“Perhaps?” and “Depends!” The Possible Implications of Disaster Related Community Development for Social Work

Abstract

The integration of community development as a field of social work practice into disaster management and response is occurring globally. While community development is often undertaken in divergent environments, its role and practice in a post-disaster context is a relatively unexplored field that can create particular tensions and challenges. In this article we respond to the question of whether the experience of disasters and recovery link social work back to its community work and community development identities. Our response is based on a research project examining a state-wide, post-flood recovery program, following the natural disasters that devastated Queensland, Australia, in 2011. The conclusion we draw is that responses to disaster and recovery work certainly have the potential to link social work back to its CD identity. However, we contend that there are two fundamental issues that need to be engaged with. We argue that, firstly, attention must be given to how social work and CD broadly engage with each other. Secondly, there are questions over how social workers are engaging in disaster response contexts and why they are largely absent from present disaster response research. Our conclusion is that perhaps social work can be linked back to its CD identity—but it depends on the outcome of these two considerations and how we imagine the implications of these conversations for the social work and community development curriculum.