Ubuntu & direitos humanos: contributos de uma filosofia indígena para a formação de assistentes sociais

Social Work has been faced with the need to review and rethink its intervention, adapting it to the different social, political, economic, and cultural contexts and to the multiplicity of voices in them. The very international definition of the profession that we know today, when it was established by the realities of the 21st century, maintains central assumptions of the previous definition - promoting social change, strengthening the emancipation of people -, but introduces others that deserve equal emphasis: besides Social Work being enunciated as an academic discipline, with its own theories, sustained in the social sciences, it is also reinforced that this knowledge is strengthened in indigenous knowledge, opening space for its recognition and the need for its integration as a source of knowledge. In fact, the indigenous Ubuntu philosophy - "I am because we are" is assumed as the first theme of the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development for 2020-2030. At a time when global politics has shown a growth of governments with nationalistic and oppressive ideologies, Ubuntu highlights the interdependence of all people and their potential in co-constructing more just and dignified social realities.
Methodologically, we follow a qualitative approach, with focus groups and bibliographic research. Thus, we intend, to demonstrate (i) the origins and foundations of Ubuntu, (ii) its alignment with values central to Social Work - Human Rights, Social Justice and Social Solidarity, (iii) the understanding of current SW undergraduate students and recent graduates about indigenous knowledge, intersecting with their own definition and with what they learn in
training; (iv) the integration of these meanings in readings of social reality, the contributions and limits associated with such philosophy; finally, (v) problematizing the multiple levels of oppression, stimulating participants' reflection around the influence that social structures associated with imperialism bring to the personal and cultural life trajectories of each one of us.
It is hoped that the results of the study will shed light on the future of training in the Social Sciences in general, and in Social Work in particular.