Genealogy of Social Work: The Said and the Unsaid in Its Foundational Formation in Chile

Abstract

This article aims to revisit and problematize the contemporary history of Social Work in Chile and Latin America, considering the profession’s foundational formation, its origins, main milestones and historical moments, the State and its mechanisms, the concept of society, the contradictions, and the legacy of a discipline that calls us to self-examination. This task becomes imperative as the discipline approaches its centenary, inviting us to look back from a genealogical-contemporary perspective and to take an epistemological, theoretical, and political leap essential for the recovery and re-signification of the material and symbolic heritage it carries. To develop this study, a documentary review was conducted through an original reading that (re)interprets the emergence of the first Social Work mechanisms in the history of Chile and Latin America. This was approached through a genealogical method, which implies an eternal return and re-reading—learning to live with the specters of the past, through dialogue, companionship, and reflection. Such an approach allows envisioning the future of Social Work education. The article concludes that the relationship between Social Work, ideology, and historical events is key to revisiting the discipline in dialogue with other contemporary critical perspectives that engage the present and the future.