N. Negi (2007). Social work practice with transnational Latin populations. International Social Work 50: 107–212. Gardner, H. (2006). Five minds for the future. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press. Goldring, L. (1997). Power and status in transnational social spaces. Soziale Welt. Sonderband 12: 179–95. Guzzetta, C. (1995). Central and Eastern Europe. In International handbook on social work education, ed. T. Watts, D. Elliot, and N. Mayadas, 191–209. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Healy, L. (2001). International social work. New York: Oxford University Press. Hightower, J. (2003). Commentary on WORT, independent radio station, Madison, Wis., December. Lappe, F., and A. Lappe (2003). Hope’s edge: The next diet for a small planet. New York: Tarcher/Penguin. Link, R., and L. Healy (2005). Teaching international content, curriculum resources for social work education: An introduction to the collection. Alexandria, Va.: Council on Social Work Education Press. Lopez, G., and J. Smith (1998). Globalizing human rights: The work of transnational human rights NGOs in the 1990s. Human Rights Quarterly 20: 379–412. Missmer, S., et al. (2006). Exposure to fumonisins and the occurrence of neural tube defects along the Texas–Mexico border. Environmental Health Perspectives 114: 237–41. Rogers, A. (2005). Observations on transnational urbanism: Broadening and narrowing the field. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31: 403–7.

221 Incorporating Transnational Social Work into the Curriculum Sherraden, M. (2001). Developing transnational social policy: A North American community service program. St. Louis: Center for Social Development, Global Service Institute, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University. Smith, M., and L. Guarnizo (1998). Transnationalism from below. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction. Stilwell, B., et al. (2004). Migration of health workers from developing countries: Strategic approaches to its management. Bulletin of WHO 82, no. 8. Struver, A. (2005). Spheres of transnationalism within the European Union: On open doors, thresholds, and drawbridges along the Dutch–German border. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31: 323–43. World Health Organization (2003). Suicide rates. http://www.who.int/mentalhealth/ prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/.

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New Practice Frontiers: Current and Future Social Work with Transmigrants Cynthia A. Hunter, Susannah Lepley, and Samuel Nickels

Transmigration has become an increasingly important global reality for social work practice. Recent migration has occurred concomitantly with new ease in worldwide travel, instant communication, and facilitation of money transfers (Portes 1997). These factors can prolong the state of “living in two worlds” in a manner that was inaccessible in the past, blurring the definitions of immigration, acculturation, and transmigrancy. Transmigrancy describes an emerging reality in global migration and represents a paradigm shift for social work practice. Social workers can no longer pay attention to relationships, resources, structures, laws, and history in one locale and not consider the same in another country where the systems may be informed by a significantly different world view for their clients. This chapter considers transmigrants as an emerging special population within the social work practice field of immigrants and refugees. A multidisciplinary literature review reveals the complexity of the transmigrant experience but little that would guide social work practice. Stressing the emerging nature of this field, the chapter offers information needed

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for crafting intervention strategies on the micro, mezzo, macro, and international levels. Areas for further development in social work practice are also discussed.

Defining Transmigrants for Social Work Practice A transmigrant lives his or her life in two countries. From social work’s person-in-environment perspective, a transmigrant is a person in two environments. The transmigrant’s life is a delicate dance of maintaining emotional, family, financial, and legal ties to both home and host countries. The transmigrant travels back and forth as permitted by money, employment obligations, and immigration status. As the field of study surrounding this population evolves, exact definitions are increasingly necessary in order to have consistency for research and administrative categories (Portes 1997). However, unlike immigrants, refugees and migrant workers who have benefits associated with their immigration status, transmigrants do not have any privileges based solely on transmigrancy. Therefore, for the purposes of social service provision, the definition need not be rigid but inclusive of any migrant whose dual international environment is integral to his or her life. It is important to differentiate between the terms “transmigrant,” “immigrant,” and “refugees” even though the reality is that the state of transmigrancy can be experienced by immigrants and refugees. Immigrants are described as being pulled from their home by opportunity elsewhere and refugees as being pushed from home by war, disaster, and other conditions that put their lives in imminent danger. Traditional trajectories for both include a linear process of leaving one’s country and culture to assimilate in another. Transmigrants are identified neither by the cause of leaving home nor by the endpoint of their journey, but rather by the lived condition of straddling borders, whether by choice or by necessity. For some, transmigrancy will be a stage of immigration, or perhaps a prolonged state of more intense interaction with their sending community, before finally settling abroad. For others, it will be maintaining those connections with the long-term hope of returning home permanently. For diplomats, international businesspeople, and religious workers, transmigration may be intentional and long term. For many others, poverty makes

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transmigrancy a financial necessity whereby the daily struggle of existing in two places will last indefinitely. For example, a man may start the migration process with the full intention to return home after a few years of working and saving money in a country where wages seem astronomically higher than in his home country. However, the reality of the high cost of living in the host country and demands for remittances (money sent home) erode the hope of reunification with his wife and children in the home country. This family may live in a transmigrant state for years before something makes that unbearable and the father moves home or brings the family to the host country (perhaps illegally) or the family splits permanently because new relationships are found on either side of the border.

Contributing Factors To be effective, social workers must understand not only the state of transmigrancy but the factors contributing to its growth. Our era of globalization has had a dramatic effect upon immigration and immigrants and has led to the new reality of transmigrants. According to Portes (1997:800), the fundamental realities of immigration today are “the sustained demand for an elastic supply of labor, the pressures and constraints of sending Third World economies, the dislocations wrought by struggles for the creation and control of national states in less developed regions, and the micro structures of support created by migrants themselves across political borders.” These “micro structures of support,” such as instant cellular communication and money transfers, are made possible by new technology. Cell phones and calling cards are changing the way migrants stay connected with their sending communities, especially those from rural areas where phones did not exist until recently. When one of the authors of this chapter arrived in El Salvador in 1995, the residents of the squatter community La Linea could not communicate with family members working in the United States unless they planned ahead to receive a call at a certain house with an expensive landline phone. By 2002 residents of the community who had a nominal income or whose loved ones sent them remittances could afford a cell phone and have regular interaction with family near and far.

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Literature Review Transmigrancy as an Emerging Field of Practice Searching social work literature brings up very little information to guide social workers in their practice with transmigrant populations. This paucity (Furman and Negi 2007), in the context of the growing number of transmigrants (Portes 1997), shows that the needs of transmigrants are underrecognized in social work practice. While transmigrancy is not new, there are three influences, according to Portes, that contribute to the assertion that this is an emerging field: (1) the number of people involved; (2) nearly instantaneous communication; and (3) that the process is normalized within certain immigrant groups.

Information to Inform Practice Development Immigrants have traditionally settled along the U.S. border and in large U.S. cities. Late last century, these cities also became hosts to growing transmigrant populations. A still more recent trend for Latino settlement in the United States has been a slowdown of growth in traditional gateway cities and an increase in settlement in suburban areas, mid-sized cities, and small rural towns due to tight labor markets in some areas and impressive industry growth in others (de Haymes and Kilty 2007). This development would suggest that a greater number of service providers are working with transmigrants and are faced with complex international situations that they are unprepared to address. For example, in assessing a transmigrant’s income, social workers would need to weigh the importance of remittances sent to family members. These remittances are the largest single source of international aid in the world. In 2006 migrant workers alone sent back home $3 billion, mostly in sums of $100, $200, and $300 at a time. India, Mexico, and Russia are top receivers of remittances. For many transmigrants, it is their raison d’être as this money is spent on food, shelter, and education of loved ones. While not specifically addressing social work practice with transmigrants, there is a significant literature addressing practice principles with immigrants and refugees that can also inform sound practices with transmigrants. Research on practice with immigrants takes place in agencies

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and with populations that serve people living in two environments. Social work research, while not addressing transmigrants per se, does include terms like “mixed status families” and “connections to home culture,” which hint at the existence of this underrecognized population. De Haymes and Kilty (2007), for example, document the complexities of immigrants living in the United States who come from mixed-status families, meaning that some family members are in the United States legally and others are not. Legal status affects health care and housing options as well as eligibility for public services and social welfare programs. Mixed-status families are at continued risk of separation due to detentions and deportations. This research very much describes the situation of transmigrants, while not naming them as such. In addition, issues related to loss, language acquisition, securing employment and income, and social problems in daily living are documented as immigration stressors for disadvantaged immigrant women (Timberlake et al. 2003). Socioeconomic concerns, the challenges to familial roles, and poor understanding between new arrivals and host country residents are discussed in relation to migration (Segal and Mayadas 2005). Organizations that are started and run by immigrants can be excellent resources for other human service agencies working with transmigrants. These organizations generally focus on service provision to people of their country of origin and require an environment where the population is large or growing. In most cases these organizations are founded because the needs of the population are not being met by the larger social welfare system (Brettell 2005). The U.S. welfare system is focused on meeting the basic needs of families who are in poverty, while immigrants and transmigrants form support organizations that serve such needs as cultural preservation, organizing gatherings and holiday celebrations, fostering native language classes for their children, facilitating the sending of money back to the home community in their country of origin, and providing a community-based mechanism for mutual aid. According to Cordero-Guzman (2005), the major functions of these organizations include assistance with the immigration process, tangible and counseling services for adaptation, public representation for the immigrant community, and linkage of immigrant communities to their countries of origin. While these immigrant-led organizations may or may not have clinical expertise in areas such as trauma or mental illness, they can be par-

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ticularly helpful to local practitioners in providing contextual knowledge required for culturally responsive interventions and successful communitybased programs.

Toward Recommendations Looking forward to establishing guiding principles for social services with transmigrants is a step in the process of internationalizing social work. International social work practice must go beyond cultural competencies such as knowledge of other countries, languages, and cultures. It must move toward addressing human rights, justice, citizenship needs and issues, power relationships between economic transmigrants and host country nationals, interdependence among countries and economies and families, sustainable development as a model of mitigation against forced migration, and the promotion of international understanding and peace as well as psycho-social well-being (Dominelli 2005; Ife 1998). With regard to questions of human rights, for example, should not all people, regardless of residency and citizenship status, have the right of access to a lawyer, to know what they were detained for, and to limited detention? Dominelli (2005) challenges those forging new policies to consider the idea of services for all people, regardless of life stage or ability to pay, and that grassroots mobilization and empowerment become the source of such transformation. Frontline social workers globally engage in international social work at the local level. International social work practice can take place on the local level when social workers understand their clients’ problems from an international perspective, adding to the traditional systemic view of clients, families, and communities (Ife 1998). As Ife suggests, “Such analysis naturally leads to an understanding of social work solutions and actions incorporating the international. It may be that this involves linking a client not just with a local action or self-help group, but also helping to link that group to other groups internationally which are coping with the same problems” (52). He proposes use of the internet for such interventions. Furman and Negi (2007) posit that social and political legitimacy and the establishment of multiservice social welfare agencies capable of responding to transnational populations are two important service needs for Latino transmigrants in the United States.

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Ideally, more social workers should be trained to be culturally and linguistically responsive to the needs of transmigrants. Requisite is an understanding of the complex intersection between social welfare and immigration status and policy, as well as a broad understanding of historical immigration trends (de Haymes and Kilty 2007). For example, transmigrants, because of residency requirements, are often excluded from social services in one of their environments. Segal and Mayadas (2005) urge social workers to conceptually explore factors important to the experience of migrants. These include the experience of moving to a new country, an awareness of the phases of the immigrant crisis, sociocultural heritage, relocation problems, sensitivity to psychosocial issues, and the xenophobic reactions to newcomers from the host culture or society.

Principles for Practice This section draws from the authors’ experiences in work in the United States and Latin America with individuals, families, and communities that stretch their existence across borders. It presents some of the realities of transmigration and suggests innovative ideas for agencies that deal with transmigrant clients.

Individuals and Families: Micro Level Social workers who understand the dual nature of transmigrants’ existence, trust the client’s interpretation of the problem, and look for resources in nontraditional places will increase their chances for successful interventions with transmigrant clients and their families. assessing for fisk and resiliency A person’s risk and resiliency factors for adapting to any environment are predicated to a certain extent on the individual’s traits as well as the context. In a framework for assessing acculturative stress, Hovey and Magaña (2002) identify factors that may account for high versus low levels of anxiety and depression for immigrants. They include social support in the host community, immediate and extended family support, socioeconomic sta-

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tus, premigration functioning, facility with the new language and culture, control and choice in the decision to migrate, expectations for the future, religiosity, and the degree of tolerance in the larger host society. From a dual environmental perspective, the experience of being transmigrant adds the complexity of dealing not only with acculturative stress in the host country but the expected life stressors in the environment of origin. Past ability to cope with stressors is a good indicator of future abilities (Segal and Mayadas 2005). Many transmigrants are bilingual and have learned to survive and thrive in more than one culture. Some transmigrants will require clinical attention for trauma, separation, depression due to extreme stressors, and other mental health issues that challenge coping strategies. Some may have experienced trauma related to war and conflict in the home country, while others may have been traumatized during the journey to the host country, particularly if they are undocumented. For transmigrants who must continuously travel back and forth between host and home country, dealing with the trauma of separation or border crossing could be an ongoing issue. Many intended to travel back and forth regularly, but because of trauma experienced during a border crossing they are no longer able to contemplate making such a journey again. Other psychological stressors are family separation, family disintegration, legal status in the host country, family pressure to send remittances, and attitudes toward transmigrancy in the host community. It is recommended that the full repertoire of direct service practices of engagement, assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation be tailored through the lenses of “person-in-two-environments.” Generally, presenting problems will mirror other clients seeking assistance in locating housing, employment, emergency assistance, and health services. Creative and responsive services require relationship building and development of trust. Furthermore, assessments must be sensitive to the complexity of risk and resiliency factors. Remittances have increasingly challenged social workers to consider implications for practice. Transmigrants often make great sacrifices in order to send resources home. Consequently, like many other traditional migrants, transmigrants can often live in crowded housing conditions with multiple roommates or family members. This one issue alone has challenged conventional social work practice from tenant organizing to child welfare. The remainder of this section discusses some of the issues transmigrants deal with that social workers need to know in order to work effectively

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with transmigrants, as well as some approaches to build on current practices to better serve transmigrants and their families. expanding resources Interventions such as problem solving, advocating, and brokering services will require skills in seeking out nontraditional resources. While transmigrants draw from few formal resources, some have rich informal networks (Hancock 2005). Social workers may find that family resources in the client’s home country provide a needed component to an intervention (Messent, Saleh, and Solomon 2005). Formal resources to address transmigrant needs include international lawyers, government immigration agencies, embassies, and interpreters. Church and immigrant or aid agencies in other geographic locations with expertise on a particular ethnic group can also be helpful resources in solving problems that have transnational jurisdiction. managing across borders Just as transmigrants manage lives across borders, competent social service provision stretches beyond the traditional service or catchment area. This may include negotiating the systems for receiving and sending remittances to the home country, securely moving documents back and forth across borders, and contacting appropriate resources across borders. Social workers must help their clients navigate such cross-country concerns as access to health care, education (transferring grades and vaccination records), child and older care for family members in both countries, and death and dying issues such as the expense and logistics of sending a body to the home country and feelings around not being able to go back to the home country to say good-bye. immigration and travel Because the issue of immigration (from undocumented status to full citizenship) plays such an ever present and long-term role in the lives of transmigrants, gaining at least a cursory understanding of the following areas of immigration law will help a social worker provide better services. Knowledge should include immigration categories, programs and public benefits

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for immigrants and refugees, how to apply for an array of immigration benefits/statuses, and how to bring family to the host country. A working understanding of international travel is also crucial: finding family lost on the border, moving self or family members across borders or through intermediary countries, and the expense of travel. managing host culture and laws There is an endless number of cultural norms, expectations, and laws that immigrants must navigate when entering a new culture. Social workers, being knowledgeable of the potential issues for transmigrants, can assist them in managing crises or setting up preventive educational programs. One example is childcare and parenting issues. In different countries laws may be significantly different, children may have less responsibility in the host culture, and corporal punishment and behavior management laws and traditions can feel strange in the new host country. Transmigrants and their children have to deal with the reality of child rearing in two cultures with differing expectations, or dealing with two completely different legal systems regarding child custody. Regarding norms for male/female relationships, there may be resistance to certain host country cultural norms when the expectation is that the family will be returning often or permanently to the home culture. On the other hand, families will learn and try new ways of relating, and family members will become acculturated differently. For example, children in school are likely to become acculturated faster, which may cause considerable family stress. Social workers working with transmigrants should also be familiar with the civil and criminal justice system. Although transmigrants without legal documentation for residency or work are often labeled “illegals” and are viewed by some host culture society members as criminals, in fact the incarceration rate for immigrants is significantly below the national average for native-born people in the United States (Rumbaut et al. 2006). This may be in part because of the extra precautions that immigrants take to avoid any interaction with law enforcement for fear of deportation, denial of citizenship, or experience with an oppressive police state in their home country. However, with the advent of increasingly punitive laws affecting undocumented people, transmigrants are at an increased risk for detention by the criminal justice system and deportation by the U.S. federal

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immigration agency. For example, if they are not allowed to apply for a driver’s license yet have no other way to get to work, they drive with the risk of being caught. It is a challenge for some immigrants to get their children into host country schools, to understand the expectations around the level of involvement by parents in the educational system, to figure out how to help and monitor their children with homework when the child has more education than the parent does, and to learn how to contact teachers and administrators, who increasingly depend upon email to communicate with parents. Transmigrants also encounter problems when they withdraw their children for extended periods or at inconvenient times in order to travel to the home country. For example, Central American schools have summer break from November to January. Taking children from schools in the United States for several weeks during these months, other than at the traditional U.S. winter break, creates gaps in the education process. For children balancing language and content learning, the disruption can be frustrating for the learner and teachers alike. This is not to negate the rich experience these children have as they become bicultural and are able to negotiate a variety of environments. Transmigrants also have to negotiate finances in two worlds. Understanding the system for managing money in each country is complex. Members of the Kurdish community where our agency is located endured a federal investigation trying to carry money to loved ones and local humanitarian organizations because the banking system in their own country of Iraq was not functional. For some, moving from a cash economy to a paper/ electronic system, learning to manage credit cards, and understanding the consequences of bad credit are difficult lessons. Transmigrants may have difficulty saving money because their available cash after expenses and remittances is so low. They can also become the target of robbery because they carry cash rather than use banks, whose services may be limited because of the documents they require or their lack of multilingual personnel, or because of the client’s lack of trust in banks. A multitude of businesses have been established for the purpose of sending remittances home. A final example of systems that transmigrants must learn to navigate is health care. For older immigrants and transmigrants living between two countries, holding on to traditional medical treatments (herbal treatments, hot-cold dichotomy, evil eye) is an important part of life. Even if they opt for a Western model of medicine, transmigrants may hold off on needed

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medical or dental treatment in the hope that they can pay for the treatment much more cheaply when they head home for their next visit. The cost of medical care in the United States is well beyond the reach of low-income people, and some transmigrants whose permanent residency is not in the United States find little assistance with medical costs. While not comprehensive, the issues presented in this section are primary examples of social work intervention and illustrate how social workers can take transmigrant’s needs into consideration for service delivery. Others include a statewide community organizing project that mobilizes communities against payday lending laws that affect transmigrants; a coalition of immigrant rights groups that organizes for the Mexican consulate to visit their town annually to issue and renew passports and other legal identification to a largely transmigrant population; and an immigrant resource center that helps Spanish-speakers apply for medical bill assistance from the local hospital. As with other special populations, much of the work with transmigrants is generalist based. However, immigration law and policies are specialized, and social workers must not work outside of their realm of competency. Helping to fill out forms and inform clients about residency issues should be taken on only with special training.

Community Work: Mezzo Level Direct social work with transmigrants also takes the form of collaborating with them to create change for themselves. Empowerment requires consciousness raising, education, and experiences. Migrants can take leadership roles in service to others who find themselves in a similar situation. They can be active in support groups, mutual aid, public speaking (sharing their story or advocating), and educating others—immigrants and nonimmigrants. need for intervention There are a number of reasons for intervention. The most obvious comes from gaps in understanding between immigrants and nonimmigrants, with resultant stereotyping of “the other.” In leading immigrant speaking panels, we have documented such angry comments as this one to an Iraqi

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Kurdish woman: “I hate you—go home and stop taking our jobs!” And this one about two Salvadoran women: “I wonder what they’re saying about me? They need to learn English and stop speaking ‘Mexican’ all the time.” Gaps in the social support context for immigrants can cause communication problems, such as when school officials want to reach out to the parents of all students but cannot bring themselves to overcome the idea that immigrants need to assimilate completely, or when one shopper in a grocery store would like to reach out to help another, but the head covering of the immigrant indicates to the native-born shopper that this person is different and she is afraid to speak to her or try to help. Negative stereotypes increase the potential for discrimination and conflict, such as when Latinos from Puerto Rico or Cuba are referred to as Mexicans, or when a Hispanic U.S. citizen is asked by the traffic officer if he’s in the country legally, or when a coworker looks down upon the other for taking American jobs because she assumes that everyone comes to the United States because it is the great land of opportunity, when in reality the immigrant fled a civil war and dearly misses her parents and wishes she could return home. Disempowerment is a natural product of losing one’s culture, language, and position of authority when leaving one’s home country and entering another. Immigrants who practiced in their home countries as doctors, nurses, lawyers, social workers, and other jobs for which host-country licenses are required often end up frustrated for lack of opportunity and being relegated to menial manual labor. Those who attended school only the through sixth grade or have no formal education at all will often feel they cannot participate, much less take leadership, in the political structures of the new culture.

Suggestions for Interventions or Approaches Human service agencies and private institutions such as churches have developed direct services for immigrants, including English classes, case management, and immigration assistance programs. Some have come to realize that the native-born population also needs attention if they are to improve the situation for immigrants in the larger society. One way to do this is to have nonimmigrants visit immigrant-owned businesses, to see the conditions under which immigrants work, and to meet immigrants face

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to face in a comfortable space. Activities might include a visit to the local Latino store with a tour by the store owner, an immigration film followed by a panel discussion with immigrants, a tour of a local poultry or meatpacking plant, visits to people’s apartments or mobile homes, lunch at an immigrant restaurant followed by a meeting with the owners, and attending a church service in a foreign language. Such encounters (sometimes called “immigrant learning tours”) are very popular with nonimmigrants and deeply appreciated by immigrants as well. An example that expands on this idea is one meat-packing town in Iowa that organized a trip for town leaders to a Mexican town from which many of the meat-packing worker immigrants had come (Grey 2002). In the authors’ experience, the most powerful tool we have in creating understanding and appreciation across cultural divides is personal storytelling. Everyone loves a story. Personal stories of people who have been driven by war, religious persecution, or extreme poverty to leave their homeland and embark on a dangerous journey to a place where no one speaks their language are moving, exciting, tragic, funny. A favorite is about a non-English-speaking Kurdish woman, eight months pregnant, newly arrived in the United States, whose husband called 911 for his wife’s swollen toothache. The police arrived only to try to arrest her husband for domestic abuse because they thought he had hit her in the face. She ended up screaming at the police, who finally understood and called an ambulance. The family arrived at the emergency room only to be taken into the maternity ward. It took her a very long time to explain she was there for tooth pain, not to deliver her baby yet. After being told the ER does not treat dental problems, they returned home in a cab that delivered them to the wrong section of the city because the cabby misunderstood their pronunciation of the location. Today this Kurdish family can laugh about this situation, but at the time the woman was in tears. Such stories not only provide insight, sympathy, and understanding, they create a personal connection between the listener and teller. Transmigrants have a new story to tell—how it is that they come to live in two societies, across borders, wrestling with ongoing family needs in two places. Through storytelling, transmigrants have the opportunity to explain to host country nationals on a profound level why transmigrants behave differently from immigrants in the past, including the immigrant ancestors of present-day nationals. This may help the host country nationals to deal with their questions, stereotypes, and myths related to

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transmigrants, such as overcrowded housing, not taking time to study the new language, crossing borders illegally, taking jobs away from host country nationals, not paying taxes, sending money overseas, and other issues that nonimmigrants frequently have a hard time perceiving from their monocultural perspective. A specific activity centered around storytelling is the cultural diversity workshop. One can employ this strategy in a variety of ways, ranging from short one-hour sharing sessions to a full-day workshop in which larger groups are given extensive exposure to immigrant stories and a chance to react, ask questions, and share their own stories. Because storytelling is not confrontational, people feel at ease to ask questions and listen to answers. The immigrant is seen (and feels) like an expert. The immigrant feels respected in a way that both increases his or her sense of self-esteem and gives an appreciation for “the good people” in the host society who are willing to listen to and understand the immigrant’s perspective. In addition, when immigrants from multiple countries share across multiple cultural lines, they gain a larger sense of community connection and shared experience with immigrants who are from different countries and yet face the same challenges they do in this new host society. They obtain a wider (global) understanding for their own life context, grasping the interconnections of wealth, poverty, trade, arms dealing, human rights, and many other issues that reflect causes and effects that are global in nature yet were previously perceived as local or not understood at all. They may also have a humbling experience: “I thought my journey was hard coming to the U.S., until I heard Juana Fulana.” An often unspoken but deeply felt improvement in their lives is the sense that, through these panels and workshops, they are finally giving something back to the host community, and host culture individuals recognize and express appreciation for this. These experiences are eye-openers for the social service provider too, helping agencies hear the thoughts and experiences of immigrants in a way that social workers do not get to do when providing direct services to clients. Connecting transmigrants to host community civic leaders (e.g., through city council meetings and community forums) exposes them to places of power. Encouraging transmigrants to participate in such opportunities helps them to learn how the new culture functions and educates local governmental agencies and leaders about the complexity for transmigrants in assimilating and participating in their new home culture. In the United

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States there is an immediate need for political leaders to understand the nature of transmigrancy and its effect on their constituents’ lives. Political leaders will be less likely to criticize, and more likely to institute policies supportive of transmigrants’ issues, if they have a clearer understanding of the realities faced by transmigrants in addition to asylum-seekers, refugees, and traditional immigrants. Helping local clubs, agencies, and institutions to creatively include new and diverse arrivals can bridge social relationships between diverse sectors of a community. Cultural competence and good networking skills guide social work in this endeavor. The local school Parent Teacher Association (PTA), for example, may make attempts to communicate with the parents of Latino children with a note inviting them to a PTA meeting. When Latino parents do not show up, the traditional leaders of the PTA may become bitter or angry at the immigrants and accuse them of being uninterested in the education of their children. In fact, Latino parents may not have thought of themselves as leaders or be afraid to participate in a meeting where only English is spoken, or they may be working the evening shift during the meeting time. Astute social workers can help PTA leaders to understand the barriers and develop new strategies of inclusion for the Latino parents—bilingual meetings, weekend meetings, personal face-to-face invitations for a culture that puts a high value on the personal relationship, and so on. Social workers can support immigrant-run organizations by taking a supportive role on the side with an organization that local and state immigrants have established. Simply attending meetings and providing information regarding the provider’s agency and services, or offering to connect the immigrants via the organization’s links to local political leadership, is much appreciated by immigrant organizers. While using these empowerment interventions, one should continue to be cognizant of the differences between immigrants and the particular situation of transmigrants. Transmigrants may have more complex stories, may feel pulled in two or more directions in their loyalties, and may have had greater difficulty in assimilating than other immigrants. They may also have current emotional ties and trauma that can come out during sharing sessions, and the facilitator needs to be prepared to assist the transmigrant to deal with those feelings in a public setting. Preparation ahead of time is paramount so the immigrant knows what the expectations are and has also developed a personal relationship of trust with the facilitator.

238 Services to Transmigrants

Transnational Networking: Macro Level The nature of transmigration creates the need for a paradigm shift on the macro level in social work practice. We can no longer rely solely on one community’s, state’s, or even country’s resources to effectively work with clients who have significant presence in another country. Often people from several countries or even several continents are clients at the same social work agency and have needs that cross borders. Increasingly, this diverse client base is presenting itself in small towns and rural areas where social workers in direct service agencies are well trained to broker resources locally but generally ill-equipped to connect with resources across nation borders. Advocating for individuals as well as policy issues, collecting data and information for funding, conducting research, and developing programs for transmigrants introduce the possibility of collaborating with people in other countries with other languages and unique problem-solving ideas. Embassies, women’s and indigenous rights groups, social service and advocacy groups targeted specific ethnic groups, government immigration agencies, and immigration lawyers are a few of the resources social workers working with transmigrants can to add to their repertoire of contacts. Social workers may find themselves creating transnational networking systems that can facilitate data collection, sharing of information for policy change, and collaboration among practitioners and agencies. While this sounds overwhelming and costly to create, the pieces are largely in place and the time is right for them to be connected. Following is a discussion on the transnational, national, and local components of the network as well as what pieces are already in place and what components need to be added to create effective, worldwide intervention for transmigrants. The transnational level of organization needs to develop and hold the big picture, ensuring, as much as possible, the continuity of care between and within countries. The transnational body could develop standards of learning and professionalism that govern transmigrant social work, provide opportunities for continuing education and relationship development, and manage and facilitate contact between individual transmigrants and social workers. This transnational body could also have multilingual individuals trained in transnational social work who could manage cases with international diplomatic implications and/or recognize patterns such as human trafficking across borders and work to create a concerted intervention that crosses two or more borders.

239 New Practice Frontiers

Already in place and operational, the International Federation of Social Workers provides opportunities for continuing education and relationship development and is in the process of developing standards of learning and professionalism for all social workers. Available technology, such as email, Skype, and telephone-based interpretation services, has made communication with almost anyone in the world possible and inexpensive. Via the Internet, data and knowledge can also be easily disseminated. Potential partners who are already working on the international level include the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and Amnesty International. Currently, there are organic grassroots efforts that are taking advantage of modern communication technology to connect social workers and their clients with much needed information. Negi and Furman (2009) give a prime example of social workers in Austin, Texas, who are forming an online community where information and resources can be shared. Negi also cites examples of local groups that have connected themselves to larger organizations to form international alliances to increase their effectiveness and create greater change. Further development of this idea at the international level could also include connecting transnational social workers to a base of knowledge and adapting educational and professional standards to include competency focused on transmigration, and organizing an international political advocacy on behalf of transmigrants. An Internet-based website accessible by anyone could also be a great repository of specific information.

National Level Each country or region could have an office that would identify social workers with significant experience who can provide training to others and serve as mentors. Each national entity would require fact-checkers for the transnational web-based system, hold member organizations accountable to international standards of professionalism, determine a national strategy to fulfill the international goals of political advocacy, and collect data. Each country could then provide case managers to take over cases that have national political significance or increased intricacy. While each national body will have to evaluate what is in place and what needs to be added, the authors are most familiar with U.S. strengths and areas for growth, so the following discussion focuses on the United States.

240 Services to Transmigrants

The U.S. educational system for training social workers is very strong. The training for transnational social workers could be provided by existing master’s-level international education programs. Theoretical, programmatic, and practical components need to be added to existing curricula. Each educational institution can develop curriculum around the unique issues in their own situation while teaching general principles that are common to transmigrants around the world. The National Association of Social Workers already provides opportunities for continuing education. Community-based immigrant organizations that are started and run by immigrant communities from specific geographic areas (Cordero-Guzmán 2005) could be rich resources outside of their major city catchment areas if resources were available. Each community that has a significant number of transmigrants needs to closely evaluate the local context, acquiring knowledge of local policies that affect transmigrants; provide training, data collection, political advocacy with their own leaders; and ensure that those doing case management are knowledgeable about both local and national contexts as well as other situations of transmigrancy around the world. Local agencies will need to draw on micro and macro skills for effective practice. The intersections of these levels are relationship building, assessment, engaging in change strategies, and effective use of self in fostering client empowerment (Austin Coombs, and Barr 2005). The concept of work with transmigrants as a special population in social work has thus far been ignored in education, scholarship, and practice. The growing transmigrant population demands attention and new thinking about how to build on strengths and problem solve with people and groups who are intimately involved with two distinct national environments. There is, however, an expanding base of knowledge about transmigrant characteristics at the local level. Giving a name to the phenomenon, providing education about transmigrants, and empowering this special population is a necessary collaborative effort with regard to the micro, mezzo, and macro work of social workers in helping the community understand and support the transmigrant. References Austin, M. J., M. Coombs, and B. Barr (2005). Community-centered clinical practice: Is the integration of micro and macro social work practice possible? Journal of Community Practice 13, no. 4: 9–30.

241 New Practice Frontiers Brettell, C. B. (2005). Voluntary organizations, social capital, and the social incorporation of Asian Indian immigrants in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Anthropological Quarterly 78, no. 4: 853–83. Cordero-Guzman, H. R. (2005). Community-based organisations and migration in New York City. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31, no. 5: 889–909. de Haymes, M. V., and K. M. Kilty (2007). Latino population growth, characteristics, and settlement trends: Implications for social work education in a dynamic political climate. Journal of Social Work Education 43, no. 1: 101–16. Dominelli, L. (2005). International social work: Themes and issues for the 21st century. International Social Work 48, no. 4: 504–7. Furman, R., and N. J. Negi (2007). Social work practice with transnational Latino populations. International Social Work 50, no. 1: 107–12. Grey, M. A. (2002). Unofficial sister cities: Meatpacking labor migration between Villachuato, Mexico, and Marshalltown, Iowa. Human Organization 61, no. 4: 364–76. Hancock, T.  U. (2005). Cultural competence in the assessment of poor Mexican families in the rural southeastern United States. Child Welfare 84, no. 5: 689–711. Hovey, J.  D., and C. G. Magaña (2002). Exploring the mental health of Mexican migrant farm workers in the Midwest: Psychosocial predictors of psychological distress and suggestions for prevention and treatment. Journal of Psychology 136, no. 5: 493. Ife, J. (1998). Globalization, internationalism, and community services: Implications for policy and practice. Journal of Applied Social Sciences 23, no. 1: 43–55. Messent, P., H. Saleh, and X. Solomon (2005). Asian families “back home”: An unexplored resource. Contemporary Family Therapy 27, no. 3: 329–44. Negi, N. J., and R. Furman (2009). Providing social services to Mexico–USA transmigrants. Journal of Poverty 13, no. 3: 293–308. Portes, A. (1997). Immigration theory for a new century: Some problems and opportunities. International Migration Review 31, no. 4: 799–826. Rumbaut, R.  G., et al. (2006). Debunking the myth of immigrant criminality: Imprisionment among first and second generation young men. http://www. migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=403. Accessed April 5, 2008. Segal, U. A., and N. S. Mayadas (2005). Assessment of issues facing immigrant and refugee families. Child Welfare 84, no. 5: 563–83. Timberlake, E. M., et al. (2003). Resettlement challenges in the “land of opportunity”: The experience of economically disadvantaged immigrant women. Social Thought: Journal of Religion in the Social Services 22, no. 4: 75–92.

Index

Acculturation, 128–129, 222, 231 Acculturative stress, 228, 229 Advocacy, 10, 17, 22–23, 54, 64, 69, 192, 208, 230, 233, 238; culturally competent, 17; environmental 54, 69, 74; groups, 10, 238; political, 32, 133, 210, 239–240; with refugees, 10; with trafficking victims, 116, 121; transnational, 174, 183, 185, 199, 200, 239; virtual, 16, 184–185, 189 Africa, 14, 16, 28–29, 56–58, 60, 114, 116, 118, 129, 140–142, 159–175, 206, 210 Agenda 21, 62, 63, 86, 87, 97, 98 Agency policy, 9 Agency structure, 9, 11; see also organizational structure Alternative economics movement, 82, 84 Anti-oppressive framework, 18, 22 Antiviolence programs, 140, 141

Antiwar and antinuclear movement, 82, 83 Assimilation, 7, 17, 25, 39, 168, 192, 194, 223, 234, 236, 237 Asylum, 24, 127, 128, 204, 237 Border, U.S.–Mexican, 137, 147, 155, 212, 217, 219–220, 191 Bosnian Family (BOSFAM), 10 Brain drain, 24, 210 Boundaries; national, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 77, 136, 138, 162, 177, 178, 180, 181, 183, 191, 192, 207; organizational, 9, 12, 18 Brundtland Commission, 77, 81, 87 Canada, 23–24, 28, 72, 75, 118, 129 Capital; cultural, 14; economic, 21, 40, 51, 194; human, 79; natural, 53, 62, 65; social, 14, 37, 41–43, 49–50, 182–183, 241

244 Index Capitalism, 6, 20, 23, 25, 27–28, 31, 61, 79, 193–194 Carbon footprint, 54; see also ecological footprint Catholic Church: 44, 167, 177 Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), 26 Child Protective Services, 11 Children, 98, 101, 187; education of, 226, 231–232, 237; health of, 12, 29, 60, 140, 208, 212; of migrants, 26, 31, 126, 147–148, 152–157, 163, 171–173, 175, 224; as migrant workers, 162, 164, 165; refugees, 24, 134; services to, 11, 13, 21, 210; as trafficking victims, 114, 115, 121 Citizenship, 14, 18, 23, 25, 33, 72, 74, 153, 156, 227, 230, 231 Civil society, 19, 37, 51, 142, 175, 188, 195 Civil society organizations (CSOs), 43, 44, 47, 48, 49, 50 Climate change, 15, 52–75; see also global warming Code of Ethics, 21, 132, 145 Collective identity, 51, 168, 169, 174 Community development, 41, 42, 43, 45, 48, 49, 50, 69, 133, 175, 189, 192 Community Driven Development (CDD), 42, 43, 51 Community organization; culturally competent, 17 175; curriculum, 19, 213; practice, 102, 106, 180, 192, 199, 207, 209, 219; for sustainable development, 93; with technology, 182–183, 189; transnational, 200, 233 Competence/sensitivity; cultural, 4, 13, 16, 17, 133, 145, 193, 208, 227, 230, 237, 239, 241; global, 207, 208, 211 Conflict resolution, 93, 102 Conspicuous consumption, 65, 154

Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), 210, 211, 220 Counseling, 32, 131, 174, 189, 226 Country of origin, 7, 121, 126, 161, 162, 164, 171, 198, 226; see also host society Coyotes, 39, 111, 150, 151; see also smugglers Culturally responsive services, 4, 5, 7, 17, 211, 227, 228 Cycle of poverty, 41, 78, 164 Decreasing food production, 53, 59 Deep economy, 64–66, 74 Deportation, 14, 112, 116, 118–119, 137, 151, 156, 157, 226, 231 Development; economic, 65, 73, 183; global/international, 68, 150, 181, 188; social, 14–15, 17, 21, 35–51, 53, 64, 65, 67, 139, 142, 221; sustainable, 15, 53, 61–63, 65–66, 68, 73, 84, 76–107, 227 Development Security Council, 98 Dialectics, 197, 198, 202, 203 Digital divide, 187, 189 Disempowerment, 14, 161, 164, 174, 234 Domestic violence, 112, 120, 121, 123, 128, 131 ; see also intimate partner violence Domestic work, 25, 114, 161, 169, 171, 175 Drugs, 31, 42, 98, 117, 137, 154 Drug-related violence, 137, 144 Dual Environmental Perspective, 229 Ecological footprint, 53, 75; see also carbon footprint Economic crisis; Ecuadorean, 149, 153; global, 5 Economic forces: 6, 22, 183 Economic structures, 7, 9, 66, 94

245 Index Ecuador, 16, 147–158 Education; distance, 178, 180, 185, 188; social work, 14, 17, 19, 34, 73, 75, 103, 106, 176, 178, 179, 185, 186, 187, 188, 211, 220, 241 Empowerment; of groups, 34, 42, 93, 94, 107, 195, 198, 200, 201, 227; of individuals, 93, 94, 132, 179, 240; model, 23, 32; of refugees, 10; teaching of, 143, 174; of transmigrants, 198, 200–202, 233, 237 English as a second language (ESL), 131 Environmental degradation, 15, 62, 69, 99, 100 Environmental justice, 13, 52, 53, 55, 63, 64, 68, 212, 213, 215, 218 Environmental Sustainability Index, 62 Ethnic cleansing, 162, 166, 167, 168, 192, 196 Europe, 7, 14, 23, 24, 26, 29, 58, 82–84, 102, 116, 129, 157, 206, 207, 209, 210, 221 Family, definition of, 205; as client group, 13, 130, 131, 132, 134, 180, 228, 230, 231; disintegration of, 162, 173, 229; fragmentation, 16, 159, 161, 170, 171, 174; human trafficking and, 111, 112, 114, 115, 118, 119, 120, 121; mixedstatus, 226; as refugees, 123–126, 128–130, 132, 134; remittances to, 39, 40, 41, 43, 50, 160, 225; separation from, 228, 229; transnational, 6, 7, 8, 16, 25, 28, 39, 45, 148, 151–158, 161, 162, 163, 175, 203, 223, 224, 228, 235 Feminization of migration, 15, 30 Free trade, 21, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33, 209 Fundraising, 47, 182, 189, 192

Gender, 16, 30, 31, 33, 50, 90, 135–146, 153, 158, 160, 197, 218 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), 63 Global Environmental Outlook (GEO), 52, 53 Global warming, 53–59, 61–62, 66, 68–70, 72–75, 87, 105; see also climate change Globalization, 5, 6, 7, 14, 17, 19, 20, 23, 175, 178; definition of, 138, 196; economic, 21, 22, 26, 29, 31, 33, 34, 62, 68, 193, 194; environmental exploitation and, 55, 63; grassroots, 21; social work and, 3, 4, 5; technology and, 176; transnationalism and, 171, 191, 224 Global networks, 5, 18, 157 Green movement, 82, 84, 103 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 150 Gross National Happiness (GNH), 66 Gross National Product (GNP), 29, 62, 66, 99 HIV/AIDS: 49, 140, 142, 144–145, 162, 164–166, 174 Hometown associations (HTAs): 40, 43–46, 48–51 Host society, 128, 160, 229, 236; see also country of origin Human rights, 19, 21, 23, 30, 32, 34, 79, 82, 85, 97, 104, 122, 125, 183, 184, 188, 210, 220, 227, 236 Human trafficking, 15, 31, 111–123, 135, 145, 238 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 151 Immigrant. see Migrant Immigration reform, 25, 33, 147

246 Index Imperialism, 4, 18 Indigenous peoples movement, 82, 85 Interdependence, 80; economic, 36, 160, 211; global, 27, 184, 211; between nation-states, 5, 36, 227; social Welfare, 211 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): 56–60, 70, 74 Internally displaced persons, 125 International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), 21, 32, 68, 69, 72, 73, 130, 134 International law, 21, 83, 96, 125, 127, 193, 199, 230 International Monetary Fund (IMF), 27, 29, 33 Internationalization, 3, 176 Internet, 8, 16, 32, 115, 151, 154, 176–190, 208, 227, 239 Intimate partner violence, 135, 142, 145; see also domestic violence Israel, 25, 191

Maquiladoras, 30, 212–214 Marginalization, 9, 22, 23, 64, 68, 135, 136, 138, 143, 159, 160, 161, 170, 193 Market, 178–179; economy, 42, 194–195, 202, 209; financial, 5; free, 79, 193; global, 20–21, 27, 29, 31–32, 37, 78, 99; labor, 24, 38, 161, 171, 173, 225; service, 11 Masculinity, 138, 139, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145 Mexico: 6, 7, 19, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 34, 35, 36–51, 114, 137, 144, 145, 147, 151, 155, 157, 184, 191, 204, 209, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 219, 220, 225, 233, 234, 235, 241 Middle East: 7, 30, 129, 169, Migrants; documented/legal, 26, 150, 208; life-cycle, 152; temporary, 23–25, 38, 161; traditional, 7, 9, 192, 229; undocumented/illegal, 26, 31, 38, 113, 150, 183, 208, 229–231

Jobs; American, 25, 26, 37, 234, 236; creation, 40, 43, 47; exploitative, 30, 117–119; legitimate, 113, 115; low paid, 25, 149, 151–152, 161; manufacturing, 28; placement, 37, 39, 119, 174; reason for migration, 26, 116, 162–165, 170; training, 12, 131

National Association of Social Workers (NASW), 31, 34, 123, 145, 179, 240 Nayakrishi Andolon (New Farming) movement, 66 Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), 10, 15, 21, 32, 69, 81–82, 89, 129–130, 141, 210–211, 220 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 14, 21, 26, 28, 33–35, 145, 209, 212

Kyoto Agreement, 62 Latin America, 14, 26, 28, 36, 50, 51, 82, 103, 105, 116, 118, 141, 149, 157, 206, 207, 209, 216, 218, 228 Legal permanent residents, 148, 150, 153 Loans, 27, 78, 150, 151, 152 Macro processes, 171

Oppression: 22, 23, 31, 34, 88, 89, 90, 92, 136, 137, 197, 198, 211 Organizational structure, 6, 9, 13; see also agency structure; functional, 9, 10; matrix, 9, 12; multidivisional, 9, 11; simple, 9, 10

247 Index Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 128, 137, 144 Protective Factors, 7 Psychological stressors, 229 “Push–pull” model of migration, 24–25 Racial profiling, 208 Refugee, 68, 69, 122, 123–134, 167, 196, 204, 222–223, 225, 231, 237, 239, 241 Remittances, 15, 36–37, 39–44, 47–51, 149–150, 154, 157–158, 160–161, 175, 210, 224–225, 229, 230, 232 Repatriation, 125, 127, 130 Resilience/resiliency, 74, 144, 197, 228–229 Risk factors, 7, 228 Service learning, 212–219 Sex labor/work, 34, 112–113, 164 Sexually transmitted diseases, 145, 174; Smugglers, 111, 113, 115; see also coyotes Social isolation, 23, 137, 162, 173–174 Social mobility, 159–161, 170 Social networks, 8, 15, 36–51, 127, 181, 188, 193 Social problems, 206, 209, 226; development and, 65; transnational/ global, 5, 16, 193, 196, 202 Social welfare agencies, 9–11 Social work curriculum, 17, 19, 34, 205–221 Social work practice; macro, 175, 180, 191–204, 205, 206, 208, 209, 210, 223, 238, 240; mezzo, 17, 205, 206, 208, 209, 223, 233, 240; micro, 17, 23, 31, 54, 202, 205–206, 208, 223, 240 Social work services, 5; impact of globalization, 6, 178; technology,

180; transnational, 20; wrap-around, 13, 18 South Africa, 16, 30, 140, 143, 145, 159–175, 210 Stages of refugee experience; integration/resettlement, 128, 130; premigration, 125–130, 229; repatriation, 130; transit, 126–127 Storytelling: 235–236 Sustainability, 15; cultural, 41, 62, 87; definition of, 86–87; ecological/environmental, 53, 62, 64, 65, 69–70, 72, 74, 77, 87, 184; economic, 87; political, 87 Technology, 6, 28, 62, 82, 98, 107, 176–190, 192, 198, 224, 239 Therapy, Family, 74, 131, 241; Online, 180, 189; Play, 139 Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline, 120 Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), 115 Transmigration, definition of, 4, 6– 18 Transnational communities, 18, 37, 208–209; internet-based, 182 Transnational social work practice, definition of, 3–18 Underclass, migrant, 25 United Arab Emirates (UAE): 16, 159–175, 210 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), 79, 82, 86, 92, 98, 99, 106–107 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 29, 34, 62, 76, 78–79, 89, 91, 92, 98–99, 106

248 Index United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), 52 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 6, 19, 129, 134 United States Agency for International Development (USAID), 49 Virtual agencies/workplaces/organizations, 181, 184 Virtual volunteers, 182, 188 War, 10, 22, 28, 30; cold, 191, 207; against ecological decline, 71, 73, 75; fleeing from, 24, 127, 223, 229, 234–235; and human rights violations, 31125, 126; prevention of, 96, 206 Water shortages, 53, 58 Web 2.0 revolution, 181

Well-being; of clients, 133, 143; communal, 66; economic, 49, 61, 67, 92; environment and, 55, 56, 63–64, 77, 81, 89, 96; global, 177; social, 92, 140, 178, 198, 211; of transmigrants, 7, 194, 198, 227 Women’s movement, 82, 85 World Bank, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 41, 42, 51, 78, 79, 101, 107, 144, 157, 194, 209 World Development Strategy (WDS), 96–99 World dynamics modeling movement, 82, 84 World Health Organization, 21, 56, 57, 206, 210, 221 World order movement, 82, 83 World Trade Organization, 21, 27, 63, 194 Xenophobia, 166, 175, 197