Afrocentric Social Work Practice

Abstract

This course explores the intellectual and philosophical underpinnings of multicultural social work practice. It explores African paradigms and argue that the practice of social work in the Global North tend to focus on Eurocentric approaches to the detriment of racialized students particularly Blacks whose background are often different from the frameworks and theories being propounded. Afrocentric practice thus embraces indigenous ways of knowing using values like spirituality, reciprocity, collectivity, and interconnectedness. The course will provide information on theoretical and conceptual thinking about African centered social work to respond to the dearth of insights pertaining the African culture. For the profession to be relevant in the face of marginalization, discrimination and oppression, African centered theories and approaches to practice should be vital to social work education and practice. This is an asynchronous online course (6 modules) where students can complete all readings, learning activities, and assessments online. Students are asked to interact with each other in small groups and in larger discussions with the whole class. Graded assessments include online discussions, individual reflections and personal experience, intervention plan and recommendation. Detailed information about each assessment is included in the course materials.