原住民女性社會工作者的充權經驗：以「原住民族家庭服務中心」為例

Becoming Empowered: Indigenous Female Social Workers in Indigenous Family Service Centers

目前原家中心女性社工的充權多聚焦於專業能力之提升，這種立基於自由主義思潮之充權方式忽略了原住民族社會工作的政治面向和文化特殊性，極需以原住民女性社工為主體再思充權議程。本文以敘說訪談向12位東部原家女性社工蒐集資料，企圖理解在種種結構限制下，這些社工如何充權以回應社工專業的多重要求。研究發現強化專業知能、善用苦難和女性的生命經驗、堅固宗教靈性信仰、追求族群認同和覺醒成為充權關鍵。當中她們藉由提升專業知能和在關係中取得權力進行自我充權，同時充權也是她們在部落時空下，從整體性、靈性和生活脈絡出發，透過部落女性和原住民社工的勞動疊影，將社會工作轉化成為對個人、家庭／族、族群和宗教的另一個實現責任的實踐場域。最後本文提出五點建議回應原家女性社工的充權。

This paper argues that current empowerment programs for Indigenous social workers enormously focus on professional competence, but largely overlook political and socio-cultural aspects of Indigenous communities under the impact of neoliberalism. This requires to redeem empowerment agenda in Indigenous social contexts. In order to understand how Indigenous female social workers are empowered, the research collected data from twelve social workers of Indigenous Family Service Centers by using narrative interviews. The findings suggest that enhancing professional competence, integrating life experiences, strengthening spirituality and re-affirming ethnic identity are crucial to empowerment. Developing personal capabilities and gaining power by recognizing Indigenous epistemology, including a holistic approach, spirituality and the life space, empower Indigenous social workers and help to transform the field of social work into a field of responsibility for family, ethnic groups and religious beliefs. This paper ends by making five suggestions for Indigenous female social workers’ empowerment.