Ubuntu Philosophy And Decolonising Social Work Fields Of Practice In Africa

This book addresses a recurrent gap in social work literature by examining Ubuntu as an Indigenous African philosophy that informs social work beyond the largely residual and individualistic conceptualisation of social work that currently prevails in many contexts. Owing to the lack of social work theories, models and generally, literature that is locally and contextually relevant, most social work lecturers based in African context, struggle to access learning materials and texts that centre local indigenous voices and worldviews. It is within this context that the ubuntu philosophy has gained traction. There is increasing consensus that Ubuntu as an African philosophy and way of life, has the potential to be used as a decolonising framework for social work education and practice. Theorising from Ubuntu can influence and be the foundation for African social work theory and knowledge, social work values and ethics, social work research and policy, and Ubuntu informing different fields of social work practice like social work with older people, children and young people, ubuntu and poverty alleviation, ubuntu and the environment, among others. Drawing together social workers engaged in education, research, policy, practice, to theorise Ubuntu and its tenets, philosophies, and values, this book shows how it can be a foundation for a decolonised, more relevant social work education and practice in African contexts.

This timely Routledge Handbook creates a much-needed space to explore what makes social work uniquely African, as well as shaping, informing, and influencing a new culturally relevant era of social work. The specific focus on social work education offers approaches to transition away from the hegemony of Western literature, knowledge, and practice models underpinning African social work education. The authors identify what is relevant and meaningful to inform, influence, and reconceptualise culturally relevant social work curriculum. Covering Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the Handbook comprises both empirical and conceptual chapters, multiple approaches, case studies, and key debates on social work education. It is structured in four parts: • Approaches to Indigenising, Decolonising and Developing Culturally Relevant Social Work Education • Social Work Education: Evolution across Contexts • Embedding Field Practicum into Social Work Education • Knowledge Exchange between the Global South and Global North. The range of indigenous, local knowledge that the Handbook presents is crucial to social work evolving and facilitating for reciprocal learning and knowledge exchange between the Global South and Global North. Whilst the context of the Handbook is Africa, the topics covered are relevant to a global audience engaged in social justice work across social work, social welfare, social development, and sustainability.

Social workers are increasingly faced with contemporary global challenges such as inequality, climate change and displacement of people. As a field committed to supporting the world's most vulnerable populations and communities, social work must adapt to meet the needs of this changing global landscape. Re-imagining Social Work broadens the imaginative horizons for social workers and acquaints readers with their potential to creatively contribute to global change. Written in an accessible style, this book motivates readers to think outside the box when it comes to linking theory to their social work practice, in order to construct innovative solutions to prominent social problems. Re-imagining Social Work provides a unique perspective on how social work can evolve for the future. Through theory and critical perspective, this book provides the skills required to be an innovative creative social worker.

This book provides a comprehensive approach to the perspectives, lived experiences, and socio-cultural beliefs of Indigenous scholars regarding disabilities through a distinctions-based approach. Indigenous people demonstrate considerable knowledge in a multitude of capacities in spite of legal, monetary, social, economic, health, and political inequalities that they experience within from administrative authorities whether health, education, or governments. By including various knowledge systems related to social-cultural, traditional governance, spirituality, educational, and self-representation within a communal understanding, the knowledge brought forth will be a combination of information from within/communal and outwards/infusion by Indigenous teachers, scholars, academics, and professionals who aim to combat the negative effects of disability labels and policies that have regulated Indigenous peoples. Comprised of five sections: The power, wisdom, knowledge, and lived experiences of Elders Reframing the narrative – Navigating self-representation Learning from within – Including traditional knowledge Challenging colonial authority – Infusing regional ideals and concepts Interpretations, narratives, and lived experiences of grassroots teachers and social service providers It will be an asset to those who seek out a deeper understanding of the complexity of Indigenous people and their knowledge, including anyone who deals with predominantly non-Indigenous mindsets and barriers to education. Courses on disability studies, Indigenous studies, social work, health, education, and development studies will all benefit from this book.

This book explores and discusses emerging perspectives of Ubuntu from the vantage point of “ordinary” people and connects it to human rights and decolonizing discourses. It engages a decolonizing perspective in writing about Ubuntu as an indigenous concept. The fore grounding argument is that one’s positionality speaks to particular interests that may continue to sustain oppressions instead of confronting and dismantling them. Therefore, a decolonial approach to writing indigenous experiences begins with transparency about the researcher’s own positionality. The emerging perspectives of this volume are contextual, highlighting the need for a critical reading for emerging, transformative and alternative visions in human relations and social structures.

This book explores contemporary debates on decolonisation and indigenisation of social work in Africa and provides readers with alternative models, values, and epistemologies for reimagining social work practice and education that can be applicable to a wide range of countries struggling with similar concerns. It examines how indigenisation without decolonisation is just tokenistic since it is concerned with adapting, modifying Western models to fit local contexts or generating local models to integrate into the already predominantly contextually irrelevant and culturally inappropriate mainstream Western social work in Africa. By exploring decolonisation, which calls for dismantling colonialism and colonial thinking to create central space for indigenous social work as mainstream social work, especially in Africa, it goes beyond tokenistic decolonisation to articulate some of the indigenous social work practice and social policy models, values, ethics, and oral epistemologies that should take centre stage as locally relevant and culturally appropriate social work in Africa. It also addresses the question of decolonising research methodologies, highlighting some of the methods embedded in African indigenous perspectives for adoption when researching African social work. The book has been written with both the coloniser/colonised in mind and it will be of interest to all social work academics, students and practitioners, and others interested in gaining insights into how colonisation persists in social work and why it is necessary to find ways to disrupt it.

The book is about Ubuntu—loosely translated—I am because we are—or, our common humanity in Zulu, about Unity, and global solidarity. It proves again how alike and universal we are as societies across the globe despite this deadly pandemic. On a personal and social basis, each of the six chapters is a call to action to find commonality, and this is the third book of Jahid’s amelioration on Covid-19 Trilogy. And the Appendix is something special for the readership. Ubuntu tells us about the Indigenous healing keys: empathy, compromise, learning, non-violence, change, forgiveness, restorative justice, love, spirituality and hope. The book was written by a highly diverse team of contributors, both from the Global South and North, and is multidisciplinary in nature, and attempting of Commoning the Communities. The authors hail from the fields of social work, anthropology, and education, and have been working with local communities in the ongoing struggle to identify and address complicit oppression and inequalities. Offering a beacon of hope for today and tomorrow, the book will appeal to social science researchers, policy planners, and the general public alike

Riding on the success of Indigenous Social Work Around the World, this book provides case studies to further scholarship on decolonization, a major analytical and activist paradigm among many of the world’s Indigenous Peoples, including educators, tribal leaders, activists, scholars, politicians, and citizens at the grassroots level. Decolonization seeks to weaken the effects of colonialism and create opportunities to promote traditional practices in contemporary settings. Establishing language and cultural programs; honouring land claims, teaching Indigenous history, science, and ways of knowing; self-esteem programs, celebrating ceremonies, restoring traditional parenting approaches, tribal rites of passage, traditional foods, and helping and healing using tribal approaches are central to decolonization. These insights are brought to the arena of international social work still dominated by western-based approaches. Decolonization draws attention to the effects of globalization and the universalization of education, methods of practice, and international ’development’ that fail to embrace and recognize local knowledges and methods. In this volume, Indigenous and non-Indigenous social work scholars examine local cultures, beliefs, values, and practices as central to decolonization. Supported by a growing interest in spirituality and ecological awareness in international social work, they interrogate trends, issues, and debates in Indigenous social work theory, practice methods, and education models including a section on Indigenous research approaches. The diversity of perspectives, decolonizing methodologies, and the shared struggle to provide effective professional social work interventions is reflected in the international nature of the subject matter and in the mix of contributors who write from their contexts in different countries and cultures, including Australia, Canada, Cuba, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, and the USA.