A SOCIAL WORK PERSPECTIVE ON SOUTH AFRICAN TRADITIONAL MALE CHILD CIRCUMCISION

Abstract

Traditional male circumcision (TMC) is a longstanding African cultural practice involving the socialisation of boys and young men into manhood. Social workers must have knowledge of various cultural practices to develop a holistic view of the person-in-environment. This will help them to support their professional mission of promoting basic needs satisfaction, wellbeing and justice for all communities and individuals worldwide, given the fundamental nature of culture in people's lives. TMC is a sacred cultural practice, but there is a lack of knowledge in communities around the process and activities involved in this practice; hence the need to establish the role of social workers in relation to the practice. The fact that children are involved in TMC necessitates social workers working with families and relevant stakeholders in response to cultural beliefs and practices as per their professional and legislated mandate. Given this lack of knowledge, we used the integrative literature review method to describe the legislative and constitutional imperatives regulating TMC in South Africa, outline the TMC process, determine the role of social workers in the TMC process, and explain the TMC process from the ecological systems theoretical perspective.