Cultural Identity: Yoruba Practices Informing Social Work Profession

This essay explores the influence of Yoruba cultural identity on professional identity and social work practices. It discusses various cultural practices within the Yoruba tribe, including festivals, weddings, language, and the Oyo Empire, and how these practices contribute to shaping professional ethics...Read More

Cross Cultural Social Work
Cross Cultural Social Work
Name
Professor
Course
Institution
Course

Cross Cultural Social Work
Introduction
I am Damilare Olawaie Shodiya from Yoruba tribe. Yoruba community is said to be prolific
sculptors and famous for cotta works. Yoruba is the largest tribe in West Africa which has a lot
of cultural practices that are beneficial. The tribe is associated with a number of activities which
brings a sense of identity and a sense of origin (Adegboye,2013). We have some cultural
activities which attribute to the aspect of professionalism and social work practices. This shows
that there are specific cultural practices in my tribe which have informed me on my cultural
identity related to professional identity and future social work practices. Some of the cultural
practices in my tribe include;
Festivals: Yoruba festivals such as the Osun festivals attract one to soak to the culture of Yoruba.
Weddings: A typical Nigerian wedding combines at least two ceremonies – the traditional
wedding and the religious ceremony. The traditional wedding ceremonies what we normally call
the "Owambe" where all elders are present to strengthen the family bond and bless the couple
with food fortune.
Language: The Yoruba language is rumored to be the easiest language to master and understand.
The Oyo Empire: The embodiment of culture and history of Yoruba tribe (Fong & Ng, 2012).
Discussion
Generally, professional identity refers to ones professional self-concept that is based on different
attributes, different values, beliefs, motives and also experiences while social work practices
involve the application of professional skills such as principles, values, and techniques so as to

Cross Cultural Social Work
assist people to obtain tangible practices and services (Kinloch & Metge, 2014).Therefore, the
above mentioned cultural practices in the Yoruba tribe helps in constructing my professional
identity and social work practices in the following ways.
First, the cultural ethics and values in my tribe instill a sense of direction. For example, the issue
of religion in my tribe helps in bringing people together. Most of the people in my tribe still
performing traditional religious rituals. The practice for traditional religion in my tribe varies
from one community to another community (LaRose, Connolly, Lee & Hales, 2014). For
example, we have gods such as deity who may be a male to one community and female in
another community. In Yoruba, the worshipers of a deity are known as his "children."We have
religious leaders who direct people on what to do and not to do. This shows that most of our
religious virtues help in bringing people together thus helping me to practice social work
activities. The most interesting virtue that helps in bringing the sense of social work practices is
the Yoruba court. The court instills the concept of social justice in all communities. The
proceedings in the court demand each individual in the community to swear by giving the
trustful testimony by a kissing a machete which is sacred to Ogun (the god of war and metal
working in my community). Through this practice, we are able to instill the issue of social work
practices in different places within Nigeria.
In addition, the fork arts and crafts in my community improved my professional identity (Leykin
et al., 2012). Most of the activities carried out in my community emphasizes on the issue of
creativity and hardworking. Yoruba engage in verbal arts and visual arts. Some of the visual arts
include the weaving, pottering, wood carving and metal working. We have rural industries which
work on metal workings. Youths are always trained on how to melt and mix metals with

Cross Cultural Social Work
different components such as chemicals so as to design different products such as metallic doors
which are exported. These cultural practices encourage youths to work hard and to be creative
when dealing with metal work. Through these principles, I have been able to access the
professional skills needed in different fields. The woodcarving industries account for the greatest
decorated products generated by the tribe. We have blacksmiths who work brass thus creating
decorative objects.
The recreation activities in the tribe help in establishing stability within the community.
Basically, recreational activities such as rituals and sports encourage togetherness (Marsella &
White, 2012). My tribe has traditional entertainment such as dancing activities, rituals, and music
activities which helps in teaching the issue of social work. We have modern recreation activities
such as going to movies and discos which encourages on togetherness thus helping people to
have the concept of social work. Also, we have rules which govern the recreational activities in
the tribe. For example, we have a religious belief which prohibits women from going to movies
and discos. We have games such as Ayo (a traditional game in my community that requires brain
power and mathematical skills) which helps me in acquiring social work practices like helping
individuals in other communities. Our games not only involve entertainment but also instill the
issue of social work whereby we contribute as tribe some cash that is used to help the needy
individuals within the society. Through this contribution, it shows that the tribe is more on social
work and thus teaching individuals to care for our needy brothers in the tribe.
Also, the socialization in my tribe helps in emphasizing on social work practices. The closest ties
are between the mother and child (Matondo, 2012). This means that mothers in my tribe indulge
children with fathers who are strict on behaviors and disciplines. The tribe indicates that a child

Cross Cultural Social Work
should be treated permissively up to the age of 2 then after he is subjected to physical
punishment. The ridicule also regulates the behavior of individuals thus helping me to grow as a
good person observing the ethics and codes of social work practices in my community. This also
helps one to understand his/her professional identity since the education system emphasizes on
discipline. Basically, children always learn what to do by imitating what their parents are doing
in different fields. This too helps us to understand our professional potentials and also learning
the codes of social work practices in the tribe.
Lastly, the issue of division of labor in my community has improved my professional identity.
We normally share duties according to our sex (Selin, 2013). Division of labor encourages on the
issue of responsibility and commitment. The goal of labor division in my community is to avoid
the issue of laziness and being accountable to superiors. Through these virtues, I am able to work
without supervision since I do believe in my culture on work division. I am always accountable
to my duties and this has been catalyzed by the issue of work division in my tribe. Just to
mention some aspects of work division in my tribe. First, men and women in my tribe usually
work separately. Each individual takes different household roles whereby women work on child
caring activities with men working in farms to generate food for the family. Also, we have a
division of labor based on the age whereby heavy work is reserved for youths (Wong, Tiwari,
Fong & Bullock, 2016).
Conclusion
To sum up, Yoruba cultural identity instills on professional identity and social work practices in
different ways. The cultural practices such as socialization in Yoruba, cultural values and

Cross Cultural Social Work
recreational activities are emphasizing on future work practices since they encourage the issue of
togetherness thus increasing social stability (Xiao, Shen & Paterson, 2013). Also, the division of
labor, fork arts, and crafts practices are more on equipping people with professional skills. All
the concepts described in the essay are more of social and economic organization. The social
organization in the community builds and improves personal behavior so as to come up with a
better human being.

Cross Cultural Social Work
References
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Cross Cultural Social Work
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