Genesis East: Transformations of Social Work in Germany

East German challenges

Social work in East Germany is undergoing a generational change. Employees who built up social work in the 1990s; committed people who got the associations and societies up and running; teachers who founded university education are retiring and new colleagues are also asking about the special challenges of social work in the eastern federal states, reflecting on their own socialization and dealing with the biographical backgrounds of addressees in East Germany.

It is time for a reflective-critical look back at the development - the political, social and institutional development of East German challenges and the specific approaches of the professionals involved, their addressees and the organizational embedding of social work. The confrontation with racism, the development of welfare associations and the training of professionals require consideration from an East German perspective in order to be able to derive approaches, methods and narratives of democracy education for social work and to recognize and address the associated challenges and opportunities.

We cordially invite professionals, researchers and students to discuss with us the specific developments and transformations of social work in the new federal states and to jointly identify opportunities and tasks for research and practice.

Program

In eight workshops, transformations in social work over the last 30 years will be examined and critically analyzed. Researchers and experts will present and discuss their contributions from the current book: "Genese Ost: Transformationen der Sozialen Arbeit in Deutschland" (Verlag Barbara Budrich). The topics are:

• The structures and addressees* in the socio-educational fields of action of elderly care, family support, hospice work, cultural education as well as youth and community work.

• The development of the understanding of the profession in the new federal states with an educational biographical, sexual pedagogical, feminist and racism-critical perspective on social work in East Germany.
• The organizational transformations of the supporting structures as a result of the transfer of institutions in the 1990s from Caritas, Volkssolidarität, the universities and trade union interest groups.

Aims

In addition to visualizing the specific development of social work in East Germany and the resulting opportunities and challenges, it is important to look to the future and derive tasks, approaches and mandates. The aim of the symposium is a mutual transfer of practical experience and research results in order to jointly and constructively shape social work in East Germany in the generational change.

We look forward to an exciting debate and new network contacts.

We will be happy to answer any questions you may have and look forward to welcoming you to the November conference in Görlitz.