The experiences of diverse people present challenges and opportunities for knowledge production. The knowledge base undergirding social work has been found to be dominated by Anglo-American cultural values assumed to be universally applicable. The relevant texts on social work knowledge were examined. The analysis revealed that culture is the cornerstone of any society’s response to social problems, that the hegemony of Eurocentric paradigms remain intact, that there is complicity with the coloniality of power in knowledge production resulting in epistemic injustice, and that decolonisation and indigenisation are critical imperatives towards the achievement of global cognitive justice. A contrapuntal epistemology of social work is recommended.
The current social work knowledge that is characterised by colonial domination in South Africa demands new visions. These visions should be aimed at producing an epistemic revolution that would see the re-emergence of previously silenced knowledges. The continued Eurocentric hegemony reflected in the content and form of the social work curriculum and pedagogical practices creates an epistemic scandal that requires decolonial intervention and redress. Following an examination of the decolonisation discourse from textual archives on coloniality, decoloniality, social work and its history, several tenets and principles were identified to guide the process of decolonising social work education in South Africa. These include focusing the curriculum and pedagogy of social work on the African world view (Afrocentric social work), adopting cultural relativity as an approach in social work education, and promoting dialogue between diverse cultural orientations and knowledges found in South Africa, including Western knowledge without harmonising the knowledges and/or creating a hierarchy.
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