Historiography of South African Social Work: Challenging Dominant Discourses

Abstract

The task of examining the origins and development of social work is fraught with competing narratives. In South Africa individualist, liberal, colonial, masculine and "white" discourses prevail. The dialectical-historical perspective, rather than chronological "progress", shows how socio-political and economic dynamics are formative of societal conditions and of social work, which in turn has a role in shaping these dynamics. The fiction of purely historical records of progress and freedom of choice is challenged, and hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses uncovered. Social workers are urged to be engaged with the full complexity of events emerging from the class and race-based antagonisms of South African society.

The Fourfold Neoliberal Impact on Social Work and Why This Matters in Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond

“…In the West, therefore, the profession arose partly from the state's desire to control urban poverty, illness and discontent which jeopardised capital interests (Clarke, 2004;Smith, 2014;Spolander, 2016). Similar arguments have been made for many developing countries (see, for example, Spolander, Engelbrecht, Martin, Strydom, Pervova, Marjanen, Tani, Sicora & Adaikalam, 2014).…”

“…It is important to note that social work is a contextual profession and demonstrates a history of being influenced by broader socioeconomic movements. Smith (2014), in her extensive review of social work development in South Africa and its links to capitalist drivers, for example, asserts that developments within the social work profession are not merely formed through a natural progression of theories and practices, but are in fact deeply contextual and shaped by broader conflicts and forces. The foundation for a critical consciousness as proposed in the global definition presented above requires reflection on not only the global value system of the profession, but the potential influence of underlying commitments and motivations that have formed part of the history of the profession, and how this can contribute to the profession's vulnerability to (and often unconscious compliance with) state-based economic policy agendas today.…”

Using Indigenous Approaches as a Bridge between Policies, Interventions, and the Grassroots

“…How we formulate or represent the past shapes our understanding and views of the present (p. 4)". Colonial administrators and missionaries introduced social work in South Africa in the 1920s to address white poverty, particularly [white] orphans and juveniles [2][3][4][5].…”

An Analysis of Salient Aspects of the Research Proposals of Fourth Year Student Social Workers: A Case Study of Class of 2019, University of Limpopo

“…Smith [1] reports that the first institution to offer social work in South Africa was the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1924; and the university only trained white social work students. In 1929, the University of Pretoria (formerly known as Transvaal University College) started training social workers, the University of the Witwatersrand followed in 1937 [1]. These institutions focused exclusively on training white students in compliance with Apartheid education policy.…”

“…Black social workers received training in 1941 after the establishment of Jan Hofmeyr College, the very first institution to train black social workers in South Africa. The famous graduates of Jan Hofmeyr (School of Social Work) include Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Ellen Kuzwayo, and Joshua Nkomo [1]. Alumni of Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work include inter alia Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane (founder member of Mozambique Liberation Front in 1962) and Molapatene Collins Ramusi (social worker, activist lawyer, politician, and author of Soweto my love 1989).…”