TOWARDS A CRITICAL AND POSTMODERN APPLICATION OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE: AN INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS (IPA) OF CHINESE SOCIAL WORKERS’ EXPERIENCES WORKING WITH MALAY YOUTHS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

In Singapore, Malay youths tend to be viewed from a cultural deficit perspective where they are racially stereotyped as lazy, poor, deviant, and unintelligent. While much has been written about the history of these racial stereotypes and racial relations in Singapore, little is known about how Chinese youth social workers (YSWs) make sense of culturally competent social work practice with Malay youths although they are at the forefront of administering state-funded youth programmes. Using an interpretative phenomenological analysis, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six Chinese YSWs. Findings were subsequently triangulated with three social work sector leaders (SLs), two of whom were Malay, and one was Chinese. It was found that although some Chinese YSWs took on a systemic lens and offered alternative perspectives that countered the dominant racial stereotypes about Malay youths, the Chinese YSWs rarely reflected on their identity as the racial majority. Moreover, the findings also suggest that the social work profession is a culturally bound one. Therefore, the professional stance cannot be taken uncritically as a neutral and unbiased bulwark against cultural incompetency. While the YSWs’ attempts to be culturally competent are imperfect, their attempts serve as a starting point to work towards an operationalised and contextualised application of cultural competence in Singapore. Their approaches are summarised by the mnemonic, LEARN: (a) using language crossing, (b) creating empowering experiences, (c) leveraging agency resources, (d) engaging in reflective practice, and (e) taking an informed not-knowing stance. The results from this study have important implications for the social work profession, practice, and education.