Br. J. Social Wk. (1999) 29, 5-26 Social Work and the 'Missionary Zeal to Whip the Heathen Along the Path of Righteousness' 1 ARNON BAR-ON Arnon Bar-On is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Work at the University of Bots- wana. SUMMARY Ever since Western forms of social work were first imported to Africa, a serious debate has been raging on whether they fit the African context Most of this debate has concentrated, however, on the techniques of Western social work as opposed to the ends to which they are put, which, being underpinned by Western values, are essentially alien to African culture. Applying Western social work in Africa can be viewed, therefore, as continuing the work of the missionaries who sought to remake Africans in their own image. Following a summary of the arguments why Africa might require a form of social work of its own, this article explores the chances of such indigenization and concludes that it might be nigh impossible unless research involving reflective learning by African social workers with their clients is placed at the centre of social work practice. One of the most common claims today is that dominant Western cultures need to listen to hitherto marginalized and 'non-Western' voices that their conventional discourse has long ignored or purposefully suppressed. This is a point well worth making, but with three significant caveats. First, there is no reason to assume that the persons who speak for marginalized groups typify what people think in these groups as a whole. Second, listening to these voices does not entail their automatic acceptance. There is much spurious use of conspiracy theory in many non-Western 'analyses', and accepting anything of indigenous origin as invariably 'true'. Third, the content of much of what passes for alternate views is nothing but recycled Western ideas. Mandela and Gandhi, let alone Castro and Mao, bear this out. Nothing illustrates these 1 Kausiltan, B. (1993), 'Asia's differrent standard', Foreign Policy, 92, p. 33. Correspondence to Amon Bar-On, Department of Social Work, University of Botswana, Private Bag 0022, Gaborone, Botswana. © 1999 British Association of Social Workers