Linda Briskman – författare

''Another important contribution to the growing literature on critical social work. It is on the cutting edge of thinking about social work and its goal of social change.'' - Kate van Heugten, Social Work ReviewCritical Social Work starts from the premise that a central goal of social work practice is social change to redress social inequality. Taking a critical theoretical approach, the authors explore the links between personal and social change. They confront the challenges for critical social work in the context of pressures to separate the personal from the political and in responding to the impact of changes in the socio-political, statutory and global contexts of practice.Critical Social Work has been thoroughly revised to take into account recent social, economic and political developments. Coverage of theoretical frameworks has been substantially expanded and reflects current concerns such as evidence based practice and human rights. The causes of people''s marginalisation and oppression are examined in relation to class, race, ethnicity, gender and other forms of social inequality.Case study chapters in the earlier edition on working with immigrants, Indigenous people, women, men, families, people with psychiatric disabilities and those experiencing loss and grief have been updated and revised. The second edition includes new case study chapters on disability, older people, children, rurality, and violence and abuse.Critical Social Work is an essential resource to inform progressive social work practice.

''Another important contribution to the growing literature on critical social work. It is on the cutting edge of thinking about social work and its goal of social change.'' - Kate van Heugten, Social Work ReviewCritical Social Work starts from the premise that a central goal of social work practice is social change to redress social inequality. Taking a critical theoretical approach, the authors explore the links between personal and social change. They confront the challenges for critical social work in the context of pressures to separate the personal from the political and in responding to the impact of changes in the socio-political, statutory and global contexts of practice.Critical Social Work has been thoroughly revised to take into account recent social, economic and political developments. Coverage of theoretical frameworks has been substantially expanded and reflects current concerns such as evidence based practice and human rights. The causes of people''s marginalisation and oppression are examined in relation to class, race, ethnicity, gender and other forms of social inequality.Case study chapters in the earlier edition on working with immigrants, Indigenous people, women, men, families, people with psychiatric disabilities and those experiencing loss and grief have been updated and revised. The second edition includes new case study chapters on disability, older people, children, rurality, and violence and abuse.Critical Social Work is an essential resource to inform progressive social work practice.

Under a pretext of humanitarian response to people seeking asylum, nation states are increasingly introducing barriers to prevent entry for those seeking safety and security. Documenting the systemic politicisation of the right to seek asylum in Australia, a process that has been hailed as a model for other parts of the world, Deter, Detain, Dehumanise examines how the right to seek asylum has become a political tool of deterrence, detention and dehumanisation.

Bringing together leading academics across criminology, geography, law, political science, social work and sociology, this edited collection provides an understanding and critical assessment of Australian government policy as a series of systems, structures and operations that seek to normalise the detention and deterrence of those seeking asylum, explicitly defying Australia’s international human rights obligations. Complemented by shorter, creative writings by refugees with lived experience of detainment at Australia’s behest, chapters pursue an overtly political and innovative conceptual approach to the politicisation of seeking asylum, offering new insights into its structural framings.

Taken together, this body of work examines how Australia has politicised the right to seek asylum, to the detriment of asylum seekers and refugees as well as Australian citizens, and tentatively offers hope on how we might seek to normalise, legitimise and re-humanise the processes.

Under a pretext of humanitarian response to people seeking asylum, nation states are increasingly introducing barriers to prevent entry for those seeking safety and security. Documenting the systemic politicisation of the right to seek asylum in Australia, a process that has been hailed as a model for other parts of the world, Deter, Detain, Dehumanise examines how the right to seek asylum has become a political tool of deterrence, detention and dehumanisation.

Bringing together leading academics across criminology, geography, law, political science, social work and sociology, this edited collection provides an understanding and critical assessment of Australian government policy as a series of systems, structures and operations that seek to normalise the detention and deterrence of those seeking asylum, explicitly defying Australia’s international human rights obligations. Complemented by shorter, creative writings by refugees with lived experience of detainment at Australia’s behest, chapters pursue an overtly political and innovative conceptual approach to the politicisation of seeking asylum, offering new insights into its structural framings.

Taken together, this body of work examines how Australia has politicised the right to seek asylum, to the detriment of asylum seekers and refugees as well as Australian citizens, and tentatively offers hope on how we might seek to normalise, legitimise and re-humanise the processes.

In 2005, in the wake of the Cornelia Rau scandal, a citizen’s inquiry was established to bear witness to events in Australia’s immigration-detention facilities. Until then, the federal government had refused to conduct a broad-ranging investigation into immigration detention, and the operations within detention centres had been largely shrouded in official secrecy.

The People’s Inquiry into Detention (as it came to be called) heard heartbreaking evidence about asylum-seekers’ journeys to Australia, their refugee determination process, and their life in and after detention. In total, around 200 people testified to the inquiry, and a similar number of written submissions were received.

Human Rights Overboard draws together, for the first time, the oral testimony and written submissions from the inquiry in a powerful and vital book that stands as an indictment of Australia’s refugee policy.

Clearly and comprehensively presented, the book is a haunting journey guided by voices from every side of the fence: former and current immigration detainees, refugee advocates, lawyers, doctors, psychiatrists, and former detention and immigration staff. Taken together, their stories record a humanitarian disaster that sounds a warning to current and future policy makers, both here and overseas. With a foreword by prominent humanitarian lawyer Julian Burnside, Human Rights Overboard is an essential book that will resonate for years to come.