ABSTRACT
One of the key considerations in the development of perspectives on social work with minorities in Europe is the issue of terminology. Identifying a shared language for use in these debates, for literature and research, is notoriously difficult given that specific terms can carry a variety of meanings within and across different contexts. Further, terms in use are constantly changing as ideas change and words which have previously had much currency become the subject of debate and criticism. The language we use to mark out difference between indigenous and immigrant peoples is highly salient and words such as ‘foreigner’, ‘stranger’, ‘alien’, ‘immigrant’ or ‘settler’ carry specific connotations in different contexts. Language in use reflects particular theories, values, political ideologies and popular thinking of the day and should therefore properly be the subject of constant review and clarification. It is necessary to analyse the terms in which reality is constructed because the selection of particular concepts reflects what it is we are choosing to take into account and what we are choosing to conceal or omitting to consider.
