"Here we Are, Amazingly Alive": Holding Ourselves Together with an Ethic of Social Justice in Community Work
Date
2012
Authors
Richardson, Cathy
Reynolds, Vikki
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Victoria
Abstract
In this paper, the authors describe their orientation to social justice based community work. The tenets of this work include: an ethical orientation towards staying alive in the work, descriptions of social justice, engaging with a hopeful skepticism, responding to privatized pain with justice-doing, and contesting the individualism of “burnout”. This is followed by reflections on the role of solidarity, the sacred, revolutionary love, resistance, and an ethic of belonging in the commitments to staying fully alive in community work. The authors discuss the importance of forging communities of care with other practitioners through shared and collectively held ethics.
Description
Keywords
solidarity, sustainability, resisting burnout, social justice, belonging, ethics
Citation
Richardson, C. & Reynolds, V. ""Here we Are, Amazingly Alive": Holding Ourselves Together with an Ethic of Social Justice in Community Work." International Journal of Child, Youth & Family Studies, 3(1): 1-19.