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The Global–Local Dialectic: Challenges for African Scholarship and Social Work in a Post-Colonial World
Vishanthie Sewpaul is the Head of the School of Social Work and Community Development at the University of Kwazulu Natal, Durban, South Africa. She represents social work on various national bodies and serves on the board of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). As a member of IASSW, she chaired the Global Standards Committee on social work education and training. She has presented at several national and international conferences, has published widely in scientific journals and is currently the deputy editor of International Social Work.
Correspondence to Vishanthie Sewpaul, University of Kwazulu Natal, Durban, South Africa. E-mail: sewpaul{at}ukzn.ac.za
The world we want to transform has already been worked on by history and is largely hollow. We must nevertheless be inventive enough to change it and build a new world (Subcomandante Marcos, 2000, p. 5).
This paper addresses the global–local dialectic in respect of the convergence and divergence of culture and democracy, and the consequences of neo-liberal capitalism. The argument is that while the globalization of people has produced some gains, the globalization of capital has created a world of unbridled consumerism, individualism and greed with the maintenance of a capitalist ideological hegemony that precludes our search for alternatives and, indeed, limits our very ability to think outside the system. The paper concludes with a call for the development of a counter-hegemonic consciousness to neo-liberal capitalism and a commitment to redistributive justice as we envision another world order.
Keywords: globalization, neo-liberal capitalism, democracy, redistributive justice, challenging ideological hegemony
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