17 Oct, 2025
For Black History Month, Hannah Davies, one of our For Baby’s Sake Therapeutic Practitioners, shares with us a fantastic blog post on “Decolonising the Conversation – Whose Voice Gets Heard in Public Services?”
Racism and micro-aggressions are an ever-present undercurrent in society, and public services are no exception (Williams, 2020; Dominelli, 2018). Black families and professionals alike experience their voices being marginalised in these spaces and there is much to be collectively done to decolonise our conversations and embed authentically anti-racist practice.
We have a collective responsibility to understand the ways in which colonisation has informed our understanding of the world around us, how much of this we carry into our practice and how we can effectively notice, name and subvert this in all aspects of our lives (Fanon, 1963; Freire, 1970). Otherwise, we risk normalising that which is in opposition to our mission and values.
What is decolonisation?
“Decolonisation is made up of small but powerful revolutions — daily acts that challenge domination and move us toward collective liberation.” (hooks, 2010)
“The domination of a people’s language by the languages of the colonising nations was crucial to the domination of the mental universe of the colonised.” (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, 1986)
“Coloniality is the darker side of modernity: a matrix of power that continues to shape culture, labour, intersubjective relations, and knowledge production.” (Quijano, 2000)
“Decolonisation brings about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life; it is not a metaphor for other things we want to do to improve our societies.” (Tuck & Yang, 2012)
Decolonisation, as writers like bell hooks, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Aníbal Quijano, and Eve Tuck remind us, is not a single act but a continual process of unlearning the structural oppression that we’re participating in by default. It involves reclaiming language and knowledge systems, recognising how colonial hierarchies persist in our everyday practices, and refusing to let the term become a platitude removed from the idea that change can occur (Bhambra, Gebrial, & Nişancıoğlu, 2018).
In the context of public services, decolonisation asks us to examine whose language, story, and understanding of expertise and competence are being centred — and whose are still being changed, softened, or silenced (BME Voices, 2021).
What relationship does decolonisation have to other structural inequalities, including domestic abuse?
The intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) of oppression is a vital part of this conversation, because racism and post-colonial oppression doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s difficult to imagine authentically encouraging women and people experiencing abuse to find their voice, when we passively witness them being made voiceless (Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005). When we don’t name micro-aggressions, racism and the privileging of white voices and the silencing of black ones, we’re complicit with the risk that those messages become internalised, and create an environment where abuse has the conditions needed for it to thrive (Bryant-Davis, 2007).
Conversely, when we name the privileging of certain voices and silencing of others, there’s an opportunity to model not only an anti-racist approach, but using one’s voice to amplify the voice of others; hopefully a powerful experience for those who experience multifaceted, intersectional oppression.
What does this look like in practice and what are our next steps?
The first step to decolonising conversations and amplifying black voices is acknowledging the impact that colonisation has had on all of our understandings of the world, and how those of us who are white continue to materially and socially benefit from those inequalities. This awareness and understanding allows us to identify the moments where racism and micro-aggressions are happening in order to first notice where opportunities for challenge and change lie (Dominelli, 2018).
hooks (2010) encourages us to strive for “small but powerful revolutions” in decolonising our minds and in turn our practice. This feels especially relevant to work in public service settings; often the most powerful opportunities for challenging the marginalisation of black voices is in what may initially feel like a small moment, but as hooks (2010) highlights, holds some of the greatest potential for change. It’s vital that as practitioners, we’re curious about the experience of our black colleagues and clients, and that we’re constantly asking ourselves how to show up authentically anti-racist, including challenging in moments where it may not feel comfortable, and acknowledging with humility when we got things wrong – the first time we’re asked.
References
- Bhambra, G. K., Gebrial, D., & Nişancıoğlu, K. (Eds.). (2018). Decolonising the university. Pluto Press.
- BME Voices. (2021). Amplifying Black and minority ethnic voices in social work: Reflections on practice and power. BASW.
- Bryant-Davis, T. (2007). Healing requires recognition: The case for race-based traumatic stress. The Counseling Psychologist, 35(1), 135–143.
- Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167.
- Dominelli, L. (2018). Anti-racist social work (4th ed.). Red Globe Press.
- Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth. Grove Press.
- Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Herder and Herder.
- hooks, b. (2010). Teaching critical thinking: Practical wisdom. Routledge.
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. (1986). Decolonising the mind: The politics of language in African literature. Heinemann.
- Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America. Nepantla: Views from South, 1(3), 533–580.
- Sokoloff, N. J., & Dupont, I. (2005). Domestic violence at the intersections of race, class, and gender: Challenges and contributions to understanding violence against marginalized women in diverse communities. Violence Against Women, 11(1), 38–64.
- Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 1–40.
- Williams, C. (2020). Anti-racist social work: A liberation perspective. Policy Press.
