Montage and the illumination of developmental thinking in welfare work

Abstract

This article illuminates and interrupts the existence of progress as an imperative haunting welfare work. The article argues that there are forces and structures of welfare work that the dominating ways of approaching history leave unexamined and that this insight calls for a more complex relationship with history. Based on Walter Benjamin’s philosophy of history, the article explores how the montage as an analytical performance can illuminate the hauntings of modern welfare work, which makes us see the depth and persistence of progress. The article concludes by making it possible for welfare workers to think differently; to listen to and let the ghosts of development and progress pass, and to get along with the unreason and irrationality of the other. The actual montage of the article is composed with reference to a study of welfare work with foster children in Denmark.