ESR9/ESR16: Amy Shackelford

Originally from the United States, I have been working in the social work field for seventeen years with a main focus on community organizing and program development.  I completed my Bachelor of Social Work program in 2010 and went on to work as the Executive Director of Central Indiana Jobs with Justice, a coalition working to build class solidarity. After completing my dual Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health degrees, I relocated to Cape Town, South Africa to work at the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town.  While in South Africa, I assisted in developing community led programming for women with refugee and migration backgrounds. Before joining the ASTRA Institute, I worked as the Program Director at the Immigrant Welcome Center in Indianapolis, USA and as an adjunct professor at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) where I taught Executive Leadership and Social Policy to Master of Social Work students. 

My academic focus is eco-feminism, gender, migration, and community organizing. I frame my social work studies on the premise of liberation and healing, with the goal of social work being a vehicle to dismantle systems of oppression. My PhD project uses a multi-national, multiple case study method for investigating innovative eco-social approaches to local development in Finland and Slovenia.

September 2021 - March 2023 ISCTE
March 2023 - June 2024 JYU

Contact: amy.t.shackelford @jyu.fi
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