“Here I’m Black, there I’m White”: Israeli social-workers retrospective perspective on intercultural encounters in India and Ethiopia during their training

International social work brings about an intercultural encounter between guests and hosts from the North and the South, a division associated with power relations. This type of encounter creates a unique learning space for international social work students. In light of the transformative learning theory, the study examined the retrospective perspective of Israeli social workers regarding their intercultural encounter when visiting India and Ethiopia as part of their international social work training. It focuses on formative experiences, which have the potential to generate transformative learning. Using a qualitative approach and photovoice methodology, data was collected from 14 social workers who had taken part in an international social work program. Three main themes emerged from the analysis: 1) Local professional orientation; 2) Exposure to local social-cultural issues; 3) The intercultural encounter as a mirror of Israeli society. The findings shed light on how formative experiences in a foreign land create a basis for transformative learning. The results suggest the need to replace the term ‘culture shock’ with the notion of disorienting dilemmas in order to serve the goals of reflective learning from intercultural encounters and context-dependent learning in social work education in general, and international social work education in particular.