Postmodernism, Spirituality, and the Creative Writing Process: Implications for Social Work Practice

Abstract

Social work, as a profession, is struggling to determine the value of postmodernism and spirituality, and how these approaches to life provide alternative ways of interpreting the universe and the nature of social work practice. Although social work is founded on both a liberal arts and a social science education, some authors are challenging social work's historical emphasis on the social sciences; they advocate that social work instead reconsider the role of the humanities as a force affecting practice. While social work continues to root its practice in modernity, determinism, and the social sciences, the possibility should be considered that postmodernism, spirituality, and the creative writing process have the potential to expand social work to a more creative and meaningful kind of practice. By exploring the relationships between power and knowledge, pathology and creativity, core identity and multiple selves, it becomes clear that our subjectivity, our human potential, and our voices can facilitate very deep intuitive, creative, and transpersonal levels of communication between the social worker and the client.