Structural inequalities in Namibia and South Africa : a critical social work perspective

dc.contributor.authorChiwara, Peggie
dc.contributor.emailpeggie.chiwara@up.ac.zaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-11-27T05:46:52Z
dc.date.issued2024-05-27
dc.description.abstractNamibia and South Africa share land and maritime borders and the interrelated structural challenges of poverty and socio-economic inequalities amidst progressive economic growth that are rooted in their apartheid past and contemporary economic development trajectories. Such inequalities are defined along racial, class, gender and other social locations that either grant privilege, power and access to socio-economic opportunities or result in marginalisation, oppression and resource deprivation. The rationale for this article is linked to the historic call for social work to intensify efforts in promoting social and economic equality. Despite Namibia and South Africa’s geographical proximity and their intertwined histories, there is a dearth of social work studies that offer a comparative critical social work perspective on structural inequalities in these former apartheid strongholds. While social work should actively engage in contesting the structural contradictions of poverty and inequalities amidst abundant resources, the reality is often that of the uncritical acceptance of existing socio-political inequalities, such that the profession’s enunciated commitment to social justice becomes perimetric. Thus, the article argues for the inclusion of critical social work approaches in social work education and practice against a backdrop of ideological divides, political trends and contextual factors that limit social workers’ critical and structural level engagement.en_US
dc.description.departmentSocial Work and Criminologyen_US
dc.description.embargo2025-11-27
dc.description.librarianam2024en_US
dc.description.sdgSDG-01:No povertyen_US
dc.description.sdgSDG-10:Reduces inequalitiesen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThe National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, in collaboration with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, the Canon Collins Sol Plaatje Scholarship and the University of Pretoria Postgraduate Bursary.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/SWPR/indexen_US
dc.identifier.citationChiwara, P. 2024, 'Structural inequalities in Namibia and South Africa : a critical social work perspective', Southern African Journal of Social Work and Social Development, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 1-18. https://DOI.org/10.25159/2708-9355/14605en_US
dc.identifier.issn2520-0097 (print)
dc.identifier.issn2708-9355 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.25159/2708-9355/14605
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/99427
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUnisa Pressen_US
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2024. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.en_US
dc.subjectStructural inequalitiesen_US
dc.subjectCritical social worken_US
dc.subjectDevelopmental social worken_US
dc.subjectSocial justiceen_US
dc.subjectNamibiaen_US
dc.subjectSouth Africa (SA)en_US
dc.subjectSDG-01: No povertyen_US
dc.subjectSDG-10: Reduced inequalitiesen_US
dc.titleStructural inequalities in Namibia and South Africa : a critical social work perspectiveen_US
dc.typePostprint Articleen_US

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