Ubuntu generally means humanity. It is an African philosophy and a principle that is being promoted by the international bodies of social work. Like other Western knowledge, its capacity for indigenisation should be a shared interest nowadays. This article assesses the utilisation of Ubuntu for a rural development programme in China. It illustrates Ubuntu’s unique perspectives about traditional values and human relationships for promoting a holistic understanding of professional practice. The implications encourage further discoveries of various potential uses of Ubuntu in respective localities for developing a polythetic community of international social work.
ChigangaidzeRK (2021) Defending the African philosophy of Ubuntu and its place in clinical social work practice in mental health: The biopsychosocial and ecological systems perspectives. Social Work in Mental Health19(4): 276–288.
5.
ChigangaidzeRK (2022) Environmental social work through the African philosophy of Ubuntu: A conceptual analysis. International Social Work. Epub ahead of print 18 March. DOI: 10.1177/00208728211073382.
6.
ChigangaidzeRKMafaISimangoTG, et al. (2022) Establishing the relevance of the Ubuntu philosophy in social work practice: Inspired by the Ubuntu World Social Work Day, 2021 celebrations and the IFSW and IASSW’s (2014) Global Definition of Social Work. International Social Work. Epub ahead of print 23 February. DOI: 10.1177/00208728221078374.
ChuWCKTsuiMYanM (2009) Social work as a moral and political practice. International Social Work52(3): 287–298.
9.
DenzinNK (1989) The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods (3rd edn). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
10.
FanHLiS (2015) The main problems of rural grass-roots social governance. Guangxi Social Science1: 149–153.
11.
FettermanDMWandersmanA (eds) (2005) Empowerment Evaluation Principles in Practice. New York: Guilford Press.
12.
FlynnCMcDermottF (2016) Doing Research in Social Work and Social Care: The Journey from Student to Practitioner Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
13.
FolgheraiterF (2007) Relational social work: Principles and practices. Social Policy and Society6(2): 265–274.
14.
FookJ (2011) Developing critical reflection as a research method. In: HiggsJTitchenAHorsfallD, et al. (eds) Creative Spaces for Qualitative Researching. Boston, MA: Sense Publishers, pp. 55–64.
15.
HanYHuangJ (2019) Evolution of social welfare in rural China: A developmental approach. International Social Work62(1): 390–404.
16.
HeinschMGrayMSharlandE (2016) Re-conceptualising the link between research and practice in social work: A literature review on knowledge utilisation. International Journal of Social Welfare25(1): 98–104.
KuHBMaYN (2015) Rural–urban alliance as a new model for post-disaster social work intervention in community reconstruction: The case in Sichuan, China. International Social Work58(5): 743–758.
20.
KuHBWongRYL (2018) State, profession, and religion: Reflecting on spirituality and indigenous social work in China in the Yushu earthquake relief. Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought37(2): 146–165.
LeiJHuangW (2017) Pragmatic professionalism: A fuzzy Delphi study on the competencies of social workers in Guangzhou, China. The British Journal of Social Work48(2): 505–524.
23.
LiYLiQYuanX (2017) Welfare governance, policy implementation and social policy targeting: An investigation of the rural minimum living standards guarantee scheme in village. Sociological Studies32(6): 44–69.
24.
Lugeng Social Work Development Center (2022) Guangdong social work double hundreds program (in Chinese). Available at: www.shuangbai-plan.org/ (accessed 5 July 2022).
25.
MabvuriraV (2020) Hunhu/Ubuntu philosophy as a guide for ethical decision making in social work. African Journal of Social Work10(1): 73–77.
26.
MayakaBTruellR (2021) Ubuntu and its potential impact on the International Social Work profession. International Social Work64(5): 649–662.
27.
MengQGrayMBradtL, et al. (2019) Emergence of social work practice in rural China: A way forward. International Social Work62(2): 933–943.
28.
MetzT (2011) Ubuntu as a moral theory and human rights in South Africa. African Human Rights Law Journal11: 532–559.
29.
MetzT (2014) Just the beginning for Ubuntu: Reply to Matolino and Kwindingwi. South African Journal of Philosophy33: 65–72.
30.
MuchiriSMurekasengeJNzisabiraS (2019) Exploring the efficacy of the Bashingantahe institution as an indigenous model of problem solving in Burundi. In: TwikirizeJMSpitzerH (eds) Social Work Practice in Africa: Indigenous and Innovative Approaches. Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers, pp. 197–212.
31.
MugumbateJ (2020) Samkange’s theory of Ubuntu and its contribution to a decolonised social work pedagogy. In: MorleyCAblettPNobleC, et al. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Critical Pedagogies for Social Work. London: Routledge, pp. 410–421.
32.
MugumbateJChereniA (2019) Using African Ubuntu theory in social work with children in Zimbabwe. African Journal of Social Work9(1): 27–34.
33.
MupedziswaRRankopoMMwansaL-K (2019) Ubuntu as a pan-African philosophical framework for social work in Africa. In: TwikirizeJMSpitzerH (eds) Social Work Practice in Africa: Indigenous and Innovative Approaches. Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers, pp. 21–38.
34.
NielsenKMiragliaM (2017) What works for whom in which circumstances? On the need to move beyond the ‘what works?’ question in organizational intervention research. Human Relations70(1): 40–62.
35.
OmodanB (2020) Managing the psycho-social vacuum of COVID-19 among rural learners through Ubuntu. Journal of Educational and Social Research10(6): 266–278.
36.
SongJDuHLiS (2020) Who is the winner? Relocated rural communities and stratification in urbanizing north-western China. Journal of Rural Studies77: 159–168.
37.
ThompsonJBSpanoRKoenigTL (2019) Back to Addams and Richmond: Was social work really a divided house in the beginning. The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare46: 1.
38.
TreimanDJ (2012) The difference between heaven and earth: Urban–rural disparities in well-being in China. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility30(1): 33–47.
39.
Van BredaA (2019) Developing the notion of Ubuntu as African theory for social work practice. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk55(4): 439–450.
40.
YanMC (2013) Towards a pragmatic approach: A critical examination of two assumptions of indigenization discourse. China Journal of Social Work6(1): 14–24.
41.
YinRK (2014) Case Study Research: Design and Methods (5th edn). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
