School of Social Work: Tester, Frank

Frank Tester

Associate Professor

D.Phil., University of Waikato (New Zealand)

Phone 822-2100 Rm.241

Frank Tester has been a Professor at UBC since joining the School of Social Work in 1990. He previously taught in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto. Frank is interested in social and environmental issues in relation to colonial histories. He has lived and worked extensively in the eastern Arctic. His current research interests are centered in Nunavut. These include Inuit social history, the problem of young Inuit suicide and the social and personal implications of a severe housing shortage and overcrowding. He is currently researching the history of Inuit housing policy, the history of Inuit residential schools, is involved in a number of film projects, and is developing a project to introduce the concept of restorative justice in Mozambique.

Frank also works in east Africa and has been involved in projects focusing on indigenous land rights in Tanzania and the disarmament of the civilian population of Mozambique following years of internal conflict. He is interested in the work of non-governmental organizations and the evaluation of their efforts. A commitment to social justice and the use of critical social theory inform his work. Frank teaches social theory, community practice and international social development studies in the School. He currently chairs the Youth Justice/Family Court Committee of the City of Vancouver, enjoys sailing, carpentry and cabinet making, popular writing – poetry and prose - and has a small farm on Denman Island, British Columbia.

Download:

IGLUTAQ (in my room)

the implications of homelessness for Inuit

Publications:

Books

Social Impact Assessment: Theory, Method and Practice. Calgary, Detselig, 1980. (editor, with Bill Mykes).

Lessons: Maori land tenure and resource development – implications for Canadian northern development and northern indigenous people. Ottawa, Circumpolar Affairs, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, 1984.

Critical Choices, Turbulent Times Volume I: A companion reader on Canadian social policy reform. Vancouver, UBC, 1996. (editor with Chris McNiven and Robert Case).

Critical Choices, Turbulent Times Volume II: Retreat and Resistance in the Reform of Canadian Social Policy. Vancouver, UBC, 1999. (editor with Robert Case).

Critical Choices, Turbulent Times: A community workbook on social programs. (2nd edition), Vancouver, UBC, 1999. (with Nancy Pollak and Richard Vedan).

Tammarniit (Mistakes): Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic 1939-63. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994. (with Peter Kulchyski).

Kiumajuk: game mangement, community development and Inuit rights in the eastern Arctic. Vancouver, UBC Press. [in press, to be released, spring, 2007 (with Peter Kulchyski)].

Recent Refereed Papers

‘Why Don’t they Get It?’ Talk of Medicine as Science. St. Luke’s Hospital, Panniqtuuq, Baffin Island. Social History of Medicine. Vol. 19, No. 1: 87-106. 2006. (with Paule McNicoll).

Art and Disarmament: Exchanging Arms for Tools in Mozambique. Development in Practice. Vol.16. No. 2: 169-178, 2006.

Iglu to Igluarjuaq. In: Pamela Stern and Lisa Stevenson (editors), Critical Inuit Studies: An Anthology of Contemporary Arctic Ethnography. Lincoln and London. University of Nebraska Press. 2006. pp. 230–252. (book chapter).

Isumagijaksaq (Mindful of the State): Social constructions of Inuit suicide. Social Science and Medicine. Vol. 58: 2625 – 2636. 2004. (with Paule McNicoll).

The Evolution of Health and Social Services for Nunavut: class, ethnicity and public versus private provision. Canadian Review of Social Policy. Vols. 49-50: 199-225. 2002.

Writing for Our Lives: the language of homesickness, self-esteem and the Inuit TB epidemic. Etudes/Inuit/Studies. Vol. 25. Nos. 1-2: 121-140. 2001. (with Paule McNicoll).

With an ear to the ground: The CCF/NDP and Aboriginal Policy in Canada. 1926-93. Journal of Canadian Studies Vol. 334. No. 1: 52-74. 1999. (with Paule McNicoll and Jessie Forsyth).

Arctic Abstersion: The Book of Wisdom for Eskimos, modernism and Inuit assimilation. Etudes/Inuit/Studies Vol. 23. Nos. 1-2: 199-220. 1999. (with Paule McNicoll and Peter Kulchyski).

Recent Professional Research Reports and Studies

IGLUTAQ: The Implications of Homelessness for Inuit – A case study of housing and homelessness in Kinngait, Nunavut Territory. Vancouver, UBC, April. 2006.

Peace, Reconciliation, and Trading Arms for Development Tools in Mozambique: An assessment. Report prepared for CUSO, The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the Canadian High Commission, Mozambique. 2004. (with Sandra Teeves).

The Yaeda Chini Project (Tanzania): An Assessment. Ottawa. Report prepared for CUSO (Canada) and NOVIB (The Netherlands). 2002.

CUSO/NOVIB: The Small Projects Fund. Ottawa. CUSO. Report prepared for CUSO (Canada) and NOVIB (The Netherlands). 2002.

Other Publications

Anti-Oppressive Theory and Practice As the Organizing Them for Social Work Education: the Case Against. Canadian Social Work Review. Vol. 20: 127-132. and Rebuttal: 137-138. 2003.

Social Work in an Augean Age. (editorial). Canadian Social Work Review. Vol. 19. No. 2. 2003.

Can I wipe your windows?: Coming of Age in a Global Economy. Canadian Review of Social Policy. Vols. 45/46. 2000. (with Robert Case).

Work and the Changing Labour Market: Issues for Social Work. (editorial). Canadian Social Work Review. Vol. 17. No. 1: 5-7. 2000.

Graduate Supervision

Frank also supervises graduate students in the Institute for Resources and Environmental Sustainability at UBC. He currently has doctoral students working on human rights, globalization and corporate ethical responsibility and the corporate backlash against the environmental movement’s stand on global warming. He also has Master’s students working on matters of Aboriginal mental health, and the detainment of refugees in Canada, and community development and crofting on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. He has also supervised students examining approaches to dealing with child soldiers in Africa, lending circles and women’s economic development in Ghana, homelessness and street youth in Canada, Inuit mental health services and the adequacy of the social work curriculum in Canadian schools of social work. Frank welcomes students interested in working on issues of social justice in Canada – especially the Canadian north - and internationally.

Updated November, 2007

The University of British Columbia

Frank Tester