Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Social Work (MSW)
Department
Social Work
Faculty/School
Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work
First Advisor
Eliana Suarez
Advisor Role
Supervisor
Second Advisor
Jennifer Root
Advisor Role
Second Reader
Abstract
What are the experiences of racialized frontline workers? How do they experience vicarious racism? I interviewed 8 frontline workers who were involved in counseling racialized individuals. The narrative paradigm, constructivist self-development theory (CSDT), and critical race theory (CRT) were the theoretical frames that guided the interviews and data analysis in order to answer these questions. I conducted a structural narrative analysis, which revealed how participants utilized assumptions from master narratives and at other times countered them. Interviewees occasionally stepped outside of the master narrative entirely, for example, by rejecting the categorization of race. According to CSDT, our meanings are determined by schemas, which can be altered through experiences such as trauma, including vicarious trauma. Vicarious racism was similar to vicarious trauma in that it involved empathic engagement and occasionally, schema or somatic changes. Negative schema changes included: hypervigilance, development of double consciousness, and self-doubt. The primary positive schema change was moving from passive witness to active agent. However, vicarious racism did not always change one’s schema as participants used coping skills, such as double consciousness, normalization or counter-narratives, developed from their own experiences of racialization. A sense of belonging , mentorship and/or privilege was related to how vicarious racism was processed and whether or not counter-narratives were sustained. In using CRT as a theoretical lens, I examined not just how meaning is made by individual experiences, but how power relations and master narratives interplay with meaning making and schema development.
Recommended Citation
Giri, Prapti, "Experiences of Racialized Service Providers who Work with Racialized Clients: Functions and constraints of master and counter-narratives of helping, racism, and vicarious racism" (2017). Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive). 1963.
https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/1963
Convocation Year
2017
Convocation Season
Fall