Cultural proximity and shared institutional discrimination: Palestinian-Arab social workers’ experiences of intersections between professional and traditional responses to poverty

Abstract This article examines the experiences of Palestinian-Arab social workers in Israel who encounter traditional medicine practices in their work with clients living in poverty. Based on a phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews with fourteen social workers, the study reveals the emergence of hybrid professional identities shaped by competing loyalties, alongside the development of culturally attuned mediation strategies. The findings highlight the complexity of intracultural encounters, wherein workers and clients share not only cultural backgrounds but also experiences of institutional marginalization. This cultural overlap, rather than easing intervention, may generate professional challenges rooted in the tension between cultural proximity and Western therapeutic expectations. The article underscores the gap between Western models of professional socialization and the sociocultural realities wherein participants operate, particularly in relation to mystical beliefs and traditional healing. It calls for professional training that integrates spiritual, cultural, and structural understanding, especially in contexts of poverty and exclusion.