Disrupting colonisation in the social work classroom: using the Obuntu/Ubuntu framework to decolonise the curriculum

Abstract

Social work around the world has been, uncritically, defined from a mostly white western perspective influenced predominantly by the profession’s development in Europe and North America. Western values and epistemologies have been taken as a given. However, with the increasing influence of social constructionism and post-colonialism, there is growing acceptance that epistemologies are cultural constructions and that the White Western perspectives do not reflect values and knowledge systems in other contexts such as the African Obuntu/Ubuntu. Social workers calling for decolonization have drawn attention to the impact of western colonialism and the need to embrace epistemological diversity to decolonize social work curricula. This article aims to disrupt epistemic colonization and articulate alternative philosophies that can underpin social work values and ethical principles beyond the worldviews of a white western colonial dominance. Foregrounding the author’s multi-context experiences of social work education in Uganda, Sweden, and Australia, this article addresses the question of how the philosophical framework of Obuntu/Ubuntu shapes and informs social work values and ethical principles. In Obuntu/Ubuntu social work, the values of hospitality are intertwined with connection and genuine relationship building, a valuing of the power of community, and interconnectedness with the environment.