Alan Dettlaff
LightNews LightNews
banner
alandettlaff.com
Alan Dettlaff
@alandettlaff.com
4K followers 830 following 500 posts
Co-founder of the upEND movement to abolish the family policing system | Writer and co-facilitator at Toward Liberation, an abolitionist learning group | www.alandettlaff.com | www.towardliberation.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
alandettlaff.com
Stay tuned for an announcement about our next book selection, as well as some reflections on this year's reads from me, connease, and Maya. TL is always free, so sign up and join us anytime: www.towardliberation.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:41 PM
alandettlaff.com
Join us on Monday, November 17 for our final Toward Liberation meeting of the year featuring Mali D. Collins, author of Scrap Theory. As always, if you weren't able to read along with us this month, you're still very welcome to join.

REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/TLNovember2025
November 15, 2025 at 4:31 PM
alandettlaff.com
Two new articles are out in Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work this week. The abstracts are below and the full articles are available for free, open-access download at the journal's website: apsw-ojs-uh.tdl.org/apsw/issue/v...
November 10, 2025 at 3:00 PM
alandettlaff.com
Join the Social Work Activist Collective on November 20 for a conversation on overcoming hopelessness and fear. For our last meeting of the year we wanted to create a space to share stories of resilience and ideas for where we can find collective strength. Join us!

REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/SWACNov20th
Flyer for November 20th event, Overcoming Hopelessness and Fear. Information about the event included in the text post is overlaid on an image of the roots of a tree.
November 7, 2025 at 3:29 PM
alandettlaff.com
New in Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work. Always open access. Read and download here: apsw-ojs-uh.tdl.org/apsw/article...
Title of the article: "“Where Else Could I Really Go?” Transcarceration as a Frame for Understanding the Role of Skilled Nursing Facilities for Older People Experiencing Homelessness." Abstract: Skilled nursing facilities are an established destination for older adults who need assistance with activities of daily living that surpass what is accessible and feasible in the community. Homelessness in later life can exacerbate social, financial, and medical disparities that restrict access to quality community-based care. Existing research on homelessness in skilled nursing neglects the documented experiences of care provision with older people experiencing homelessness. Through a multi-case theory building approach using medical charts (n = 38) from a mobile outreach team and interviews (n=30) with cross-sector care professionals, this study examines the conceptual fit of transcarceration to understand skilled nursing’s role in the holistic care of older people experiencing homelessness. Findings highlight empirical overlap of key constructs: (1) anticipated loss of autonomy, (2) expulsion, and (3) containment, as well as (4) case exceptions where specialized programming and informal care insulated patients from risk. Findings illuminate pathways for social workers to support community-based and institutional innovation, and help pinpoint foci of local, state, and federal advocacy to realize liberatory care for older people experiencing homelessness.
November 4, 2025 at 3:34 PM
alandettlaff.com
Join the Social Work Activist Collective (@swactivists.bsky.social) on Thursday, October 30, to learn about the Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions (BDS) movement and how you can get involved! REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/SWACOct30th
Text that reads: Are you wondering where to begin in the fight for social justice? Join us as we spend the evening together discussing resistance in the midst of the current political climate. Learn about BDS and its efforts in achieving freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people. We hope that you can use this opportunity to engage with this Palestinian-led movement and its work promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. We hope to see you all there!
October 29, 2025 at 2:33 PM
alandettlaff.com
Join us at Toward Liberation on November 17th for a virtual discussion of "Scrap Theory: Reproductive Injustice in the Black Feminist Imagination" featuring author Mali D. Collins. As always, all are welcome (even if you haven't been reading with us this month). REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/TLNovember2025
Cover image of Scrap Theory and a photo of Mali D. Collins, along with information about the event included in the post.
October 27, 2025 at 5:41 PM
alandettlaff.com
Join the Social Work Activist Collective on Thursday, October 30th at 7:00 PM ET for a discussion on the Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions movement and why every social worker should be engaged in this.

REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/SWACOct30th
Upcoming Events flyer for the Social Work Activist Collective. October 30: Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions. November 20: Hopelessness & Fear. January 29: Checking In and Touching Base.
October 21, 2025 at 2:36 PM
alandettlaff.com
In this article from our special issue, "Thinking and Practicing Abolition Through Palestine," the authors use an abolitionist lens to explore how the idea of "non-violence" has been weaponized to delegitimize resistance against oppression. Available open access at our website: www.APSWJournal.com.
A woman photographed from the back holding a Palestinian flag overlaid with the title of the journal article, "Lessons from Abolition on the Violence/Non-Violence Binary and the Palestinian Struggle for Liberation." Abstract of the article: This article examines how social work and public health professionals have engaged with calls for a ceasefire in Palestine following October 7, 2023, and how these calls, in failing to interrogate the structural conditions of occupation, reinforce dominant frameworks that racialize resistance. We first analyze how social work and public health fields have historically operated within a limited framework of violence that centers on individual acts while obscuring structural violence, including settler colonialism, racial capitalism, and imperial warfare. We then examine how Palestinians have historically navigated state repression, focusing on how non-violence has been weaponized to delegitimize resistance while state violence remains normalized. Through a historical analysis of Palestinian liberation movements, we examine the implications of overlooking structural violence on the understanding of resistance in social work and public health. This article highlights how professional social work and public health organizations have reinforced carceral logics through their framing of violence and non-violence, and how an abolitionist framework can reorient these fields toward a more radical approach to solidarity.
October 20, 2025 at 3:01 PM
alandettlaff.com
The truth from Miss Major: "The police have been monsters. They're all worthless, unimaginable, horrible people and destructive to mankind in general, especially to my trans and gender nonconforming community…they are the most detrimental thing to ever happen." ❤️🏳️‍⚧️
October 15, 2025 at 3:58 AM
alandettlaff.com
JOIN US this Thursday, October 16th at 6:00 PM Eastern for a special roundtable with the authors of the recently published papers in Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work on "Thinking and Practicing Abolition Through Palestine."
REGISTER HERE: www.bit.ly/APSWRoundtable
A woman photographed from the back holding a Palestinian flag overlaid with information about the webinar contained in the text post.
October 14, 2025 at 3:55 PM
alandettlaff.com
ICYMI: JOIN US on October 16th at 6:00 PM Eastern for a special roundtable with the authors of the recently published papers in Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work on "Thinking and Practicing Abolition Through Palestine." REGISTER HERE: www.bit.ly/APSWRoundtable
A woman photographed from the back holds a Palestinian flag. This is overlain with details about the event and the registration link shared in the text.
October 7, 2025 at 2:56 PM
alandettlaff.com
This is a really beautiful article that uses an auto-archaeological narrative to tell the story of the student protests that took place at Portland State University in October 2023 and the institutional repression that followed. The full article is available to download now at www.apswjournal.com.
A woman photographed from the back holding a Palestinian flag overlaid with information along with the title of the journal article, "Hands Off Palestine, Hands Off Students!" Abstract: It was Spring 2024, and members of the Portland State University (PSU) campus community had been protesting fiduciary ties with corporations responsible for building and supplying weaponry used by Isreal in the genocide of Palestinians. After a major attack on Gaza in October 2023 and as tensions around the world grew, college and university communities became central to strategies of resistance. Protests and Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) efforts in support of Palestinian liberation included encampments on campuses across the country and around the globe. Responses to these efforts varied greatly institution by institution, and on our campus the decisions were enacted by a newly appointed President and Interim Provost. After attempts to negotiate with the student-led protest groups were abruptly abandoned by the PSU administration, the campus, city, and eventually, state police were called to campus and given control of the (public) blocks, as well as the campus building that had become the locus of the movement. I will present a series of artifacts—personal, public, and institutional—which represent turning points for me in my understandings of social work, Palestine, and abolition. I’ll offer an auto-archaeologic narrative telling of these moments as well as the connections between these isolated memories and the work we are doing—or must be doing or should be doing—with regards to abolition and liberation in our social work practice, scholarship and pedagogy.
October 6, 2025 at 2:16 PM
alandettlaff.com
JOIN US on October 16th at 6:00 PM ET for a special roundtable with the authors of the recently published papers in the special issue of Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work on "Thinking and Practicing Abolition Through Palestine." REGISTER HERE: www.bit.ly/APSWRoundtable
A woman photographed from the back holding a Palestinian flag overlaid with information about the author roundtable featured in the text of this post.
October 2, 2025 at 1:15 PM
alandettlaff.com
Last week I posted about attending the book launch for "Queer and In Care" but what I didn't mention specifically is that this new book is entirely open access and free to download! This is a really beautiful book. Please take a look! books.ugp.rug.nl/ugp/catalog/...
Cover of "Queer and In Care" featuring a young person surrounded by rainbows and flowers.
October 1, 2025 at 8:25 PM
alandettlaff.com
This is such an important article as it exposes the utter hypocrisy of social work education. These are the stories about social work that need to be told if we are going to confront the harm universities and schools of social work inflict on so many people. Available now at www.apswjournal.com
Cover image of the Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work journal featuring a black and white photo of a woman holding a Palestinian flag. The colors of the flag are visible against the black and white background. Abstract of the article which begins: Social work education has a deep investment in carcerality and zionism, demonstrated over the past year of discipline and punishment of students for solidarity protests. This article interrogates social work education through the concrete experiences of a student, Darrion Hun, who was deeply involved in Palestine solidarity organizing at the NYU Silver School of Social Work.
September 29, 2025 at 12:39 PM
alandettlaff.com
At the book launch for Queer and in Care in Groningen, Netherlands. You can get your free download at the QR code.
Video of rainbow flag with book title Queer and in Care. Book cover featuring young person with rainbow and QR code to download your copy.
September 26, 2025 at 2:30 PM
alandettlaff.com
NEW from our special issue “Thinking and Practicing Abolition Through Palestine”: Nadia Ben-Youssef and Cameron Rasmussen explore the concepts of abolitionist social relations and collective safety as part of the global movement for a free Palestine. Available now at www.apswjournal.com.
September 25, 2025 at 12:47 PM
alandettlaff.com
NEW from our special issue, “Thinking and Practicing Abolition Through Palestine,” Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian and Abeer Otman ask “What are the psychosocial, affective, and actual experiences of Palestinian students studying within settler-colonial genocide?” Available now at www.apswjournal.com
September 23, 2025 at 10:43 AM
alandettlaff.com
Over the next few weeks, I’d like to highlight the articles from our new special issue, “Thinking and Practicing Abolition Through Palestine,” beginning with this beautiful Introduction from our Guest Editors. Download the open access article from our website: www.apswjournal.com
September 22, 2025 at 10:36 AM
alandettlaff.com
Reminder to join the @swactivists.bsky.social next week for "An Evening of Solidarity and Support." These meetings are always such a generative space to be together with like-minded people, feel supported, and learn about opportunities to engage where you're able and interested. I hope you can join!
September 19, 2025 at 5:22 PM
alandettlaff.com
The profession of social work is in a sad and complicit state, but these articles are reminders that there are always individuals who are willing to take a stand even in the midst of institutional repression. All of these articles are open access and available now at our website: www.apswjournal.com
September 16, 2025 at 2:14 PM
alandettlaff.com
NEW FROM ABOLITIONIST PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIAL WORK!

SPECIAL ISSUE: Thinking and Practicing Abolition Through Palestine

All articles are open access and available to download now: apsw-ojs-uh.tdl.org/apsw/index
Purple journal cover with title of journal and special issue. Table of contents from special issue.
September 15, 2025 at 1:15 PM
alandettlaff.com
This is going to be an amazing session exploring the various ways we can study money and power from an abolitionist lens. Plus, if you're interested in publishing on this topic, join the session to learn about an upcoming opportunity.

REGISTER HERE: apps.ssw.umich.edu/rsvp-request...
September 12, 2025 at 2:52 PM
alandettlaff.com
Join us to regroup and recharge!

REGISTER: bit.ly/SWACSept25
Social Work Activist Collective presents: An Evening of Solidarity and Support. September 25, 2025, 7:00 - 8:30 ET.
September 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM