Comparative Welfare Conference – Keynote speakers

Professor Vishanthie Sewpaul

In this presentation I focus on the International Association of School of Social Work’s 2018 Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles (GSWSEP). Social work has been assaulted by the intersecting influences of a triad of giants: 1) neoliberal capitalism, 2) science of the logical positivist tradition, and 3) new public management. From the time of its inception, social work took on the dominant voice of science of the logical positivist tradition, which was exported from the west to the rest of the world through colonialization and missionisation. Empiricism, measurement, generalisation, linear causality, and the proof-is-truth axiom became dominant in social work. Positivism’s illusion of detachment in working relationships, neutrality, social worker as expert, universal laws, and t

In this presentation I focus on the International Association of School of Social Work’s 2018 Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles (GSWSEP). Social work has been assaulted by the intersecting influences of a triad of giants: 1) neoliberal capitalism, 2) science of the logical positivist tradition, and 3) new public management. From the time of its inception, social work took on the dominant voice of science of the logical positivist tradition, which was exported from the west to the rest of the world through colonialization and missionisation. Empiricism, measurement, generalisation, linear causality, and the proof-is-truth axiom became dominant in social work. Positivism’s illusion of detachment in working relationships, neutrality, social worker as expert, universal laws, and the separation of the professional from the personal became infused into professional ethics. The reification of positivist professionalism fits with new public management and neoliberal agendas, as cost-saving, profit, bureaucratic control, efficiency, and narrowly defined outcomes, take precedence over relationships, trust-building, kindness, care and compassion, thus challenging social work’s narrative of exceptionalism. While core social work principles, on the surface, may seem to be uncontentious, closer examination reveals that they are highly contingent upon culture, space, and time. The GSWSEP problematises these principles and in doing so challenges Western hegemonic views and embraces a decolonised approach to social work ethics. Underlying the triad of giants is the taken-for-granted assumptions and blind spots that we hold as social workers. This is addressed in the GSWSEP, underscoring the central role of emancipatory praxis in awakening individual and societal consciousness.

Read more on Vishanthie Sewpaul.

Morten Tønnessen

In the period 2021–2023 he was Head of department at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. He has also served as Vice-Dean of Research at University of Stavanger´s Faculty of social sciences (2019–2020).

Tønnessen is currently doing research on the Human Development Index and issues related to economic growth and wellbeing. In 2019 he was a guest editor, along with Sarah Hean, Siv Oltedal and Angela Pena of the special issue of Journal of Comparative Social Work „Welfare in Latin America and the Nordic countries“. He is co-author, with Alexei Sharov, of Semiotic Agency: Science beyond Mechanism (Springer, 2021). Recent articles and book chapters include “Human development, inequality and social risks in Latin America and the Nordic countries” (2019), “The true value of „doing well“ economically” (2020, in Piero Formica & John Edmondson (eds.), Innovation and the Arts: The Value of Humanities Studies for Business), “Current human ecology in the Amazon and beyond: A multi-scale ecosemiotic approach” (2020), “Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21st century” (2021) and “Recreation in the outdoors – exploring the friluftsliv experience of adolescents at residential care” (2022, with Joakim Jiri Haaland). Tønnessen is a member of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS).

See Tønnessen's academic blog.

Vegard Bye

Book based on the doctoral thesis: “Cuba, From Fidel to Raúl and Beyond” (PalgraveMacmillan, 2020). Master's degree in political science (University of Oslo 1977), with the thesis: "The nationalization of oil in Venezuela: a study on modifications in dependency relations." First book published on Cuba: “ Esto es Cuba - lo demos es cuento» ("This is Cuba – Everything Else is a Lie”) (Publicaciones La Otra Cuba, Mexico D.F., 1998, based on its original in Norwegian, 8 editions published so far). Vegard Bye began his relationship with Cuba working as a Junior Professional Officer with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Havana (1977-1979). In his professional career he has combined academic work: researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Relations (NUPI), Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO); with duties as a senior government official (Norad); United Nations official (United Nations Human Rights Representative in Angola and Bolivia); leader of Norwegian NGOs (Norwegian People's Aid - APN; the Forum for Development and the Environment - SUM); Alternate Representative to the Norwegian Parliament (1993-1997); journalist and correspondent (i.a. in Central America); author of 6 books published on Latin American topics); consultant (directed more than 75 evaluations of international development projects). Solidarity activist with Latin America: Co-founder (1976) of the Solidarity Committees with Latin America (LAG); President of the Norwegian Solidarity Council for Central America (1980 – 1984). He coordinated a collaborative project between the University of Oslo (Center for Development and the Environment – SUM) and the Center for Study on the Cuban Economy (CEEC) of the University of Havana (2012-2017), publishing a considerable number of academic articles on Cuba's economic policy. Currently Senior Partner of the consulting company Scanteam (Oslo) and researcher linked to Chr. Michelsen Institute (Bergen), coordinating an academic cooperation program between Norway and Angola (2021-2024). Professional experience from almost all Latin American countries.

Dayma Echevarría León

She has coordinated six research projects, four of them international. She has also worked in processes of articulation of actors for local development. She is part of the Steering Committee of the Network of Studies on Social Inequality and Mobility in Latin America (DEMOSAL), the Network of Studies of Work in Cuba, coordinated by CIPS, the Social Policy Network coordinated by Flacso Cuba and the Working Group of CLACSO Gender, (Des) Equalities and Rights in Tension. Author of more than 30 scientific articles on the main lines of research with which she works: gender, employment and power, processes of economic transformations and their impact on inequality.

Clotilde Proveyer Cervantes

She develops the lines of research on Gender Studies, on Gender Violence in Cuba and on Gender and Education, as a result of which she has published numerous articles in national and foreign publications, has published 9 books, of which 1 is of her total authorship, 3 in co-authorship, 2 books as compiler and 3 as coordinator. She is a member of the National Commission of Sociology Career, of the National Court of Doctorate of the specialty of Sociology, of the Academic Committee of the Master's Degree in Sociology of the University of Havana and of other Masters of the University. She has been a guest professor in Master's and doctoral courses at universities in Latin America, several countries in Europe and Canada and the United States.  She is coordinator of the Expert Advisory Team of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) on gender violence, is a member of the Study Group on Gender, Sexuality and Family of the Department of Sociology (UH) and member of the Women's Chair (UH).  She is a member of the Editorial Committee of specialized journals. She has won national and international awards for his research work. She collaborates as a consultant and/or advisor with several institutions, agencies, non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies in Cuba, in relation to gender studies and gender violence.

Marit Ursin

She does qualitative research with children, youth, and families, primarily in Norway and Latin America.

Her interests are children's rights and young citizenship, diverse forms of child and youth mobility and migration, and marginalization processes in childhood and youth. She has conducted a longitudinal study on the street in urban Brazil, following a group of boys on the verge of adulthood. Her post doc explored the consequences of drug trafficking in the everyday lives of children and youth in a socially deprived neighbourhood in Salvador, Brazil. In recent years, Ursin has devoted her research time to exploring children’s rights in the social welfare system as well as young people’s political rights in Norway. Ursin is head of the master’s program MPhil in Childhood Studies and teaches children's rights on BA to PhD level. She is editor-in-chief of the Nordic journal BARN.

Osnaide Izquierdo Quintana

He specializes in topics of Sociology of Work and Economic Sociology with a focus on research on the development model and the role of work and economic actors in its evolution. He is a member of several research and advisory groups to institutions in the country. He is a member of several Cuban and Latin American research networks on these issues. Among his national and international publications are the compilation and edition of the book "Decent Work and Society, Cuba from the perspective of socio-labor studies" (2017), co-authorship of the "book Sociology of Work" (2018). Book article. "Institutional change and work in Cuba. The value of work and workers in the institutional narrative of the transformation of the economic and social model". In: Let's talk about work in Cuba. (2019). Book article "The formalization of labor informality. The processes of precariousness of labor relations in Cuba based on the subsistence strategies of workers." Latin American Treaty on Labour Anthropology (2020) Coordination and presentation of the DOSSIER: Informal, precarious and unstable jobs, for Vol 5, No 10. Latin American Journal of Labor Anthropology RLAT. (2021). Book article "The evolution of work in Cuba. A look with sociological lenses." (2022). Perspectives on Work and Social Justice.

Niuva Ávila Vargas

She has conducted research related to Higher Education, Educational Policies, Family and educational processes. She is part of the "Health, Gender and Family" group of the Department of Sociology, member of the Chair of Health of the University of Havana, collaborates with the group of "Sociology of Education and Development" and member of the Editorial Board of the University of Havana Magazine. She is a member of the Research Network on Gender Differentials in Ibero-American Higher Education and coordinates the Research Group on the Care of the Elderly (GICAM) of the Department of Sociology-UH. She has published about twenty articles, in journals, conference proceedings and books as author or co-author, on various topics. They highlight "A sociodemographic study of access to Higher Education in Cuba. The role of the family in a context of broad access policies", CEDEM, Havana 2013. ISBN: 978-959-7005-69-8 and "Gender, Health and Sexuality" (compiler) CEDEM, Havana 2013. ISBN: 978-959-7005-71-1. He has taught in different undergraduate and postgraduate subjects. She has made tutorials, presentations and has been a member of tribunals. She is currently the main professor of the subjects Sociology of Social Prevention and Sociology of the Family.