Constructing contextualised theories in career guidance and counselling – A North-South intercultural dialogue

The career guidance and counselling field has produced theories from the Global North that have been imported and applied in Global South contexts. The Global South is often used to identify less economically developed countries. In this sense, these theories were produced in distinct cultural and socioeconomic contexts than those of the Global South, characterised by uncertainty and vulnerability. Theories and practices should be contextualised to assist the users of career guidance and counselling services properly and effectively. Thus, there is a growing awareness of the need to address the disadvantages experienced by individuals living in or from countries described as being in the Global South or by vulnerable groups from the Global North. One of the ways of addressing disadvantage is through intensive and potent processes of career construction; however, there are inequalities not just in the level of provision but also in the theories which support practice. In that vein, this paper aims to discuss the relations between power and the production of knowledge and the discrepancy between theory and reality in career guidance and counselling. Inspired by Boaventura de Sousa Santos’s intercultural ideas, Bruno Latour’s hybrid thoughts, and by a social constructionist perspective informed by Southern epistemologies, the paper explores principles to extend the explanatory power of the theories in a contextualised way proposing a North-South intercultural dialogue for achieving that goal.