Search

This article outlines some findings from an inquiry undertaken in the aftermath of 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which positive critique was used to examine the practice accounts of twelve school social workers alongside characteristics of recovery policies. Consistent with Foucault’s (1988, 2003a,b, 2013a) mode of critique and his theorisation of biopolitics and pastoral power, positive critique recognises the multiplicity and productivity of contemporary power relations operating at the populational, collective and individual levels of life. A feature of the participants’ accounts of their practices with affected schoolchildren in the recovery space is their commitment to restoring and protecting their clients’ well-being through therapeutically inclined relational practice. The Christchurch earthquake recovery strategy also sets out the provision of specialised, individual assistance for vulnerable populations excluded from ‘normal’ psychosocial recovery processes because of their inability to participate in community self-help initiatives. The findings presented in this article provide a critical space for social workers to reflect on the dimensions of their relational work that function as therapeutic governance practices that can both strengthen and resist the normative notions of vulnerability and recovering well.

Much of the post-disaster research has focused on the vulnerability of affected populations and deleterious effects of such events on mental health, living conditions and employment. Little scholarly consideration has been given to investigating the resourceful activities of everyday living that occupants of disaster-ridden locations use to strengthen coping and aid recovery. This article reports on research conducted after the Christchurch 2010–2011 earthquakes aimed at capturing how people have used crafting as a means of connecting with others and aiding recovery. Using participant voices from five focus group and nine individual interviews, findings from this research show how Cantabrians used the activity of crafting to bring people together, generating a form of healing and recovery. Incorporating symbolism, expressions of compassion and restoring broken materials within their crafting helped participants generate strong and positive responses to a traumatic series of events. The benefits of these c...