Social Work in Ghana
Engaging Traditional Actors in Professional Practices
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v6i2.70Keywords:
Ghana, localisation, the traditional system, the extended family system, international social work, social work educationAbstract
In contemporary Ghana, the traditional system and professional social work operate as two parallel systems within the field of social work. The aim of this study was to investigate if and how the teaching of contemporary professional social work in Ghana takes into account traditional actors and practices. The traditional system includes extended family members and traditional authorities such as chiefs or family heads. It formed the social institution that protected and cared for the vulnerable before (Western) social work was introduced as a formal profession in Ghana. A 10-week ethnographic field study was conducted at the Department of Social Work at the University of Ghana. The study employed a qualitative, social constructionist approach, interpreting the results within a theoretical framework of social world theory. The empirical material consisted of interviews with students and teachers, participant observation at lectures, and various documents. The main findings of the study were that professional social workers and traditional actors can be seen as members of two subworlds – the subworld of professional social workers and the subworld of traditional actors. Students and teachers discuss interventions from the perspective of social workers and traditional actors. Their ability to take different perspectives seems to be crucial for localisation – the process by which social work is made relevant to local culture and traditions. The interviewees’ accounts reveal how localisation is not only about culture, but also about social structures and practical considerations. The poor state of the social work profession in Ghana affects interventions in a profound way.
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Schütz, A. (1967). The Phenomenology of the Social World. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
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Strauss, A. (1978). “A Social Worlds Perspective” in Strauss, A. (1991). Creating Social Awareness. Collective Images and Symbolic Representations. New Brunswick: Transactions Publishers.
Strauss, A. (1985) in Strauss, A. (1991). “Work and the Division of Labour” in Strauss, A. (1991). Creating Social Awareness. Collective Images and Symbolic Representations. New Brunswick: Transactions Publishers.
Strauss, A. (1993). Continual Permutations of Action. New Brunswick and London: Aldine Transaction.
Twumasi, P. A. (1979). “A Social History of the Ghanaian Pluralistic Medical System”. Social Science and Medicine. Part B: Medical Anthropology Vol. 13, Issue 4, pp. 349-356.
Walton, R. G. & Abo-El-Nasr, M. M. (1988). “Indigenization and Authentization in terms of Social Work in Egypt”, International Social Work, 31(2), 135-144.
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Alvesson, M. & Sköldberg, K. (2008). Tolkning och reflektion. Vetenskapsfilosofi och kvalitativ metod. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Anyinam, C. (1987). “Traditional Medical Practice in Contemporary Ghana: A Dying or Growing ‘Profession’?” Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 315-336.
Apt, N. A. & Blavo, E. Q. (1997). “Ghana”. In Nazneen S. Mayadas, Doreen Elliott, & Thomas D.Watts (Eds.), International Handbook On Social Work Theory And Practice. London: Greenwood Press.
Asamoah, Y. (1997). “Africa”. In Nazneen S Mayadas, Doreen Elliott, & Thomas D. Watts (Eds.), International Handbook On Social Work Theory And Practice. London: Greenwood Press.
Askeland, G. A. & Payne, M. (2008). Globalization and International Social Work. Postmodern Change and Challenge. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
Aspers, P. (2007). Etnografiska metoder. Att förstå och förklara samtiden. Malmö: Liber.
Beresford, P. & Branfield, F. (2006). “Developing inclusive partnerships: user-defined outcomes, networking and knowledge - a case study” Health and Social Care in the Community Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 436-444.
Berger, P. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality. A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. London: Penguin Books.
Bucher, R. & Strauss, A. (1961). “Professions in Process” in Strauss, A. (1991). Creating Social Awareness. Collective Images and Symbolic Representations. New Brunswick: Transactions Publishers.
Camaroff, J. & Camaroff, J. (1993). Modernity and its Malcontents: Ritual and Power in Postcolonial Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Dominelli, L. (2008). Anti-Racist Social Work. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillian.
Eliasson, R. (1995). Forskningsetik och perspektivval. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Elo, S. & Kyngäs, H. (2008). The Qualitative Content Analysis Process. Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 62, No. 1, pp.107–115.
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. & Fortes, M. (1940). “Introduction” In E. E. Evans-Pritchard & M. Fortes (Eds.), African Political Systems. London: Oxford University Press.
Fanon, F. (1967). Black Skin, White Masks – The Experience of a Black Man in a White World. New York: Grove Press.
GASOW (2010). Official webpage of Ghana Association of Social Workers http://www. gasow.org/news.php?code=2 (2010-07-23).
Geertz, C. (1983). Local Knowledge. New York: Basic Books.
Ghana Police Service (2010). Official webpage of Ghana Police Service and DOVVSU http://www.ghanapolice.info/dvvsu/dvvsu.htm (2010-03-01).
Glasby, J. & Beresford, P. (2006). “Who knows best? Evidence-based practice and the service user contribution.” Critical social Policy, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 268-284.
Goody, J. (1957). “Fields of Social Control among the LoDagaba”. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 87, No. 1 (Jan. - Jun., 1957), pp. 75-104.
Goody, J. (1977). The Domestication of The Savage Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Graneheim, U. H. & Lundman, B. (2004). “Qualitative Content Analysis in Nursing Research: Concepts, Procedures and Measures to Achieve Trustworthiness.” Nurse Education Today. Vol. 24, pp. 105–112.
Hammersley, M. & Atkinson, P. (1995). Ethnography. Principles in Practice. London: Routledge.
Horsley, G. C. (1997). “In-Laws: Extended Family Therapy”. The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 18-27.
IFSW (2011). Official webpage of International Federation of Social Workers http://www.ifsw.org/p38000398.html (2011-09-24).
Jergeby, U. (2007). Att bedöma en social situation. Tillämpning av vinjettmetoden. Stockholm: Socialstyrelsen och Institutet för utveckling av metoder i socialt arbete.
Kreitzer, L., Abukai, Z., Antonio, P. Mensah, J., & Kwaku, A. (2009). “Social Work in Ghana: A Participatory Action Research Project Looking at Culturally Appropriate Training and Practice.” Social Work Education, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 145-164.
Kreitzer, L. (2004). “Queen Mothers and Social Workers: A potential collaboration between traditional authority and social work in Ghana”. Chieftain: Journal of Traditional Governance, Vol. 1, pp. 1-43.
Krumer-Nevo, M. (2005). “Listening to ‘Life Knowledge’: a New Research Direction in Poverty Studies”. International Journal of Social Welfare, No. 14, pp. 99–106.
Laird, S. E. (2008). “African Social Services in Peril. A Study of the Department of Social Welfare in Ghana under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative”. Journal of Social Work, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 377-398.
Leighninger, L. & Midgley, J. (1997). “North America”. In Nazneen S. Mayadas, Doreen Elliott, & Thomas D. Watts (Eds.), International Handbook On Social Work Theory And Practice. London: Greenwood Press.
Mekada, J. G. (1999). “The African-Centered Worldview: Toward a Paradigm for Social Work”. Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 103-122.
Midgley, J. (1981). Professional Imperialism: Social work in the Third World. London: Heinemann Education Books Ltd.
Mudimbe, V. Y. (1994). The Idea of Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Mudimbe, V. Y. (1988). The Invention of Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Nimmagadda, J. & Cowger, C. D. (1999). “Cross-cultural Practice: Social Worker Ingenuity in the Indigenization of Practice Knowledge” International Social Work, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 261-276.
Nukunya, G. K. (2003). Tradition and Change in Ghana. An Introduction to Sociology. Accra: Ghana University Press.
Osei-Hwedie, K. (1993). “The Challenge of Social Work in Africa: Starting the Indigenisation Process.” Journal of Social Development in Africa, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 19-30.
Payne, M. (2006). What is Professional Social Work? Bristol: The Policy Press.
Potter, R. B., Binns, T., Elliott, J. A. & Smith, D. (2008). Geographies of Development. An Introduction to Development Studies. Essex: Person Education Limited.
Radcliff-Brown, A.R. (1940). “Preface” In E. E. Evans-Pritchard & M. Fortes (Eds.), African Political Systems. London: Oxford University Press.
Republic of Ghana (2007). Domestic Violence Act, 2007 (Act 732).
Rowlings, C. (1997). “Europe”. In Nazneen S. Mayadas, Doreen Elliott, & Thomas D.Watts (Eds.), International Handbook On Social Work Theory And Practice. London: Greenwood Press.
Schütz, A. (1967). The Phenomenology of the Social World. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
Shibutani, T: (1955). “Reference Groups as Perspectives.” The American Journal of Sociology Vol. 60, No 6 (May, 1955), pp. 562-569.
Socialstyrelsen (2010). Official Webpage of Socialstyrelsen http://www.socialstyrelsen.se/ evidensbaseradpraktik/insatser/barnochfamilj/familjeradslag (2010-07-22).
Strauss, A. (1978). “A Social Worlds Perspective” in Strauss, A. (1991). Creating Social Awareness. Collective Images and Symbolic Representations. New Brunswick: Transactions Publishers.
Strauss, A. (1985) in Strauss, A. (1991). “Work and the Division of Labour” in Strauss, A. (1991). Creating Social Awareness. Collective Images and Symbolic Representations. New Brunswick: Transactions Publishers.
Strauss, A. (1993). Continual Permutations of Action. New Brunswick and London: Aldine Transaction.
Twumasi, P. A. (1979). “A Social History of the Ghanaian Pluralistic Medical System”. Social Science and Medicine. Part B: Medical Anthropology Vol. 13, Issue 4, pp. 349-356.
Walton, R. G. & Abo-El-Nasr, M. M. (1988). “Indigenization and Authentization in terms of Social Work in Egypt”, International Social Work, 31(2), 135-144.
World Bank (2010). Official homepage of World Bank http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/ EXTERNAL/TOPICS/CSO/0,,pagePK:220469~theSitePK:228717,00.html (2010-07-21).
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2011-10-03
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Avendal, C. (2011). Social Work in Ghana: Engaging Traditional Actors in Professional Practices. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 6(2), 106–124. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v6i2.70
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