An intersectional model of reflection: is social work fit for purpose in an intersectionally racist world?

Abstract

Reflection is a trademark tool of social work, but if reflection tools are blunt, they will never dismantle the house of intersectional racist oppression. This provocation contends that reflective models need to decisively focus on intersections of power, privilege and position. The origins of Black feminist intersectionality determine intersectionality’s function as an efficacious tool of reflection. This article offers a model of intersectional reflection that explicitly scrutinises the interdependent interconnections of power to expose the compound injuries of intersectional racism and enables the identification of places of safety and opportunities for transformation. Located within a metanarrative for Black feminist social work, intersectional reflection identifies the criss-cross roads of social inequality, names the vehicles of power, analyses the intersectional crash and assesses bio-psychosocial injuries. If social work is to stand a chance of being fit for purpose in an intersectionally racist world, it needs to be based on Black feminist theory.