Inaugural lecture: African spirituality, ethics and traditional healing - implications for indigenous South African social work education and practice

Abstract

The over-reliance of South African social work on Euro-American and British theories, and the need to decolonise the profession, has long been recognised by many writers. This article endeavours to conceptualise a pluralistic, indigenous, Afro-centric model of social work education and practice that seeks to infuse the educational curriculum with African spirituality and ethics as well as traditional and Western approaches to helping and healing. However, the main thrust of the paper is that, while educational curricula need to be locally relevant, universities need to remain globally engaged.