Border thinking in social work: The role of indigenous knowledge in the development of relations between the Global North and the Global South

AbstractInternational social work is caused through current confrontations. It deals with the consequences of colonization, de-colonization, globalization and indigenization. This requires a “border thinking” and new focus on local and indigenous knowledge. Taking the colonial wounds as a chance, the creation of a diverse world based on older forms of knowledge would be imaginable. Especially, social movements of population that have been marginalized in colonialism are seen as subject of hope. Our aim is to encourage the re-appropriation and re-interpretation of concepts and content from repressed and forgotten traditions and an interculturalism as an exchange and negotiation. Both recognize local indigenous knowledge and transform this into a practice of international social work; this is the main thesis of our article.