The room that Ian and Roy built: Personal warmth and professional space

Abstract

A decade ago Ian Shaw and Roy Ruckdeschel set out to create a space for qualitative social work. They conceded that the phrase itself, qualitative social work, might give one pause but proceeded to map out their vision of a landscape of social work practice and social work research that could be qualitatively informed. While they noted that there, ‘has been a tendency to see these as two separate landscapes, we in fact see these as one landscape, if a rather cluttered one’ (Shaw and Ruckdeschel, 2002: 5). Their inaugural editorial essay was subtitled, ‘A room with a view’. It was a room, they hoped, with many windows from which to observe the vast, if untidy, environs of qualitative social work. With this issue of Qualitative Social Work (QSW) a new editorial board assumes the temporary deed to this property as well as the stewardship of its terrain, however, it is only appropriate to look back at the growth of QSW under Ian’s and Roy’s leadership. Perhaps even more importantly, however, we think it is important to pause and recognize the significance of their act in creating the room itself. At a time and place which was otherwise relatively inhospitable for social work scholars and practitioners who wished to engage with qualitative forms of inquiry, Ian and Roy introduced QSW as an alternative. In doing so, they provided a space, and legitimated a forum, for ideas that might otherwise lack currency in the dominant, mainstream, political landscape of published social work research and practice. They provided a safe haven for those whose ideas might be different or otherwise challenging to the status quo. They offered a serious space for a next generation of young scholars and practitioners to house their work alongside that of pre-eminent scholars in the field, and radical thinkers in the profession. They embraced new ideas and built a space in which creative alternatives could be explored and incubated. At a personal level, they seemed to delight in the ideas of others and to enjoy their roles in conveying them to broader audiences. Ian and Roy have shepherded this journal through a series of growing pains such as the shift in technology from email to Sage Track electronic submissions (Editorial 2005; Editorial, 2011b, c). They have witnessed the advent of