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Indigenous social work around the world: Towards culturally relevant education and practice

  • January 2008
Authors:
Mel Gray at The University of Newcastle, Australia
Mel Gray
John Coates at St.Thomas University, Fredericton, Canada
John Coates
  • St.Thomas University, Fredericton, Canada
Michael Yellow Bird at University of Manitoba
Michael Yellow Bird
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Abstract

How can mainstream Western social work learn from and in turn help advance indigenous practice? This volume brings together prominent international scholars involved in both Western and indigenous social work across the globe - including James Midgley, Linda Briskman, Alean Al-Krenawi and John R. Graham - to discuss some of the most significant global trends and issues relating to indigenous and cross-cultural social work. The contributors identify ways in which indigenization is shaping professional social work practice and education, and examine how social work can better address diversity in international exchanges and cross-cultural issues within and between countries. Key theoretical, methodological and service issues and challenges in the indigenization of social work are reviewed, including the way in which adaptation can lead to more effective practices within indigenous communities and emerging economies, and how adaptation can provide greater insight into cross-cultural understanding and practice. © Mel Gray, John Coates and Michael Yellow Bird 2008. All rights reserved.
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This volume brings together prominent international scholars involved
in both Western and indigenous social work across the globe –
including James Midgley, Linda Briskman, Alean Al-Krenawi and John
R. Graham – to discuss some of the most significant global trends and
issues relating to indigenous and cross-cultural social work.
Contents: Preface; Introduction, Mel Gray, John Coates and
Michael Yellow Bird; Part1 ‘IndIgenIzatIon’ as an outmoded ConCePt:
From ‘indigenization’ to cultural relevance, Mel Gray and John
Coates; Promoting reciprocal international social work exchanges:
professional imperialism revisited, James Midgley. Part 2 IndIgenous
soCIal Work: a Just Cause: Towards an understanding of indigenous
social work, Mel Gray, Michael Yellow Bird and John Coates;
Indigenous people and the language of social work, Michael Yellow
Bird and Mel Gray; Indigenous social work in the United States:
reflections on Indian tacos, Trojan horses, and canoes filled with
indigenous revolutionaries, Hilary N. Weaver; Decolonizing social
work in Australia: prospect or illusion, Linda Briskman. Part 3
toWards Culturally relevant soCIal Work PraCtICe: The development
of culturally appropriate social work practice in Sarawak, Malaysia,
Ling How Kee; The past, the present and the future: the New Zealand
indigenous experience of social work, Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata;
Tongan social work practice, Tracie Mafile’o; Critical reflections on an
Aboriginal; approach to helping, Michael Anthony Hart; Homemade
To order, please visit: www.ashgate.com
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Alternatively, contact our distributor:
Bookpoint Ltd, Ashgate Publishing Direct Sales,
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Tel: +44 (0)1235 827730 Fax: +44 (0)1235 400454
Email: ashgate@bookpoint.co.uk
September 2008
368 pages
Hardback
978-0-7546-4838-3
£60.00
Indigenous Social Work around
the World
Towards Culturally Relevant Education and Practice
Edited by Mel Gray, University of Newcastle, Australia,
John Coates, St. Thomas University, Canada and
Michael Yellow Bird, University of Kansas, USA
Contemporary Social Work Studies
Sample pages for published titles are available to view online at: www.ashgate.com
social work: the 2-way transfer of social work practice knowledge
between India and the USA, Jayashree Nimmagadda and Diane R.
Martell; Localizing social work with Bedouin-Arab communities
in Israel: limitations and possibilities, Alean Al-Krenawi and John
R. Graham. Part 4 Culturally relevant soCIal Work eduCatIon:
Reconfiguring ‘Chineseness’ in the international discourse on social
work in China, Rick Sin; A journey of a thousand miles begins
with one step: the development of culturally relevant social work
education and fieldwork practice in China, Angelina Yuen-Tsang
and Ben Ku; Re-envisioning indigenization: when bentuhuade and
bentude social work intersect in China, Miu Chung Yan and A Ka Tat
Tsang; Developing culturally relevant social work education in Africa:
the case of Botswana, Kwaku Osei-Hwedie and Morena J. Rankopo;
Missing the ‘flight from responsibility’: tales from a non-indigenous
educator pursuing spaces for social work education relevant to
indigenous Australians, Susan Gair; Picking up what was left by the
trail: the emerging spirit of Aboriginal education in Canada, Gord
Bruyere; Indigenous social work education: a project for all of us?,
Erika Faith; Hearing indigenous and local voices in mainstream social
work, Mel Gray, John Coates and Tiani Hetherington; Conclusion,
Mel Gray and John Coates; Postscript: terms of endearment: a brief
dictionary for decolonizing social work with indigenous peoples,
Michael Yellow Bird; References; Index.
Now available from Ashgate Publishing…
... The conception of indigenisation in social work development was initially simply perceived as a linear 'from-the-west-to-the-rest' process; the people involved in the process simply aimed to adapt, adjust and modify standardised theories and methods to the recipient areas (Walton & Nasr, 1988). However, there is currently a body of literature questioning this approach, arguing that it was based on euro-centrism and failed to take specific context and cultural appropriateness into account (Gray et al., 2008). Some further argued that the pre-existing helping knowledge and practice in the recipient areas were unnoticed and overlooked, and called for an alternative indigenous social work perspective to incorporate indigenous peoples' and communities' ways of knowing, doing and being heard (Gray et al., 2008). ...
... However, there is currently a body of literature questioning this approach, arguing that it was based on euro-centrism and failed to take specific context and cultural appropriateness into account (Gray et al., 2008). Some further argued that the pre-existing helping knowledge and practice in the recipient areas were unnoticed and overlooked, and called for an alternative indigenous social work perspective to incorporate indigenous peoples' and communities' ways of knowing, doing and being heard (Gray et al., 2008). As an indigenous package of knowledge and practice, Ubuntu undoubtedly offers a promising alternative to the dominant west-centred knowledge system, and significantly inspires colleagues working in both developed and developing regions. ...
IFSW-Ubuntu-Practitioner-2023e1
Chapter
Full-text available
  • Mar 2023
Ubuntu has gained momentum in the global arena after being emphasized in the Global Agenda (GA) of the social work profession. Ubuntu, is the African philosophy of sharing and caring. This philosophy has had profound implications for the elderly in sub-Saharan Africa. Ubuntu can best be described as an African philosophy that emphasizes ‘being self through others’. Elderly people in this paper are defined as those persons aged 60 years and above. Their humane (ubuntu) spirit has made them do tremendous contributions to society as guardians of traditions and cultural values which are passed on from generation to generation, contribute immensely to wealth creation, support and care for children, conflict resolution, problem solving among others. Therefore, the focus of this paper was to explore ubuntu as an effective strategy for improving the wellbeing of the elderly in Uganda. The study was exploratory and descriptive, using experiences of older persons in Kabale District. Data were collected using interviews and focused group discussions. The study found strong acquaintances between ubuntu and older person’s wellbeing. The study found that ubuntu is a very important aspect because it gives the elderly a sense of self-worth, self-respect, individual wellbeing, life-satisfaction and achievement. Ubuntu further enables the elderly to transfer the humanistic values to the next generation as well as helping the current generation to deal with their difficulties in a more effective manner by applying the humanistic values they have inherited from the elderly. This paper concludes that the elderly can thus impart these values to the rest of humankind and the younger generation to ensure effectiveness in the practice of ubuntu. The study recommended that improving the wellbeing of the elderly does not require just one strategy but a combination of several strategies including involvement of all stakeholders especially the older persons themselves following the saying “nothing for us without us”, family members, community members, caregivers, civil society, as government takes lead in promoting wellbeing
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... The conception of indigenisation in social work development was initially simply perceived as a linear 'from-the-west-to-the-rest' process; the people involved in the process simply aimed to adapt, adjust and modify standardised theories and methods to the recipient areas (Walton & Nasr, 1988). However, there is currently a body of literature questioning this approach, arguing that it was based on euro-centrism and failed to take specific context and cultural appropriateness into account (Gray et al., 2008). Some further argued that the pre-existing helping knowledge and practice in the recipient areas were unnoticed and overlooked, and called for an alternative indigenous social work perspective to incorporate indigenous peoples' and communities' ways of knowing, doing and being heard (Gray et al., 2008). ...
... However, there is currently a body of literature questioning this approach, arguing that it was based on euro-centrism and failed to take specific context and cultural appropriateness into account (Gray et al., 2008). Some further argued that the pre-existing helping knowledge and practice in the recipient areas were unnoticed and overlooked, and called for an alternative indigenous social work perspective to incorporate indigenous peoples' and communities' ways of knowing, doing and being heard (Gray et al., 2008). As an indigenous package of knowledge and practice, Ubuntu undoubtedly offers a promising alternative to the dominant west-centred knowledge system, and significantly inspires colleagues working in both developed and developing regions. ...
Ubuntu Practitioner: Social Work perspective
Book
  • Mar 2023
This book shares the relevance of Ubuntu in Social work practice and starts by tracing the origin of the philosophy and how it looks like in contemporary society. We start by telling a story of Giringa as an illustration of Ubuntu. We then trace the history of Ubuntu back to about 4000 years, though it goes beyond this. We have described the five stages, and then, we present the Ubuntu social work practice, shared by Social Workers globally. The book has different chapters that are a blend of academic and practice-oriented contributions. This has intentionally been adapted to maximise contributions." Therefore, readers will see different styles and approaches to writing. At the end, an overview of the impacts of Ubuntu on international social work is presented. Access the book here for FREE: https://www.ifsw.org/product/books/the-ubuntu-practitioner-social-work-perspectives/
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... It is imperative that these rights be granted to indigenous people, many of whom have been coerced into giving up their formerly free way of life over the course of millennia. The field of social work ought to play a major role in ensuring that indigenous people have adequate social support and security (Gray et al. 2008). The need to uphold human values should take precedence over any authority structure. ...
Indigenous Knowledge and Strategic Approaches to Combat Drought: A Study from the Western Rarh Region (Bankura and Purulia Districts) in West Bengal
Chapter
  • May 2023
Drought is a naturally occurring insidious phenomena that happens when precipitation falls drastically below average recorded levels, resulting in catastrophic hydrological imbalances that harm land resource production systems. The immediate direct impacts of drought are a lack of available water and food, as well as the propagation of terrible diseases due to contamination caused by a dearth of available water. Two of West Bengal's most prominent drought-prone areas are Bankura (23°14′1.5864ʺ N, 87°5′14.10004ʺ E) and Purulia (23°20′32.1252ʺ N, 86°21′46.2204ʺ E), both of which have semi-arid climates, patchy forested regions with uneven terrain. Several impoverished indigenous populations live in these two districts, mostly in the district's hilly and uneven terrain. Indigenous people have developed the sensitivity to detect environmental changes and develop adaptive strategies as a result of their close relationship with nature and the natural ecosystem. Interviews were employed as a type of data acquisition throughout the course of the study and were undertaken in a structured fashion, with a schedule comprising of a list of predefined questions and highly streamlined ways for recording. People in these places have developed a number of ways to manage drought, including the use of a pitcher watering system to hydrate the soil, the use of compost pits as water reservoirs, and the consumption of alternative food (a variety of wild edible botanicals, rice gruel, porridge) to secure critical nutrients to satisfy their requirements. Over time, indigenous people have accumulated knowledge, traditions, and abilities about disaster prevention and early warning systems. In this present study, an attempt was made to investigate indigenous local information, abilities, and traditional practices linked to drought management in these regions.KeywordsIndigenousDroughtStrategyBankuraPuruliaWestern Rarh
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... It has proved extremely difficult to supplant Western content in social work education, despite ongoing attempts to indigenise the curriculum and make it more relevant to the Nigerian socio-cultural and political context (Okoye, 2014;Ugiagbe, 2015Ugiagbe, , 2017Ugiagbe and Ugiagbe, 2015). In essence, indigenisation involved the adaptation of Western knowledge to fit local socio-cultural realities (Gray et al., 2008), a project Ugiagbe (2017) believed had failed dismally in Africa: 'Despite all attempts at adapting Western models to African contexts, international frameworks have proved remarkably resilient and impervious to cultural transformation and continue to dominate across diverse cultural contexts ' (p. 272). ...
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... There is an increasing demand to make space for ethics and values which are localized and indigenous to the native contexts. The current focus on anti-oppressive practice demands that students be prepared to respond to the needs of diverse and distinct indigenous groups, for whom the much prescribed dominant Western worldview is not relevant, and what is needed is an alternate value perspective (Gray et al., 2008). Anti-oppressive social work has found an echo in developing countries, which find case work and individualized social work and their accompanying values set of limited relevance (Grey & Fook, 2004). ...
Professional Pledge in Social Work: Implications for Professional Identity and Value Integration
Article
  • Mar 2023
The social work profession lays a strong emphasis on internalizing and reinforcing core social work values and ethical standards in order to create a cadre of social workers who can withstand the criticalities of any crisis and commit themselves to firmly stand with those whose survival and well-being is fragile and “on the brink”. The performance of this role not only requires a dynamic and contextual knowledge base and evolving skills set, it mandates a deep rooted acquiescence with a fundamental set of values that shape the profession’s vision and mission, and establish the goals and priorities of the practitioners. The transition from an entry level neophyte to a competent social work professional entails a journey which is characterized by the assumption and bolstering of a professional persona that grounds the incumbent within the functional niche of social work. The present paper looks at the integration of a social work pledge as a viable means for social work incumbents to establish identification with social work values, don a professional identity, and assimilate with professional peers. It looks at the existing practice of pledge taking by highlighting the experience of a distinguished school of social work. It envisions the ‘pledge’ and the tradition of ‘taking the pledge’ evolving as a strong and more universal medium for creating an emotional connect of social work students with the value driven profession of social work. Keywords: Pledge, values, ethics, social work, profession
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Re-imagining social work education in East Africa
Article
  • Mar 2023
To an increasing extent, scholars of social work have called for social work education and practice to be more responsive to local norms, customs and needs. Commonly referred to as indigenization, these scholars argue that social work curricula should incorporate practices, theories and understandings that are developed locally, eschewing the ‘professional imperialism’ that have come to dominate the discipline. This is also the case at universities in East Africa. Over the last decades, research emerging from local knowledge has developed substantially in the region. In this article we ask to what extent this is reflected in the social work curricula at three universities in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, including a Norwegian comparative case. The article relies on a review of the curricula, addressing the characteristics of the teaching materials, the nationality and gender of the authors of the teaching materials, and the local relevance of the teaching materials, questioning whether they build on empirical data from a local or African context and to what extent they address issues of local or regional relevance. Our findings reveal that the presence of national or African authors and publications with a local empirical content is still marginal at the three East African universities.
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Landlessness as a Negation of Black Children’s Right to Play: Confronting the Depoliticisation of Social Work
Chapter
Full-text available
  • Nov 2022
We argue that social work has a conceptual deficit in framing structural problems that overwhelm post-colonial and post-apartheid societies. This deficit emanates from the depoliticisation of the discipline. We locate depoliticisation in critical theory where we observe that social work underestimates the impact of power relations, the economic content of social histories and contemporary conflicts, and how all these forces have intersected to produce unequal societies with stark stratifications – in racial, class, gender and age terms, among others. Social work concepts are imprisoned in the liberal social justice school where emphasis on suffering and social change is placed between individual misfortune and individual effort. We introduce an emancipatory position located in the decolonial school by focusing on intergenerational dehumanisation represented through Black people’s landlessness. This is used as a starting place to begin theorising from if social work is to have aspirations of being an impactful discipline with the potential to comprehend structural problems facing post-colonial and post-apartheid societies. We use Black children’s ‘activity of play’ in post-apartheid urban township societies as reference to underscore landlessness and confront the depoliticisation of Social work.
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The Ethical Implications of Current Theoretical Developments in Social Work
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 1995
The paper examines the ethical implications of current theoretical developments in social work and discusses important ways in which efforts at understanding within social work can be guided by moral values. At the present time, there are a variety of theories through which the world of social work can be understood. In attempting to achieve as accurate an understanding of social work reality as possible, it is suggested that social work needs to move beyond empirical rigidity, technological approaches and ideological dogma to a critical, reflective epistemological stance which takes account of the profession's worthwhile ideals. To this end, the paper discusses the notion of the autonomous moral self and examines the implications of critical and constructivist thinking on this notion of selfhood. It considers what it means to develop an adequate understanding of social work reality and re-examines the meaning of objectivity. Finally, it highlights the need for reflection on, and an appreciation of, the all encompassing nature of morality.
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Social work education for social development
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 1996
Social work as a profession has an obligation to respond to and, if necessary create, societal agendas. Social development is clearly on the current societal agenda. This paper examines the different emphases and levels of social development and advocates a broad perspective of the concept. The relationship between social development and social work is then explored. Shared values and goals augur well for a constructive relationship. Finally the paper addresses the importance of education for social workers to participate in social development initiatives. Teaching and practice curricula are discussed as well as different levels of training. The paper concludes with recommendations for future networking, both between educators and disciplines, and research and literature.
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Social work and the question of social development in Africa
Article
Discusses how the methodologies of social development and social work converging as "human focused development' can assist in ameliorating the development crisis in Africa. The author notes that social workers are trained to deal at a systems level with social problems and that they are capable of playing multiple roles at both community and agency levels. As such the author calls for greater recognition of the social work profession in tackling major problems of development. -from Author
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International social work: Learning from the third world
Article
  • Jul 1990
Although social workers in industrial and developing countries have established strong professional links, exchanges between them have been largely unidirectional, with ideas and practice methodologies flowing from the West to the Third World. These activities have perpetuated the belief–so prevalent in the West–that Third World countries will prosper only if they adopt Western technologies, expertise, and culture. Rejecting this view, the author argues that social workers in industrial societies have much to learn from the Third World. The author calls for truly reciprocal exchanges between social workers in different parts of the world.
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Changing social welfare policy in South Africa
Article
  • Jan 1998
The South African history of racial distrimination and, in particular, the apartheid system since 1948 is well known across the globe. Since the April 1994 elections and the swearing in of Nelson Mandela as the first president of a democractic South Africa, the country has begun its most fundamental transformation. The Government of National Unity adopted the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) as its policy framework for socio-economic development to meet the needs of the citizens. The six basic principles of the RDP (1994:7) are summarised as: An integrated programme, based on the people, that provides peace and security for all and builds the nation, links reconstruction and development (or meets basic needs and builds infrastructure) and deepens democracy. It is in this context that the social welfare policy change processes was lauched in South Africa. There is congruence between the values which underpin social work and the RDP. This paper elucidates the process of the policy change efforts in respect of social welfare. This is preceded by a discussion on the social welfare policy that existed prior to 1996.
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The need for a new social work perspective in an African setting: The case of social casework in Zambia
Article
  • Feb 1995
This article discusses traditional social casework principles and how some of these principles are irrelevant for social casework practice in an African setting or culture. The principles on which social casework is based involve western concepts foreign to the cultures of most developing countries. They are therefore inappropriate for social work practice in an African setting because they are based on values (especially self-determination and confidentiality) which assume concepts of individuality not applicable in an African society, particularly in Zambia.
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Determinants of readiness for out-group social contact: Dominance relations and minority group motivations
Article
  • Oct 1998
Findings that members of minorities are more ready for social contact with members of dominant groups than vice versa have been attributed to a motivation of minorities to integrate into the larger society. We theorize that minorities hold opposing motivations - to integrate vs. to maintain unique group identity - the balance of which determines readiness for out-group contact. Study 1 examined readiness for out-group contact among three groups of Israeli teachers - Jews (dominant group), Muslim Arabs, and Christian Arabs (minorities). According to sociohistorical analyses, Muslim Arabs are more activated to maintain uniqueness and less motivated to integrate than are Christian Arabs. Study 2 examined recent Russian immigrants to Israel (minority) and veteran Israelis (dominant). Individual differences in motivation to integrate vs. maintain minority group identity were measured among immigrants. In both studies, the balance of motivations predicted minority group readiness for contact with the dominant group.
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