Introduction

The Introduction to the Routledge Handbook on African Social Work Education contextualises the book within contemporary global shifts to creating social work education that is responsive to local conditions and is culturally relevant. Approaches to transitioning away from the hegemony of Western literature, knowledge, and practice models currently underpinning African social work education are introduced. Ways of working with different knowledge systems and world views, different ways of knowing, doing, and seeing social work, are introduced as a foundation for reciprocal learning and knowledge exchange between the Global South and Global North. Chapters covering Central Africa: Cameroon; East Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda; Southern Africa: Botswana, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe; and West Africa: Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria are introduced under the four themed sections in the Handbook: 1. Approaches to Indigenising, Decolonising and Developing Culturally Relevant Social Work Education, 2. Social Work Education: Evolution across Contexts, 3. Embedding Field Practicum into Social Work Education, and 4. Knowledge Exchange between the Global South and Global North. The context of the Handbook is Africa, yet the topics covered are relevant to ongoing debates in social work, social welfare, social development, and sustainability across the globe.