HISTORIOGRAPHY OF SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL WORK: CHALLENGING DOMINANT DISCOURSES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15270/50-3-402Abstract
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 societyDownloads
References
ADATO, M., CARTER, M. & MAY, J. 2006. Exploring poverty traps and social exclusion in South Africa using quantitative and qualitative data. Journal of Development Studies, 42(2):226-247.
ALTHUSSER, L. 1971. Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. In: ALTHUSSER, L. (ed). Lenin and Philosophy and other Essays. New York: Monthly Review Press.
AMANDLA. 2012. Interview with Gavin Capps on platinum. [Online] Available: http://www.amandla.org.za/amandla-magazine/124-amandla-issue-2627/1587-interview-with-gavin-capps-on-platinum [Accessed: 12/11/2012].
BANTU WORLD. 1940. School of social work. Johannesburg, Saturday July 13 1940 Cullen Library Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand.
BALLARD, R., HABIB, A. & VALODIA, I. 2006. Voices of protest: social movements in post-apartheid South Africa. Durban: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
BERGER, I. 2001. An African American ‘Mother of the Nation’: Madie Hall Xuma in South Africa, 1940-1963. Journal of Southern African Studies, 27(3):547-566.
BIKO, S. 1987 [1978]. I write what I like. Johannesburg: Heinemann.
BOND, P. 2012. Book review – lost in transformation by Sampie Terreblanche. Amandla, Issue 26/27, 15 October 2012.
BOSWELL, T.E.; KISER, E.V.; BAKER, K.A. 1999. Recent developments in Marxist Theories of Ideology. Critical Sociology, 25:358-383.
BUNDY, C. 1979. The rise and fall of the South African Peasantry. London: Heineman.
BUNDY, C. 1992. Development and inequality in historical perspective. In: SCHIRE, R. (ed). Wealth or poverty? Critical choices for South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1-17.
CARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YORK. 2004. Carnegie results. Winter 2004. [Online] Available: http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Publications/winter_04¬south africa.pdf [Accessed: 19/04/2009].
CELL, J. 1989. The highest stage of white supremacy. The origins of segregation in South Africa and the American south. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CÉSAIRE AIMÉ. 2000 [1955]. Discourse on colonialism. New York: Monthly Review Press.
DUBOW, S. 1995. Scientific racism in modern South Africa. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
DU TOIT, M. 2003. The domesticity of Afrikaner Nationalism: volksmoeders and the ACVV, 1904-1929. Journal of Southern African Studies, 29(1):155-176. [Online] Available: http://0-www.jstor.org.innopac.wits.ac.za/stable/pdfplus/-3557414.pdf?accept TC=true&jpdConfirm=true. [Retrieved: 10//04/2014].
FANON, F. 1963. The wretched of the earth. New York: Grove Press.
FERGUSON, I. 2008. Reclaiming social work. London: Sage Publications.
FERGUSON, I. & WOODWARD, R. 2009. Radical social work in practice. Making a difference. Great Britain: The Policy Press.
FOURIE, J. 2007. The South African poor White problem in the early twentieth century: Lessons for poverty today. Management Decision, 45(8):1270-1296.
GEBHARD, W. 1991. Shades of reality: black perceptions of African history. Essen, Germany: Verlag Die Blaue Eule.
GLASER, C. 2005. Managing the sexuality of urban youth: Johannesburg, 1920s to 1960s. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 38(2):301-327.
GRAMSCI, A. 1935. [edited & translated by HOARE, Q. & SMITH, G.N. (1992).] Selections for the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. New York: International Publishers.
GRAY, M. & SIMPSON, B. 1998. Developmental social work education: a field example. International Social Work, 41(2):227-237.
GREATER JOHANNESBURG WELFARE, SOCIAL SERVICE AND DEVELOPMENT FORUM. 1999. Submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Unpublished collection of submissions from the Welfare Sector of South Africa.
HARMAN, C. 2008. A people’s history of the world. London: Verso Books.
HARRIS, J. 2002. The social work business. London: Routledge.
HILL, D.J. 2009. A brief commentary on the Hegelian-Marxist Origins of Gramsci’s ‘Philosophy of Praxis’. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 41(6).
JAN HOFMEYR SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK PAMPHLET.1940.
KASSRILS, R. 2012. The slayings grow more sinister. Amandla, Issue 26/27, 15 October, 2012.
KOTZE, F. 1998. Introduction. In: KOTZE, F. & McKENDRICK, B. (eds). Transforming social work education. Proceedings of the joint universities’ committee’s annual conference on transforming social work education. Bellville: University of the Western Cape Department of Social Work.
LAVALETTE, M. & FERGUSON, I. 2007. International social work and the radical tradition. Birmingham: Venture Press.
LEDWITH, M. 2001. Community work as critical pedagogy: re-envisioning Freire and Gramsci. Community Development Journal, 36(3):171-182.
LEGASSIK, M. 2008. Towards socialist democracy. Scottsville: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
LESTER, A. 1996. From colonization to democracy: a new historical geography of South Africa. London: Taurus.
LIPTON, M. 2007. Liberals, Marxists and Nationalists: competing interpretations of South African history. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
LOMBARD, A. 1998. Transforming social work education: a contextual and empowerment issue. In: KOTZE, F. & McKENDRICK, B. (eds), Transforming social work education. Proceedings of the joint universities’ committee’s annual conference on transforming social work education. Bellville: University of the Western Cape Department of Social Work.
LOWE, G.R. 1988. South African Social Work and the norm of injustice. The Social Service Review, 62(1):20-39.
LUND, F. 2006. Gender and social security in South Africa. In: PADAYACHEE, V. The development decade? Economic and social change in South Africa 1994-2004. Pretoria: HSRC Press.
MAJEKE, N. 1953. The role of missionaries in conquest. Johannesburg: Society of Young Africa
MARKS, S. 1987. Not either an experimental doll. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.
MBEKI, M. 2009. Architects of poverty. Why African capitalism needs changing. Johannesburg: Picador, Africa.
McKENDRICK, B. (ed). 1990. Introduction to social work in South Africa. Pretoria: HAUM Tertiary.
MIDGLEY, J. 2001. South Africa: the challenge of social development. International Journal of Social Welfare, 10(2):267-275.
MISHRA, R. 1999. Globalization and the Welfare State. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
MPOTSENG, J.K. 1978. Towards black Wednesday, 19/10/77, and beyond. AZAPO. [Online] Available: http://www.azapo.org.za/links/ blackwednes-day.htm [Accessed: 12/06/2012].
NATIONAL WELFARE FORUM. 2013. History. [Online] Available: http://www.nwf. org.za/history-of-the-national-welfare-forum [Retrieved: 10/10/2013].
NCAPAYI, F. 2005. Land demand and rural struggles in Xhalanga, Eastern Cape: who wants land and for what? (MPhil Thesis in Land and Agrarian Studies). [Online] Available: http://etd.uwc.ac.za/usrfiles/modules/etd/docs/etd_init_9845_11768 95917. pdf [Accessed: 16/01/2010].
NORWARD, J.N. 2007. Social work and social activism in post-democratic South Africa. In: LAVALETTE, M. & FERGUSON, I. (eds). International social work and the radical tradition. Birmingham: Venture Press.
NOYOO, N. 2003. Social Welfare, policy, social work practice and professional education in a transforming society: South Africa. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand. (PhD Thesis)
NTEBE, A. 1994. Effective intervention roles of South African social workers in an appropriate, relevant and progressive social welfare model. Journal of Social Development in Africa, 9(1):41-50.
NTUSI, T. 1997. South Africa: history of social work education. In: MAYADAS, N.S., WATTS, T.D. & ELLIOT, D. International handbook on social work education. USA: Greenwood Press.
PATEL, L. 2005. Social welfare and social development. Southern Africa: Oxford University Press.
PATEL, L., HOCHFELD, T., GRAHAM, L. & SELIPSKY, L. 2008. The implementation of the White Paper for Social Welfare in the NGO sector: research report. Johannesburg: Centre for Social Development, University of Johannesburg.
PHILLIPS, R. 1943. Phillips’ News, Personal correspondence, Fairview Johannesburg. Cullen Library Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand.
REISCH, M. & ANDREWS, J. 2002 The road not taken: a history of radical social work in the United States. Philadelphia, PA: Brunner-Routledge.
ROELOFS, J. 2007. Foundations and collaboration. Critical Sociology, 33:479-504.
SATGAR, V. 2012. The second phase of the transition: another dead end? Amandla, Issue 25.
SEEKINGS, J. 2008. The Carnegie Commission and the Backlash against Welfare State-Building in South Africa, 1931-1937. Journal of Southern African Studies, 34(3):515-537.
SEN, S. 2005. Colonial childhoods: the juvenile periphery of India 1850-1945. Anthem South Asian Studies. London: Anthem Press.
SEWPAUL, V. & HOLSCHER, D. 2004. Social work in times of neoliberalism: a postmodern discourse. Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers.
SMITH, M.K. 2002. Mary Carpenter, reformatory schools and education. The encyclopedia of informal education. Last update: September 03, 2009. [Online] Available: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/carpenter.htm#cite [Accessed: 21/01/2010].
SMITH, L. & ALEXANDER, P. 2013. Marikana: explosive anger. Journal for Critical and Radical Social Work, 1(1):131-133.
SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY ONLINE. 2013. Timelines. [Online] Available: http://www.sahistory.org.za/article [Accessed: 12/09/2013].
SOUTH AFRICAN DEPARTMENT OF WELFARE. 1997. White Paper for Social Welfare. Pretoria: Government Press.
SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE POST-WAR PLANNING OF SOCIAL WELFARE WORK. 1944. Conference Report. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 25th to 29th September, 1944.
SPARTACUS EDUCATION. 2012. [Online] Available http://www.spartacus. schoolnet.co.uk/¬Whobhouse.htm [Accessed: 10/10/2012].
TAPSCOTT, C. 2010. Social Mobilisation in Cape Town: a tale of two communities. In: THOMPSON, L. & TAPSCOTT, C. 2010. Citizenship and social movements. London: Zed Books.
THOMPSON, R.J. & NICHOLLS, B.M. 1993. The Glen Grey Act: forgotten dimensions in an old theme. South African Journal of Economic History, 8(2):58-70.
TOMKINS, S. 2007. William Wilberforce: a biography. Oxford, England: Lion Hudson.
TSOTSI, W.M. 2000. From chattel to wage slavery. Durban: W.M. Tsotsi.
UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL. History. [Online] Available: http://www. ukzn.ac.za/About-UKZN/UKZN-History.aspx [Accessed: 28/01/2011].
VAN DER MERWE, R. 2011. Moulding volksmoeders or volks enemies? Female students at the University of Pretoria, 1920-1970. Historia, 56(1):77-100.
VINCENT, I. 1999. A cake of soap: the Volksmoeder ideology and Afrikaner Women’s campaign for the vote. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 32(1):1-17.
VISSER, W. 2004. Trends in South African historiography and the state of historical research. Paper presented at the Nordic-Africa institute, Uppsala, Sweden, 23 September 2004. [Online] Available: http://sun025.sun.ac.za/portal/page/portal/Arts/ Departemente1/-geskiedenis/docs/trends_sahistoriography.pdf [Accessed: 20/09/2012].
WORDEN, N. 2008. The making of modern South Africa. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Company.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged when works are cited.
Authors may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, and with conferences.
The following license applies:
Attribution CC BY-4.0
This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.
Articles as a whole may not be re-published with another journal.
