The Enduring Relevance of Indigenisation in African Social Work: A Critical Reflection on ASWEA's Legacy

Abstract

Following the independence of many African countries in the 1960s, social work educators in Africa sought to depart from their ‘Western’ traditions and develop approaches to professional teaching and practice appropriate to the African postcolonial context. The Association for Social Work Education in Africa (ASWEA) led these endeavours between 1971 and 1989. This article narrates the journey of ASWEA through its documented history now made accessible as an online archive. Included is a discussion of the political agenda of ASWEA within the context of broader political movements at the time of its inception, when the debate on the ‘indigenisation of social work education and practice’ in Africa was just beginning. The article argues that to date, ‘indigenisation’ remains an ethical imperative for social work in Africa as it continues to seek locally relevant solutions to changing social problems.

Keywords:

• Africa
• Indigenisation
• Decolonisation
• History
• Social Work
• Social Development

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of Gabriele Mohale, archivist at the William Cullen Library, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, on postcolonialism and Africanisation. Through her archival work, the ASWEA documents are now publicly accessible at: http://www.historicalpapers.wits.ac.za/index.php?inventory/U/collections&c = AG3303/R/.