Harjeet Kaur Badwall
Associate Professor
Phone: (416) 736-2100 Ext: 33271
Email: hbadwall@yorku.ca
Harjeet Badwall is an Associate Professor with York University’s School of Social Work. She has over eighteen years of practice experience in the areas of community organizing, anti-racism activism, community health, and gender violence. She brings extensive social work experience to the School of Social Work as a counsellor working in the area of violence. Harjeet completed her doctoral research at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on anti-racist and anti-colonial perspectives in social work education and practice.
My doctoral research examines the micro and macro processes of racism in the professional lives of racialized social workers. I examine the colonial continuities that centralize whiteness within contemporary social work education and practice. I specifically focus on moments in which racialized violence is taking place in professional encounters with clients, colleagues and institutions. The narratives within the research make visible the ways in which social work discourses centralize whiteness and efface the operation of racism. The thesis illustrates the dilemmas that emerge for racialized social workers when they perform a professional identity that is constituted through various scripts of whiteness. The research centrally argues that social work education must examine the colonial continuities that construct contemporary practices, and to make visible the ways in which hegemonic scripts within social work reinstall whiteness and collude with racism. Areas of Specialization: Critical race studies, critical race feminism, anti-colonialism; micro-analysis of everyday practices of racism and racialization; institutional whiteness; critical social work theory and practice; interlocking analysis of oppression, post-structuralism; narrative therapy approaches and anti-violence work with populations who have experienced violence (systemic violence, gender violence, sexual violence, intimate partner violence). I teach courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs related to the connections between critical theory and practice, post-colonial, post-structural perspectives in social work. Courses taught: (Undergraduate) SOWK 3060 Integrated Social Work, SOWK 3041 Communications. (Graduate) GSSOWK 5150 Critical Perspectives, GSSOWK 5982 Advanced Practice, GSSOWK 5983 Narrative Therapy for Critical Social Work (course created by H.Badwall)
Degrees
Doctor of Philosophy, Humanities, Social Science and Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of TorontoMaster of Social Work, York University
Bachelor of Social Work, York University
Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, York University
Research Interests
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | GS/SOWK5150 3.0 | A | Critical Perspectives in Social Work | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2025 | AP/SOWK3041 3.0 | O | Communication | SEMR |
Harjeet Badwall is an Associate Professor with York University’s School of Social Work. She has over eighteen years of practice experience in the areas of community organizing, anti-racism activism, community health, and gender violence. She brings extensive social work experience to the School of Social Work as a counsellor working in the area of violence. Harjeet completed her doctoral research at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on anti-racist and anti-colonial perspectives in social work education and practice.
My doctoral research examines the micro and macro processes of racism in the professional lives of racialized social workers. I examine the colonial continuities that centralize whiteness within contemporary social work education and practice. I specifically focus on moments in which racialized violence is taking place in professional encounters with clients, colleagues and institutions. The narratives within the research make visible the ways in which social work discourses centralize whiteness and efface the operation of racism. The thesis illustrates the dilemmas that emerge for racialized social workers when they perform a professional identity that is constituted through various scripts of whiteness. The research centrally argues that social work education must examine the colonial continuities that construct contemporary practices, and to make visible the ways in which hegemonic scripts within social work reinstall whiteness and collude with racism. Areas of Specialization: Critical race studies, critical race feminism, anti-colonialism; micro-analysis of everyday practices of racism and racialization; institutional whiteness; critical social work theory and practice; interlocking analysis of oppression, post-structuralism; narrative therapy approaches and anti-violence work with populations who have experienced violence (systemic violence, gender violence, sexual violence, intimate partner violence). I teach courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs related to the connections between critical theory and practice, post-colonial, post-structural perspectives in social work. Courses taught: (Undergraduate) SOWK 3060 Integrated Social Work, SOWK 3041 Communications. (Graduate) GSSOWK 5150 Critical Perspectives, GSSOWK 5982 Advanced Practice, GSSOWK 5983 Narrative Therapy for Critical Social Work (course created by H.Badwall)
Degrees
Doctor of Philosophy, Humanities, Social Science and Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of TorontoMaster of Social Work, York University
Bachelor of Social Work, York University
Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, York University
Research Interests
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | GS/SOWK5150 3.0 | A | Critical Perspectives in Social Work | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2025 | AP/SOWK3041 3.0 | O | Communication | SEMR |
