Theorising Disability, Personhood, and Social Work in Igbo and Yoruba Cultural Contexts: An Ontological Inquiry

Conceptions of personhood and disability in Igbo and Yoruba cultural contexts diverge significantly from biomedical and Western disability rights frameworks, with profound implications for social work theory, practice, and the professional relationship with disabled people in South East and South West Nigeria. This doctoral study undertakes an ontological inquiry into disability, personhood, and social work across Igbo and Yoruba cultural contexts, drawing on empirical data from Anambra, Imo, Oyo, and Osun States. An interpretivist ontological paradigm employing indigenous constructivist research methods underpins the study, combining 50 philosophical interviews with cultural knowledge holders and disabled community members, 20 social worker narrative interviews, and analysis of oral tradition and community cultural texts. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis and comparative cross-cultural discourse analysis are applied. The study's original philosophical contribution is the construction of a Culturally Grounded Ontology of Disability that distinguishes Igbo relational personhood and Yoruba life force models of disability from biomedical and social models, and articulates their implications for culturally situated social work practice. The study challenges Western epistemological dominance in disability social work and proposes an ontological pluralism framework for professional education and practice. Keywords: disability ontology, personhood, cultural context, social work, indigenous theory