Weaving Autoethnography

Movement Building in a Social Work Student-Led Symposium

Authors

  • Sharon Kang
  • Zhangyun Yan
  • Sugam Nepal
  • Anabelle Ragsag
  • Elizabeth Grigg

Abstract

This collaboratively written article explores the power of critical connections in feminist organizing and movement-building within a student-led caucus at a School of Social Work. Using a collaborative autoethnographic approach, we reflect on our experiences as racialized and allied women and students, highlighting collective care and relational organizing. We conclude that feminist, place-based, critical connection-building organizing offers a valuable form of collective engagement within Social Work.

Cet article, écrit en collaboration, explore le pouvoir des liens critiques dans l’organisation et la construction de mouvements féministes au sein d’un groupe d’étudiantes de l’École de travail social. Par l’entremise d’une approche autoethnographique collaborative, nous revenons sur nos expériences en tant que femmes racisées, alliées et étudiantes, en mettant l’accent sur l’entraide et l’organisation relationnelle. Nous concluons que l’organisation féministe, ancrée dans le territoire et fondée sur le développement de liens critiques, constitue une forme précieuse d’engagement collectif en travail social.

Author Biographies

Sharon Kang

Sharon Kang is a second generation South Asian Canadian PhD student at McMaster University and a Registered Social Worker with experience in community and long-term care settings. Her doctoral research examines advocacy and race within care work.

Zhangyun Yan

Zhangyun (Dannie) Yan is a Chinese Canadian social worker (MSW, RSW) with a focus on clinical social work practice and years of frontline experience in community settings. She engages with narrative inquiry and critical mental health frameworks to examine resistance, resilience, and systemic inequalities through anti-oppressive, culturally responsive care.

Sugam Nepal

Sugam Nepal is a South Asian and Nepali social worker and Manager of Field and Alumni Relations at McMaster University, School of Social Work. With extensive experience in child protection and community development, she brings a critical race, holistic, and narrative lens to practice, teaching, and leadership, centering equity, lived experience, and social justice from global perspective.

Anabelle Ragsag

Anabelle Ragsag is a Philippine-born and raised Social Work PhD Candidate at McMaster, studying Asian solo mothers on Ontario Works. She examines how they pursue community-led data practices, challenge platform power, and rethink data’s role in welfare.

Elizabeth Grigg

Elizabeth Grigg is a PhD Candidate at McMaster University, studying the echoes of the Enlightenment and the construction of Eurocentric knowledge through research ethics.

Canadian Woman Studies, les cahiers de la femme, volume 38, numbers 1 and 2. A York University Publication, Articles, Poetry, Art, Book reviews, for the feminist reader. Visionary Feminisms 1. Guest editors: Leigh Brownhill, Angela Miles, Kimberly Todd, Njoki WaneThe cover shows a painting of a woman dressed in read and wearing a headscarf, surrounded by bright yellow stars. She is facing left and has one arm outstretched as though she is flying.

Downloads

Published

2026-06-18

How to Cite

Kang, S., Yan, Z., Nepal, S., Ragsag, A., & Grigg, E. (2026). Weaving Autoethnography: Movement Building in a Social Work Student-Led Symposium. Canadian Woman Studies Les Cahiers De La Femme, 38(1,2), 74–80. Retrieved from https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/view/37953

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 1,2 (2026): Visionary Feminisms I

Section

Feminist Activism: Past, Present, Future