PARADIGMA DE INVESTIGACIÓN Y PUEBLOS INDÍGENAS DEL PRIMER MUNDO: CRÍTICA CULTURAL DEL TRABAJO SOCIAL RESEARCH PARADIGM AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE FIRST WORLD: A CULTURAL CRITIQUE OF SOCIAL WORK

This paper addresses the practice of social work in indigenous communities as well as creating and transmitting social work knowledge in research centres and higher education institutions. It focuses on how social intervention has been analysed by indigenous lecturers and researchers who are attached to social science and humanities departments at universities in economically affluent English-speaking countries with indigenous population, such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. To that end the paper, first, examines theoretical and epistemological issues related to the field of cultural studies. Second, it pays attention to the notions of subordination and postcoloniality. Third, it is argued that three principles are unavoidable today when reflecting on indigenous social work: one is the concept of cultural competence; another, the notion of indigenization of social work; and next, what is meant by decolonizing research methodologies and techniques as indigenous peoples explain them.  Thus, this article approaches the notion of indigenous research paradigm, which is explored by looking at how native scholars from First World countries make sense of the historical and cultural context of domination under which their communities still remain. Finally, the article develops a cultural critique of university knowledge and professional practices linked to social work.