Research Training Group World Politics RTG 2225

In the dissertational project, I analyze consolidation processes of knowledge on the decolonial theory in Social Work education in Germany, Mexico, and Ecuador. This research aims to elaborate an empirical case of micro-foundation of word cultural models: providing detailed insights on how undergraduate study curricula in Germany, Mexico, and Ecuador take up intellectual models of the global Social Work discourse. The dissertational project responds to the observation that interest in the decolonial project has exponentially grown over the last two decades. But little consciousness exists on how its content spreads in Social Work and why this happens now. My research intersects knowledge sociology, the theoretical lens of neo-institutionalist world culture; decolonial theory as an object of concern; and Social Work education as a field of study. I reconstruct the semantic landscapes by analyzing word frequencies, keyness-factors, and co-occurrences about decolonial theory in the 2020?s discussion of the Global Agenda as well as curricula in five Social Work Schools in the three countries. Additional content-analytical evaluation of 35 expert interviews on the curricular design and 5 IFSW-panel discussions sheds light on the background processes in the elaboration of these documents. My unique explorative approach underlines the interplay of intellectual trends and organizational models in the translation from decolonial theory to Social Work curricula. It evidences how semantic patterns and meaning-making of the decolonial project correlate with organizational dynamics and shows how diverse decolonial ideas are included and regarded in Social Work curricula.

The results of this project will remind readers of the very initial concerns of knowledge sociology. It invites them to see that the decolonial project too is situated knowledge that speaks to a normative mainstream of respect for diversity in response to the racialized-ethnicized and politicized discourse of our time. The project argues by example that it is possible and necessary to examine critically how exclusive and unequal the decolonial project consolidates across universities, how vague its theoretical argumentation has become, and how strongly the promotion the decolonial project against organizational constraints depends on the persistent work of individual actors and their allies. Finally, the work shows that it is possible and necessary to question the trajectory of theories, without necessarily questioning their normativity.

• Holtgreve, S. (ed. with K. Preuß and M. Albert) (2021). Envisioning the World: Mapping and Making the Global. Bielefeld: transcript.
• Holtgreve, S. (with K. Preuß and M. Albert) (2021). 'Introduction: Envisioning the World, Mapping the Global', in: S. Holtgreve, K. Preuß and M. Albert (eds.), Envisioning the World. Mapping and Making the Global. Bielefeld: transcript, pp. 13-28.
• ​Holtgreve, S. (with C. Giebeler) (2021). 'Determining the Global from a Social Work Perspective', in: S. Holtgreve, K. Preuß and M. Albert (eds.), Envisioning the World. Mapping and Making the Global. Bielefeld: transcript, pp. 87-104.

• Holtgreve, S. (2021). ‘Semantic landscapes of “decolonization” in the Global Agenda 2020-2030’. Paper presented at the European Conference for Social Work Education, 16 June, Tallinn University.
• Holtgreve, S. (2019). Organisation of the conference 'Universities in Crisis or Crisis of the University? Modes of Organizing Knowledge Production in the 21st Century', 28-29 November, Bielefeld University (jointly funded by the RTG and the Center for InterAmerican Studies).
• Holtgreve, S. (with A. Elmuradov, M. Jacobsen, K. Preuss, Y. Sunca and G. Vásquez) (2019). Organisation of the RTG workshop 'Envisioning the Global: Perspectives, Positions, Communities', 21-22 November, Bielefeld University.
• Holtgreve, S. (2019). 'Observing the Global from below: Perspectives from Social Work'. Paper presented at the workshop 'Envisioning the Global: Perspectives, Positions, Communities', 21 November, Bielefeld University.
• Holtgreve, S. (2019). Participation in the RTG workshop 'Organising Competition & Contestation in World Politics', 24-25 October, Bielefeld University.
• Holtgreve, S. (with C. Giebeler) (2019). 'Dekolonialisierung als Herausforderung für die Sozialarbeitsausbildung im Globalen Norden'. Workshop given at the 'Bundeskongress für Soziale Arbeit', 05-07 September, Department of Social Work, University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld.
• Holtgreve, S. (2019). 'Colonizando al giro decolonial: Ética, patrones de violencia epistémica, y pensamiento decolonial en la academia alemana'. Presentation at the conference 'Latin American Studies Association Congress (LASA)', 23-27 May, Boston, USA.
• Holtgreve, S. (2019). 'Dekolonisierung als Thema der Sozialen Arbeit im Vergleich: Ecuador, Mexiko und Deutschland'. Presentation at the Yearly conference of the German Social Work Association, 26-27 April, Stuttgart, Germany.
• Holtgreve, S. (2018). Participation in the RTG workshop 'Balance & Competition in World Politics', 09-10 November, Bielfeld University.
• Holtgreve, S. (with A. Elmuradov, M. Jacobsen, K. Preuss, Y. Sunca and G. Vásquez) (2018). Organisation of the RTG workshop 'Imagining Belonging in World Politics: Concepts, Practices, and Struggles', 01-02 October, Bielefeld University.
• Holtgreve, S. (2018). 'Modes of theorizing and forms of belonging in world politics'. Paper presented at the workshop 'Imagining Belonging in World Politics: Concepts, Practices and Struggles', 01 October, Bielefeld University.
• Holtgreve, S. (2018). Chair at the panel 'Social Work in the Americas: Managing tensions between localization and globalization in the world society', at the International Congress of Interamericanist Students, 06-08 June, Bielefeld University.
• Holtgreve, S. (2017). 'Kolonialisierung, Kolonialität und Dekolonisierung: Zugänge aus Lateinamerika zum Sozialen'. Presentation in the lecture series 'Diskriminierungs- und Rassismuskritik in Sozialer Arbeit und Bildung', 16 May, Department of Social Work, University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld.