Art therapy and social activism in community-based projects

One of the key aspects of arts for social justice is the central recognition of its collaborative nature that foregrounds interconnectedness and empathy. The forum of a conference in the early stages of the development of the Art Therapy qualification at the University of Johannesburg enabled both evaluation and reflection by situating student participants as dynamic partners. We engaged the first cohort of Art therapy Masters students to collaborate in designing the conference and website for the field to share and exchange their practice with leaders in global change initiatives. The conference theme focused on training and practice of art therapy in social justice in the Global South and the key note address by Dr Lireko Qhobela cautions us to be intentional about attending to the historical wounds. Panel presentations included Art therapy in the Global South: Now and next (Moon et al), Research as Storytelling (Potash and Kapitan), Using the arts to work with refugees and displaced persons in times of crisis and war (Speizers et al) as well Art therapy and social activism in community-based projects (Myburgh et al). A social dreaming workshop was a practical visualisation that included approximately 70 participants entitled Deep diving towards a vison for social justice: a visual dream matrix, (H Berman and N Pule). The Art Therapy Masters students published their research projects in the newly established Journal of Arts Therapies (SAJAT) which was launched as highlight to conclude the conference. They participated in critical evaluation through the peer review process and were encouraged to invite and engage with a range of leaders in the field. The students were asked to critically reflect on how they understood their own agency in the field of transformative art therapy practice and social justice using group and individual art practice and writing. Their comments and experiences can be integrated and shared with future cohorts in enriching the field as situated and textured to a local context.

This article introduces a conceptual framework that integrates art therapy and social action. The author uses a transpersonal model of the human psyche and an interdependent paradigm of the self and views personal psychological experiences and external societal structures as entwined in a cocreative, mutually dependent relationship. From this perspective, art therapy and social action become interconnected enterprises ultimately having the same goal: just and peaceful communities derived from individual and collective wholeness. The unique role of image in art therapy and social action is discussed, and homophobia is used as a working example of the reciprocal impact of societal and individual psychic processes. Art therapists should examine their complicity in unjust social arrangements and take a moral stance to work for justice by actively redressing imbalances, within and outside the consulting room. It is suggested that art therapists adopt an action research approach by relinquishing theoretical dogma and cultural assumptions to consider the specific needs and worldview of the individuals being served.

This case study of a university residence services department’s attempts to institutionalize social justice reveals how organizational members’ social justice talk can affect organizational social justice outcomes. Analysis of interview and observational data identified four discursive strategies employed by organizational members: (a) delegating responsibility for promoting social justice to some members, (b) associating social justice only with promoting diversity, (c) narrowing the scope of members’ social justice action, and (d) rationalizing that the organization was not ready for social justice activism. These strategies worked together to restrict social justice activism in this organization to outcomes associated with mainstreaming social justice. Findings lead to pragmatic recommendations offered for institutionalizing social justice that could be transferable to this and other similar organizations.

Purpose: Women, as half of force available human in mankind societies that themselves are one of the development most important sources can play a major role in developing human societies. Therefore, women's participation in all social activities, including policy, is necessary, so that we can say being women in minority level in political affairs causes the democracy incomplete in society. This research has been carried out for the purpose of studying relation of sexually and social justice regarding women attitude in respect to democracy in Bushehr has been done. This paper has been carried out with an approach to research quantity and the use of survey. The study sample includes 600 women fellow citizens in Bushehr. It data has been compiled through structural questionnaire and analyzed by the use of SPSS software. The theory framework of this study exempted from Daniel Lerner. In this study attitudes with respect to democracy has been investigated in three parts: law and civil freedoms, a democratic and responsive government, and democratic society. Conclusions: the results of analysis show that among both social and sexuality justice variables there is a meaningful relation regarding women attitude in respect of democracy. Due to both social and sexuality justice variable in position and jobs grounds, at the present in Iran, women improved a lot but their presence in top jobs and positions is less observable, that this spontaneously doesn’t indicate social justice.

Post-apartheid South Africa is ravaged by crises of extreme unemployment, poverty, and inequality. While the majority who were politically excluded by apartheid can now choose their government through democratic elections, social and economic justice continues to elude them. Neoliberal policies which seek to reduce state expenditure on social services and promote state policies that protect the interests of big businesses at the expense of working-class and poor communities, along with corruption and abuse of power, are the primary causes of poverty and unemployment. However, what is missing in the assessments of social justice since the pre-1994 democratic era is the recognition that social justice organisations have not simply disappeared, but have actually remained involved in social justice struggles. Based on information from in-depth interviews and internet sources, this article records some of the partial victories scored through these struggles, albeit in the context of generalised pauperisation of working-class and poor communities. These partial victories in the era of defeats show that these organisations, although weakened, have not given up the struggle for social justice.

This viewpoint examines the limitations of cultural competency in art therapy education through personal reflection, calling for an immersive engagement with social justice practices of naming difference, asserting counter narratives, and following the leadership of people impacted by systemic violence. The author discusses the impact of state-funded attacks on African Americans and responses within the Black community that have shaped her pedagogical framework and emphasizes the need for a shift of power that would strengthen an art therapy approach to social justice and encourage critical consciousness among students.

Purpose This paper aims to provoke a conversation in marketing scholarship about the overlooked political nature of doing research, particularly for those who research issues of social (in)justice. It suggests a paradigmatic shift in how researchers might view and operationalise social justice work in marketing. Emancipatory praxis framework offers scholars an alternative way to think about the methodology, design and politics of researching issues of social relevance. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper drawing on critical theory to argue for a new methodological shift towards emancipatory praxis. Findings As social justice research involves a dialectical relationship between crises and critique, the concept of emancipation acts as a methodological catalyst for furthering debate about social (in)justice in marketing. This paper identifies a set of methodological troubles and challenges that may disrupt the boundaries of knowledge-making. A set of methodological responses to these issues illustrating how emancipatory research facilitates social action is outlined. Research limitations/implications Emancipatory praxis offers marketing scholars an alternative methodological direction in the hope that more impactful and useful ways of knowing can emerge. Practical implications The paper is intended to change the ways that researchers work in practical and concrete terms on issues of social (in)justice. Social implications Although this paper is theoretical, it argues for an alternative methodological approach to research that reorients researchers towards a politicised praxis with emancipatory relevancy. Originality/value Emancipatory praxis offers a new openly politicised methodological alternative for addressing problems of social relevance in marketing. As a continuous political and emancipatory task for researchers, social justice research involves empirical encounters with politics, advocacy and democratic participation, where equality is the methodological starting point for research design and decisions as much as it is the end goal.

If the heart of leadership is justice, then the core of leadership education should be social justice. Conditions have never been better to pursue socially just aims than now, nor have the consequences for omitting social justice from leadership learning ever been direr. However, the integration of social justice and leadership is neither easy nor straightforward. To center social justice and cultural relevance in leadership education, this chapter presents essential theoretical frameworks, highlights extant and emerging leadership education scholarship, and offers suggestions to sustain critical hope among socially just leadership educators and students. Constructs related to social justice, critical social theories, antiracism, and cultural relevance in leadership learning are introduced. In addition, we review recent revisions in leadership theories, such as the social change model of leadership development, and draws attention to new models focused on social action and transformation, as well as collective action and critical consciousness in leading. We continue by featuring important empirical findings in leadership education research related to the tactics, strategies, and approaches leadership educators can consider as they continually refine their praxis toward fairness, equity, inclusion, and justice. Finally, apparent paradoxes in leadership learning scholarship are presented and we offer advice on advancing social justice in leadership education. Together, these considerations form an arc of leadership learning that bends toward social justice but cannot be maintained without active, attentive, and sustained effort.

St. Louis, Missouri, sits astride the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, a position that made the city the “Gateway to the West.” Its most famous monument, the Gateway Arch, memorializes the millions of pioneers who traveled to the city seeking transportation to the frontier lands of the West, and who were outfitted with the tools and knowledge they needed on the journey to these new lands of opportunity. The Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program has enabled Washington University (WU) and its regional partners to create a gateway of another sort, aimed at helping researchers toward new opportunities and discoveries in clinical and translational research. The Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS) was founded in September 2007 to serve as the intellectual and physical home for clinical and translational research and clinical research training at WU and its partner institutions. ICTS was founded on WU's 4 prior clinical research and training grants—GCRC, K12, K30, and T32—and on an existing university-wide strategic initiative in multidisciplinary collaborative research emphasizing genome sciences, biological imaging, and clinical investigation. The formation of the ICTS resulted in a new level of regional partnership with other academic, health care, and industrial and community partners. In its second year of existence, the ICTS is increasingly able to integrate the different strengths of its partners to reach its goals of reinventing and reinvigorating CTS research and training. In designing the ICTS, we used a conceptual model that identified important phases in the progress of a clinical or translational research project (Figure 1). For each phase, we identifed needed resources and potential barriers to completion, and have structured the ICTS in a way that attempts to provide needed resources and expertise for each phase of research from development and refinement of research ideas through translation of results to clinical practice and community implementation. Education, training, and career development are at the heart of our ICTS, and are linked to all research phases and programmatic activities. Our ICTS has 15 key Program Functions, each linked to 1 or more research phases, and each with specific goals, milestones, and evaluation criteria for various services, cores, and programs. We will highlight 2 new and important program functions below: our community-based research efforts and our programs in biomedical informatics. Phases in the evolution of clinical research projects. The 3 CCBR arms serve as a model for community participation to improve research relevant to public health. A central transformative element offour ICTS was the establishment of the Center for Community-Based Research (CCBR), which has initiated community engagement ef orts in 3 important groups: community organizations, community-based health care providers, and individuals from medically underserved populations. Each of the 3 arms is designed to solicit community input to increase the relevance of research to community needs, and to encourage partnerships between academic researchers and community groups. Our Community Advisory Board, established by the 3 arms, meets quarterly, to ensure relevance of the CCBR programs and the ICTS programs as a whole. The Community Organizations program has focused on cultivating partnerships with community organizations and conducting community needs assessments. This new model has spearheaded a series of conferences with our Regional Health Commission to address how our academic medical center can better serve the needs of our local community and improve the public health. In the fall of 2009, we will begin a series of shared conferences with community organizations highlighting successful community-based participatory research projects. These conferences will include joint presentations by academics and community partners and will strive to facilitate the formation of new partnerships. To further stimulate new community-based participatory research projects, we will soon initiate a research grants program, supported by a regional coalition of universities and health care institutions, to fund research projects that include a high degree of cooperation between community organizations and academic researchers. The program has also initiated a traveling poster presentation forum that translates data in a community relevant fashion. The Community Health Care Practitioners program seeks to expand community networks of practitioners to increase opportunities for clinical and translational (T2 and T3) research. One such effort is the Washington University Pediatric and Adolescent Ambulatory Research Consortium (WU PAARC). Currently comprised of approximately 60 community pediatricians and 5 pediatric nurse practitioners, the network provides a formal structure to develop research ef orts that identify best practices and translate research findings into practice. Community pediatricians participate in the consortium in different ways, from contributing ideas and receiving study updates to helping develop study protocols and recruit patients from their practices. Some studies are initiated by WU PAARC physicians, such as a recent study on a Telephone Asthma Program that resulted from physicians’ frustration with patients not using their asthma maintenance medications. For this randomized controlled trial, 362 families with asthmatic children were recruited from 95 community pediatric offices over 13 months. The 12-month telephone asthma coaching intervention helped parents better manage their child's asthma care and improved children's asthma control and parents’ quality-of-life scores. An upcoming study will compare 2 corticosteroid treatments for croup, a disease commonly seen in community practice but never before studied in this setting. In addition to WU PAARC-sponsored studies, community pediatricians have opportunities to participate in other studies developed by ICTS researchers including participating in study development and implementation. An example is a prevalence study for community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staph aureu s for which 1,300 children were recruited from 11 WU PAARC practices over an 8-month period. WU PAARC serves as a model for cooperative research between academic and community physicians, and these examples show how those involved have a real opportunity to improve the health of children and adolescents. As our ICTS matures, we plan to expand our practice-based research network activities to include new patient and provider populations. The CCBR has also started HealthStreet, a project linking populations that have been underrepresented in research to health information, referrals to social, medical, and psychiatric services, as well as opportunities to participate in research studies. HealthStreet utilizes Community Health Workers and a comprehensive outreach approach to establish trust between the lay and medical communities. The hub of CCBR activity is a new storefront facility in an underserved neighborhood near our medical center where community members can receive free health screenings, health referrals, and information about WU clinical studies. Community Health Workers also reach people in sites such as beauty shops, laundromats, bus stops, and community agencies to spread the word about services offered, and opportunities for research. The 3 CCBR arms serve as a model for community participation to improve research relevant to public health. CCBR investigators are actively training and engaging other ICTS investigators to collaborate on community-based projects with the goal of addressing “outcomes that matter.” Major institutional goals for improving CTS research are the creation of efficient communication and coordination across key function activities; the creation of an informatics infrastructure capable of integrating ICTS program components for data sharing; and the development of electronic resources of existing clinical and biospecimen data that may be used to develop new clinical studies, identify potential research participants, and execute novel molecular correlative studies. The ICTS Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBMI) is addressing these complex core issues through industry-standard hardware infrastructure and software tools to store, integrate, query, analyze, and visualize complex clinical and molecular data sets. Among the several activities of CBMI are the integration and implementation of the research management tool ClinPortal, development and management of biospecimen tracking tools, and creation of the Clinical Investigation Data Exploration Repository (CIDER), a research repository of medical records. ClinPortal is a research management tool that allows investigators and study coordinators to integrate the data collection and management needs of a clinical study with critical regulatory compliance requirements. Investigators create case report forms using data elements (or variables) that are defined using controlled vocabularies, and ClinPortal then automatically generates the backend database schema as well as the forms to enter the data and conduct queries. Use of ClinPortal offers a number of advantages to the institution and to the investigator. By default, data stored in ClinPortal is available for sharing while following all HIPAA regulations, although the investigator that owns the data may turn of sharing if so desired. As a result, once an investigator has established his or her study within the ClinPortal system, there is potential for sharing relevant data with and from other studies. Data access is controlled both by investigator permissions and by regulatory requirements. Future phases include automated access to clinical data from our hospital and outpatient systems. Assuming appropriate release by the patient and access rights for the researcher, investigators using ClinPortal will eventually have access to clinical data from hospital and clinic sources for their study participants. Tissue Suite, a Web-based biospecimen inventory, tracking, and annotation tool, may be used for study-based biospecimen collection efforts and by other non-study investigators interested in identifying existing biospecimens throughout the medical campus that may be available for translational research. The ICTS Translational Pathology and Molecular Phenotyping (TPMP) Core supports the physical storage of biospecimens, while Tissue Suite is the application supported by both the CBMI and the TPMP to provide the informatics to manage data about those biospecimens. Investigators who are managing their own biospecimen collection efforts outside of the TPMP Core may still make use of the Tissue Suite application to manage their inventory in compliance with caBIG standards. Web accessibility, the ability to share biospecimens and biospecimen-related data, advanced search functionality, and capture of clinical, pathological, and quality assurance data for collected biospecimens are key features of Tissue Suite. Together, ClinPortal and Tissue Suite facilitate collaboration between investigators and data integration across studies. As clinical data becomes available through the ClinPortal tool, biospecimens referenced in the complementary Tissue Suite tool will gain increasing clinical annotation, making them even more valuable for translational research studies. Another major focus of the CBMI has been the development of a comprehensive research patient data warehouse. CIDER contains a wealth of data from the electronic medical records of most inpatients and outpatients seen at the WU medical center and affiliated hospitals in the BJC HealthCare system. This system will become available to ICTS investigators in 2009 and will initially contain data on patient encounters, laboratory testing, and medications. We sought community input in designing the patient notification and opt-out procedures and in strictly designating access and use of this information by qualified investigators. We expect that CIDER will become a very useful tool for many clinical and translational researchers to perform a review preparatory to research, identify potential participants to recruit to active clinical studies both by querying CIDER and as they are encountered in the health care system, and implement quality assurance and improvement initiatives. In addition to these highlighted functions, the CBMI is working on other ways to simplify communication and tracking within the ICTS. One new project is the creation of an electronic Research Concierge function to serve as the focal point to help clinical and translational researchers navigate through the study planning, design, review, and execution processes. This Research Concierge function will be added to WU's existing site that currently provides single sign-on access to the resources necessary to propose, manage, and close research projects and satisfy compliance requirements for research. In a nod to St. Louis history, these resources can be found at the WU Research Gateway Web site (http://research.wustl.edu). More information about the WU ICTS can be found at our main site http://icts.wustl.edu.

ABSTRACTWhile social justice is widely upheld as a foundational value and responsibility within nursing, this concept remains poorly articulated and lacking in a clear and cohesive definition. In particular, prior conceptualizations of social justice within nursing have been critiqued as lacking a strong theoretical foundation and being insufficiently critical in orientation. Resultantly, guidance for nurses in engaging in social justice action is scant, and ultimately, the profession is challenged in truly taking up social justice as a central aim. As such, this critical interpretive synthesis aims to explore and synthesize how social justice is conceptualized within the nursing literature, and apply critical theoretical approaches to re‐conceptualize social justice to guide nursing theory, research, and practice. To comprehensively review the literature on social justice (and the related concept of equity) in nursing, CINAHL and Medline (Ovid) databases were searched using nursing, social justice, and equity keywords. Following title/abstract and full text screening of 1428 references, N = 216 were retained for analysis, utilizing critical interpretive synthesis approaches through a critical social theory lens. Through a critical thematic analysis of the nursing literature, this review identifies that concepts of social justice and equity were often conflated in the nursing literature, and that dominant conceptualizations advance notions of social justice as distributive justice and as fairness. Engaging with these dominant conceptualizations through a critical lens illustrates that a re‐conceptualization of social justice is necessary to establish conceptual clarity and more meaningfully support nurses in engaging with social justice through theory and practice. As such, this review presents the following re‐conceptualized definition of social justice: As a guiding principle for nursing, social justice is a process of recognizing and remediating inequities at individual and structural levels towards a state of equity.

The purpose of this article is to argue for a social activist stance in educational leadership that fundamentally addresses social change and human emancipation. This call for social activism is framed within neoliberal, neoconservative, and authoritarian populist discourses in the USA, which to social justice educators and leaders had devastating effects on education. Empirical data from an activist high school principal, activist university professor, and activist priest reflects their development of political clarity, political capacity, political collaboration, and an ethic of risk. It is suggested that the work of socially active educational leaders needs to be broadened to include such things as public policy advocacy, networking, organising, community development, and scholarship. Finally, the article concludes with a variety of ways educational leaders can demonstrate their social, moral, and political activism as they challenge the status quo, fight for social justice, and come to understand the politicised notion of leadership.

BackgroundThe discipline of applied psychology has begun to reflect more explicitly on the social justice values and practices of the profession. This paper presents the first stage of research in a larger project aiming to explore ‘social justice’ in applied psychology in the UK, and takes as its focus the branch of counselling psychology.AimTo explore how members of the UK counselling psychology profession understand social justice, and act on their commitment to it.MethodInterviews were conducted with six individuals who had at least a moderate interest in and commitment to social justice, as assessed by the Social Issues Questionnaire. Data were analysed using techniques from the grounded theory approach.FindingsThemes included participants’ understandings of social justice both on a theoretical and a personal level, and the perceived fit between social justice and counselling psychology. Participants reported a perception of a lack of social justice action and reflected on potential difficulties associated with engaging in social justice action.DiscussionImplications for the international counselling psychology profession are reflected on. Directions for further research are outlined.

Encouraging students to engage in activities that actively seek to promote social justice is a goal of many educators. This study analyzed college student perceptions around social justice and related activities in a medium-sized, urban university in the United States. Students’ open-ended responses to questions assessing their perceptions of social justice and related social justice activities were coded, and a set of categories were developed. After establishing adequate inter-rater reliability for these categories, the associations between these categories with Global Belief in a Just World Scale, Symbolic Racism Scale, Neosexism Scale, and Perry Public Service Motivation Scale were explored. The results and implications of these analyses are presented and discussed.

This study analysed how urban planning policy reflects the principles of social justice in relation to decision-making processes and the provision of sewerage infrastructure in Jakarta, Indonesia. It highlights the need to consider the role or capacity of planning in ensuring social justice, particularly in cities in the Global South, where urban planning approaches have been unable to address the complexity of Southern realities. This has resulted in growing problems of poverty and inequality.The social justice approach in planning has an important role to play in facilitating equality, particularly through the inclusion of the poor in decision-making processes and providing opportunities for them to have adequate access to services and infrastructure. Social justice incorporates the fair distribution of benefit and burden and institutional decision-making processes within which ‘benefit’ and ‘burden’ are allocated. This thesis addressed the main research question of How does urban planning policy reflect the principles of social justice in relation to decision-making processes and the provision of sewerage infrastructure in Jakarta, Indonesia? First, using the concept of Need as an indicator of distributional justice, this study assessed the distribution of community sewerage projects (Sanimas IDB/Sanitasi Berbasis Masyarakat Islamic Development Bank or the Islamic Development Bank Community Based Sanitation project) against the normative criteria used by the government. Second, the concepts of Inclusion and Enablement were used as indicators of institutional justice and were applied to investigate how the broader social structure and institutional context (i.e. rules, relations and decision-making processes related to power and procedures) affected the outcome. The provision of Sanimas IDB in Jakarta consists of four stages: preparation; planning; implementation; and operation and maintenance. This study focused on the preparation stage, particularly, on the neglected ‘selection process’. The application of social justice values in the local context of sanitation infrastructure provision provides a robust provides a robust mechanism to analyse the selection process, especially in situations where power relations between actors play a significant role.Using a qualitative methodology, the data collection involved document analysis, interviews, and observations. In addition to the scientific literature and institutional documents and reports, the Indonesian government’s documents related to Sanimas (in general) and Sanimas IDB were analysed also. Three categories of interviewees were established and relevant people were interviewed. The reliability of this study is based on triangulation of the results from these methods to establish validity and credibility. This study analysed regulations, policy documents, project reports, and previous studies to identify the selection criteria that underpinned the location of the sewerage infrastructure sites in Jakarta and included stakeholder interviews to assess the contextual application of the criteria. Furthermore, by utilising critical theory on social justice, this study analysed the context of the making and implementation of planning policy. The application of a social justice lens is relevant in the context of increasing inequality in urban areas (i.e. urbanisation of poverty) and was used in this thesis to assess the effectiveness planning policy related to the provision of sewerage infrastructure in Jakarta.The findings of this study have demonstrated that despite the Indonesian government’s recognition of selected distributive and institutional values of justice within the normative policies, those values are disregarded in the actual application when facing internal and external complexities (overlapping/limited authority, staff incompetence, personal and economic interests - stepping stone and rent-seeking - and elite control/capture). Questions about the sustainability of the Sanimas IDB project, and more importantly the effort to create fairness in the society by active participation of the community will be constrained. This research has contributed to the advancement use of distributive and institutional dimensions of social justice in planning. In an empirical sense, this thesis helps to close the gap that has existed in the application of the values of social justice (i.e. Need, Inclusion and Enablement) in the pre-implementation of community-based development projects.

The purpose of this paper is to articulate a rationale for value-based praxis in community psychology. Although values need to promote personal, collective, and relational wellness at the same time, it is argued that community psychologists pay more attention to personal and relational wellness than to collective wellness. In order to address this imbalance it is important to promote the value of social justice. While praxis requires that we engage in a cycle of reflection, research, and social action, community psychologists devote more resources to the first two phases of praxis than to the last one. This paper offers a framework for deciding what values and what praxis considerations we should attend to and how we may advance social justice and social action in community psychology.