An Anti-Racist Practice in Social Work Research Teams

One Story of Germination and Pollination

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18060/28154

Keywords:

research team, anti-racist, social work, team practice

Abstract

Social work researchers must intentionally and explicitly be anti-racist in commitments and actions if we are to disrupt, rather than simply acknowledge, racist systems and practices. This article, written by members of several research teams (including research staff, graduate research assistants, and principal investigators), describes an anti-racist team practice, which germinated in one research team and pollinated to others within a school of social work. We share our learnings and barriers, collected via an online, synchronous, anonymous platform, based on engagement in and implementation of the anti-racist research team practice. Learnings regarding the anti-racist research team practice clustered around three areas: professional individual experiences, takeaways, and ways the practice shaped our thinking about research teams. Identified takeaways included the importance of developing an anti-racist lens; a critical understanding of the role of academia in oppressive systems; transferring anti-racist content to other (non-research) areas; and augmenting our sense of responsibility to take action to combat racism. Anti-racist research team practices are one mechanism to disrupt “white logic, white methods” of normative research that is embedded in and perpetuates oppressive systems. Furthermore, sprouting anti-racist practices at the research team level can create a stronger culture of anti-racism within the social work discipline.

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Published

2025-07-09