Yuk-Lin Renita Wong ::: York University ::: Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies ::: People ::: Faculty Profile

Professor Yuk-Lin Renita Wong’s scholarship and teaching is aimed at deconstructing the colonial, racial, and gender power relations in the knowledge production and discursive practices of social work. She is interested in bringing contemplative pedagogy into social work education and exploring mindfulness as a pedagogy of decolonization and as critical reflective practice that nurtures awareness and wholeness in social justice work. Her publications are aimed at re-centering marginalized voices and ways of knowing and being.

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Research Interests

Critical social work; spirituality and social justice; mindfulness, contemplative pedagogy, decolonization of knowledge and knowing; East and Southeast Asian immigrant/refugee women's mental health; social work in China; gender, colony, and nation

Selected Publications

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. (Forthcoming) . "Returning to silence, connecting to wholeness: Contemplative pedagogy for critical social work education." Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work.

Long, Di and Yuk-Lin Renita Wong. 2012. “Time bound: The timescape of secondary trauma among the surviving teachers of the Wenchuan Earthquake.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 82(2):241-250.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita and Jana Vinsky. 2009. “Speaking from the margins: A critical reflection on the ‘spiritual-but-not-religious’ discourse in social work.” British Journal of Social Work. 39(7), 1343-1359.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita, Yuk Ki Timothy Leung, and Choi Wan Dorcas Lau. 2009. “Behind the allure of gambling: A qualitative exploration of the existential yearnings among Chinese men with problem gambling.” International Gambling Studies. 9(3), 189-205.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2004. “Knowing through discomfort: A mindfulness-based critical social work pedagogy.” Critical Social Work 5(1).

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2003. “Deconstructing culture in cultural competence: Dissenting voices from Asian-Canadian practitioners.” Canadian Social Work Review 20(2): 149-167.

Current Research Projects

The Development of Social Work Programs and Curriculum in China more...
Project Type: Funded
Funders:
Atkinson Specific Research Grant, York University
Voices under Patriarchy and Capitalism: Life Histories of Women Garment Workers in Hong Kong, 1950-2000 more...
Project Type: Funded
Funders:
Social Science and Education Direct Grant of the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Changing Work, Changing Lives: Mapping the Canadian Garment Industry more...
Project Type: Funded
Funders:
SSHRC
Promoting Mental Health Among East and Southeast Asian Immigrant/Refugee Women in Ontario more...
Women's Studies Curriculum Development in China more...
Project Type: Funded
Funders:
Ford Foundation
Developing a multi-language and multi-ethnic mental health consumer/survivor self-help model for racialized minority communities more...
Project Type: Funded
Funders:
Knowledge Mobilization Project Faculty Course Release
Developing Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Self-Help Initiative of East and Southeast Asian Communities in Toronto more...
Description:
This project aims at understanding East and Southeast Asian mental health consumer/survivors’ vision and conception of recovery to inform the development of a self-help initiative. The project also involves a program evaluation component.
Project Type: Funded
Role: Principal Researcher
Post-earthquake Healing and Cultural Rebuilding in Beichuan, Sichuan Province, China  more...
Project Type: Funded
Role: Consultant
Start Date:  Month: Mar  Year: 2009
End Date:  Month: Jul  Year: 2010
Collaborator: Long Di
Collaborator Institution: The Psychology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Science
Reconnecting to the inner teacher: An evaluation of the contemplative pedagogy of the Spirituality and Critical Social Work course  more...
Summary:
This research aims at evaluating how the contemplative pedagogy of the Spirituality and Critical Social Work course in Spring 2010 (May-June) facilitated, or not, students to reconnect to their inner teacher and to touch wholeness, theirs and their clients', in their critical social work practice. It also explores the impact of the contemplative pedagogy on students' understanding and practice of social justice built on the foundation of contemplative silence. Contemplative learning was integrated throughout this course. Mindfulness practice/exercises and a self-directed in-class one-day silent retreat on campus, with the support of the course instructor, were introduced in the course. It was designed to challenge the dominant social work practice in the profession which has increasingly focused on technical and rational knowledge, competence and outcomes.
Project Type: Self-Funded
Role: Principal Investigator
Start Date:  Month: Mar  Year: 2011
End Date:  Month: Dec  Year: 2011
Social Work with Chinese Communities: Integration of Research and Professional Practice in a Global Context  more...
Summary:
The objectives of this project - a knoweldge mobilzation symposium - include: 1) To form an international research knowledge dissemination platform for Canadian social work researchers to synthesize and show case, to the national and international audience, research knowledge useful to the research and professional community working with Chinese in Canada, North America, and China. 2) To facilitate intellectual and experiential exchanges, validation, and mutual uptake of research findings, scholarly knowledge, and professional relevance between the professional community and researchers. 3) To generate emerging social work research directions and strategies relevant to professional practice and to inform best research-practice integration in working the diverse and evolving Chinese communities in Canada and in a global context.
Project Type: Funded
Role: Co-applicant
Start Date:  Month: Mar  Year: 2012
End Date:  Month: Mar  Year: 2013

View Resarcher's Selected Publications

All Publications

Book Chapters

Yuk-Lin Renita Wong. (Forthcoming) . “Radical acceptance: Mindfulness and critical social work education." In Mindfulness and acceptance in social work. Ed. by Matthew Boone. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2008. “Ziqiang buxide Zhang Qin: Sushizaide zhiyi shengaiyu Xianggang neikuchangde xingshuai (The self-strengthening of Zhang Qin: The rise and fall of underwear factories in Hong Kong),” in Qianjin wanxiang: Xianggang chengyi gongren koushu lishi (Thousands of needles and threads: The oral history of Hong Kong garment workers). Ed. by Po-king Choi. Hong Kong: Jinyibu Press.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2008. “Tongyi tiankongxiade zhiyiye chujing: Jenny yu minling chong Xianggang dao Duolunduode cheyi shengai (Situations of the garment industry under the same sky: Jenny’s and Minling’s garment factory lives from Hong Kong to Toronto),” in Qianjin wanxiang: Xianggang chengyi gongren koushu lishi (Thousands of needles and threads: The oral history of Hong Kong garment workers). Ed. by Po-king Choi. Hong Kong: Jinyibu Press.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2008. “Maoyichang zhaodengde rizi: Wosi kaowo yishangshou yangda wode zinude Ye Dajie (My days in the wool garment factories – Big Sister Ye: ‘I raise up my children with my own hands’),” in Qianjin wanxiang: Xianggang chengyi gongren koushu lishi (Thousands of needles and threads: The oral history of Hong Kong garment workers). Ed. by Po-king Choi. Hong Kong: Jinyibu Press.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2006. “Minzhengyu chengshi guanli: Pinglun (Civil affairs and city governance: Commentary).” In Shequ shehui gongzuo: Zhongwai shiyezhongde jiaoliu (Community social work: An insider-outsider exchange of perspectives). Ed. by Miu Chung Yan and GAO Jian Guo. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe (China Social Science Academy Press).

Journal Articles

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. (Forthcoming) . "Returning to silence, connecting to wholeness: Contemplative pedagogy for critical social work education." Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work.

Long, Di and Yuk-Lin Renita Wong. 2012. “Time bound: The timescape of secondary trauma among the surviving teachers of the Wenchuan Earthquake.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 82(2):241-250.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita, Josephine P. Wong and Kenneth P. Fung. 2010. Mental health promotion through empowerment and community capacity building among East and Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee Women. Canadian Issues: Immigrant Mental Health. Summer Issue: 108-113.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita and Jana Vinsky. 2009. “Speaking from the margins: A critical reflection on the ‘spiritual-but-not-religious’ discourse in social work.” British Journal of Social Work. 39(7), 1343-1359.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita, Yuk Ki Timothy Leung, and Choi Wan Dorcas Lau. 2009. “Behind the allure of gambling: A qualitative exploration of the existential yearnings among Chinese men with problem gambling.” International Gambling Studies. 9(3), 189-205.

Fung, Kenneth and Yuk-Lin Renita Wong. 2007. “Factors influencing attitudes towards seeking professional help among East and Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee women.” International Journal of Social Psychiatry. 53(3): 216-231.

Yan, Miu Chung and Yuk-Lin Renita Wong. 2005. “Rethinking self-awareness in cultural competence: Towards a dialogic self in cross-cultural social work.” Families in Society. 86(2): 181-188.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2004. “Knowing through discomfort: A mindfulness-based critical social work pedagogy.” Critical Social Work 5(1).

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2004. “When East meets West: Nation, colony, and Hong Kong women's subjectivities in gender and China-development.” Modern China 30 (2): 259-292.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita and A. Ka Tat Tsang. 2004. “When Asian immigrant women speak: From mental health to strategies of being.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 74(4): 456-466.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2003. “Deconstructing culture in cultural competence: Dissenting voices from Asian-Canadian practitioners.” Canadian Social Work Review 20(2): 149-167.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2002. “Reclaiming Chinese women’s subjectivities: Indigenizing ‘social work with women’ in China through postcolonial ethnography.” Women’s Studies International Forum 25 (1): 66-77.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2002. “Going ‘back’ and staying ‘out’: Articulating the postcolonial Hong Kong subjects in the development of China.” Journal of Contemporary China 11: 141-160.

Hsiung, Ping-chun and Yuk-Lin Renita Wong. 1998. “Jie Gui – Connecting the tracks: Chinese women’s activism surrounding the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing.” Gender & History 10 (3): 470-497.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 1997. “Dispersing the ‘public’ and the ‘private’: Gender and the state in the birth planning policy of China.” Gender & Society 11(4): 509-525.

Wellman, Barry, Yuk-Lin Renita Wong, David Tindall and Nancy Nazer. 1997. “A decade of network change: Turnover, persistence and stability in personal communities.” Social Networks 19 (1): 27-50.

Conference Papers

“Integrating research into practice: A capacity building approach to promote mental health and reduce stigma among immigrant and refugee communities.” Workshop Co-presentation as 2nd author with Josephine Wong and Linda Yoo in the conference titled, “Expanding our Horizons: Moving Mental Health and Wellness Promotion into the Mainstream,” organized by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. February 25, 2009.

“Social work: Walking with the students of Beichuan Middle School after the 512 Wenchuan Earthquake,” Co-presentation as third author with LONG, Di and Yuk Ki Timothy Leung in the Fourth Conference on the Humanities and Social Sciences in the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, organized by Nanjing University. November 21-22, 2009.

Invited presentation: “A thousand needles, ten thousands threads: The oral history of garment workers in Hong Kong,” in “Biography and the history of Hong Kong,” organized by the York Center for Asian Research. Toronto. November 26, 2009.

Invited presentation: “Behind the allure of gambling: Mindfulness and existential yearnings of Chinese men with gambling problem in Hong Kong,” in Discovery 2008, organized by Responsible Gambling Council. Ottawa. April 14-16, 2008

Keynote Presentation: “From addiction to existential yearnings: Disconnection, hypnosis and spirituality among men in Hong Kong with a gambling problem.” In the Conference on Gambling: Culture, Community and Interventions, organized by COSTI Immigrant Services. Toronto. March 27, 2007.

Keynote Presentation: “Spirituality and critical social work.” In the Reflexive in Social Work Praxis Symposium, organized by the Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. May 27, 2006.

Book Reviews

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2005. “Book Review: The question of women in Chinese feminism.” China Review International 12(1): 57-62.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2008. “Book Review: Gender and community under British colonialism.” Contemporary Sociology 37(1): 61-62.

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2005. “Book Review: The question of women in Chinese feminism.” China Review International 12(1): 57-62.

Research Reports

Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. 2009. Hong Fook Mental Health Association Consumers/Survivors Self-Help Program Quality of Life General Survey Report (2006-2007). December 27.

Current Courses

Term	Course Number	Section	Title	Type
Summer 2013	GS/SOWK5905 3.0	A	Spirituality and Critical Social Work	SEMR	Course Website

Upcoming Courses

Term	Course Number	Section	Title	Type
Fall 2013	AP/SOWK3041 3.0	C	Communication	LECT
Fall 2013	AP/SOWK4000 6.0	A	Practicum in Social Work I	PRAC

Professor Yuk-Lin Renita Wong’s scholarship and teaching is aimed at deconstructing the colonial, racial, and gender power relations in the knowledge production and discursive practices of social work. She is interested in bringing contemplative pedagogy into social work education and exploring mindfulness as a pedagogy of decolonization and as critical reflective practice that nurtures awareness and wholeness in social justice work. Her publications are aimed at re-centering marginalized voices and ways of knowing and being.

Degrees

PhD, OISE/University of Toronto
Master of Social Work, University of Hong Kong
Master of Philosophy (Sociology), The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Bachelor of Social Science (Sociology), The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Research Interests:

Critical social work; spirituality and social justice; mindfulness, contemplative pedagogy, decolonization of knowledge and knowing; East and Southeast Asian immigrant/refugee women's mental health; social work in China; gender, colony, and nation

Current Research Projects

The Development of Social Work Programs and Curriculum in China
Project Type: Funded
Funders:
Atkinson Specific Research Grant, York University
Voices under Patriarchy and Capitalism: Life Histories of Women Garment Workers in Hong Kong, 1950-2000
Project Type: Funded
Funders:
Social Science and Education Direct Grant of the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Changing Work, Changing Lives: Mapping the Canadian Garment Industry
Project Type: Funded
Funders:
SSHRC
Promoting Mental Health Among East and Southeast Asian Immigrant/Refugee Women in Ontario
Women's Studies Curriculum Development in China
Project Type: Funded
Funders:
Ford Foundation
Developing a multi-language and multi-ethnic mental health consumer/survivor self-help model for racialized minority communities
Project Type: Funded
Funders:
Knowledge Mobilization Project Faculty Course Release
Developing Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Self-Help Initiative of East and Southeast Asian Communities in Toronto
Description:
This project aims at understanding East and Southeast Asian mental health consumer/survivors’ vision and conception of recovery to inform the development of a self-help initiative. The project also involves a program evaluation component.
Project Type: Funded
Role: Principal Researcher
Post-earthquake Healing and Cultural Rebuilding in Beichuan, Sichuan Province, China
Project Type: Funded
Role: Consultant
Start Date: Month: Mar Year: 2009
End Date: Month: Jul Year: 2010
Collaborator: Long Di
Collaborator Institution: The Psychology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Science
Reconnecting to the inner teacher: An evaluation of the contemplative pedagogy of the Spirituality and Critical Social Work course
Summary:
This research aims at evaluating how the contemplative pedagogy of the Spirituality and Critical Social Work course in Spring 2010 (May-June) facilitated, or not, students to reconnect to their inner teacher and to touch wholeness, theirs and their clients', in their critical social work practice. It also explores the impact of the contemplative pedagogy on students' understanding and practice of social justice built on the foundation of contemplative silence. Contemplative learning was integrated throughout this course. Mindfulness practice/exercises and a self-directed in-class one-day silent retreat on campus, with the support of the course instructor, were introduced in the course. It was designed to challenge the dominant social work practice in the profession which has increasingly focused on technical and rational knowledge, competence and outcomes.
Project Type: Self-Funded
Role: Principal Investigator
Start Date: Month: Mar Year: 2011
End Date: Month: Dec Year: 2011
Social Work with Chinese Communities: Integration of Research and Professional Practice in a Global Context
Summary:
The objectives of this project - a knoweldge mobilzation symposium - include: 1) To form an international research knowledge dissemination platform for Canadian social work researchers to synthesize and show case, to the national and international audience, research knowledge useful to the research and professional community working with Chinese in Canada, North America, and China. 2) To facilitate intellectual and experiential exchanges, validation, and mutual uptake of research findings, scholarly knowledge, and professional relevance between the professional community and researchers. 3) To generate emerging social work research directions and strategies relevant to professional practice and to inform best research-practice integration in working the diverse and evolving Chinese communities in Canada and in a global context.
Project Type: Funded
Role: Co-applicant
Start Date: Month: Mar Year: 2012
End Date: Month: Mar Year: 2013