Helping Professional Practice with Indigenous Peoples

Alean Al-Krenawi, Ph.D., is Chair of Spitzer Department of Social Work, Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Professor Al-Krenawi's research interests include multicultural mental-health and social work with indigenous populations. He conducts studies in Israel, Canada, Palestine and other Arab countries.John R. Graham is Murray Fraser Professor of Community Economic Development at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Canada. Together, Al-Krenawi and Graham have published over 40 journal articles and have worked together for 15 years.

• Chapter 1: Localization of helping professionals practice, education, and researchChapter 2: The Bedouin-ArabChapter 3: Individual, group, and family interventions in Bedouin-Arab society: Case vignettesChapter 4: Polygamous family intervention: Case vignettesChapter 5: Helping professions in the context of blood vengeanceChapter 6: Traditional mediation and conflict resolution: Collaboration with social workers at the level of the communityChapter 7: Case studies in cultural and religious healing practicesChapter 8: Conclusion

Drs. Alean Al-Krenawi and John Graham have given us a book of considerable import to the helping professions. It is a book with a two-fold thrust. On the one hand, it presents a rich, fascinating, and incisive analysis of the struggle between the extant Bedouin culture and traditions and practices of western helping methods. And secondly, of perhaps greater import, is the important contribution the work makes in demonstrating to us the complexities of cultural differences and the necessity of our seeking always to understand the cultural roots of our clients, and how what we do fits or does not fit in seeking a positive outcome for our interventions…