Descripción:

The construction of equitable societies that are respectful of cultural, social or human diversity in general is a subject that should motivate research, sustained reflection and rigorous debate by social workers, and other professionals in the Social Sciences. Similarly, given the crisis in the dominant paradigm of modern science, which has legitimized hegemonic forms of knowledge, the study of other epistemic trends is essential, such as Decolonial Studies and critical Interculturality, which promote the collective construction of new knowledge corresponding to our rationality as Latin American citizens in dialogue with other rationales in the world (to avoid falling into certain fundamentalisms). In this sense, the purpose of this research project was to analyze in decolonial terms the epistemic foundations of Social Work, as a first step in the construction of a cognitive scaffolding that refers to Decolonial and Intercultural Social Work.

This was done collectively through a process of research-action-reflection between teachers, students, and researchers from the Social Work major at the Western Campus. In addition, this project was added to a larger project developed in coordination with other Social Work majors in various countries: University of Antioquia in Colombia, Central University "Marta Abreu de Las Villas" in Cuba, Eichstatt University in Germany, the University Puerto Rico: Río Piedras campus. From this study on the new theoretical-practical trends in Social Work, the characteristics of the current process of vocational training in the Social Work major at the Western Campus were analyzed, in order to explore its consistency with the incorporation of content that refers to Decolonial Studies and human diversity. In summary, the “other” knowledge and epistemic foundations that represent new challenges in the research and professional training of social workers were investigated.