Space and time are Western constructs in which Kānaka Maoli are confined to understanding the way in which the world operates. When individuals from Hawaiʻi enlist in the military industrial complex, Xtorically, there’s a sense of safety, through being part of an entity that inserts domination and power. Xtory is a term I introduced and defined at a conference in 2022 related to Indigenous Peoples and the “history” surrounding our Peoples as the Western world extracts, exploits, and erases our stories. These same stories become the ways in which the military industrial complex is complicit in the process of assimilation and elimination of Kānaka Maoli identity that leaves enlisted soldiers and their families in the space of the in-between. This poem is about existing in many silos such as time and space, in a matrix of safety, and the constructs of the Black/white binary (Gines, 2013) and the ways Kānaka Maoli overcome these Western constructs by returning to our lands and listening or hearing the voices of our ancestors across time spans.
Background: Ndehl Heehl G̱oodin? (“How are you feeling? What is your heart telling you?”), funded by an internal teaching and research grant within the faculty of Human and Social Development at the University of Victoria, explores how Gitxsan worldviews can inform midterm course evaluations. Conventional evaluations rely on standardized metrics, with little consideration for how Indigenous pedagogies and relationality shape reflective learning. This study examined how Gitxsan ways of being can inform and affirm culturally grounded approaches to course feedback surveys. Methods: Two former students of an asynchronous social work course and four Gitxsan community members participated in 30-60-minute interviews. Student interviews were recorded and transcribed, while community interviews followed Storywork with interviewer journaling. Purposeful sampling supported trust and relational connection. Data were thematically analyzed, and a Gitxsan Elder and fluent speaker translated thematic headings into Gitxanimx. Results: Seven themes emerged: Nada k’i’yhl t’il ts’iipxwit (Engagement/Connection), Hosim ho sag̱ayt k’i’yhl g̱ag̱oodiit (Relationality), Sityeekwsit (Transformation), Wila sawitxwt (Identity), Luu hoksxwit (Belonging), Lax̱ yip (Land), Aluut’aa siwilaaksa (Teachings), and Heeḵ’al (Responsibility). Participants emphasized relational and land-based approaches that deepen reflection, strengthen community connection, and counter harms linked to quantitative systems. Conclusions: Integrating Gitxsan ways of being into assessment can enhance reflective learning while honouring Indigenous worldviews. This pilot project offers groundwork for culturally grounded feedback tools in education.
This article examines how conceptions of time among the Akwẽ-Xerente people of Salto Kripre village (Tocantins State) and the Mbya Guarani people of Nhanderekoá village (São Paulo State) constitute counter-colonial forms of resistance against the temporal orders imposed by capitalist society. Drawing on an analysis of cultivation practices, hunting, and foodways as expressions of temporal relations within these communities, the article argues that these peoples sustain ways of life rooted in shared time—organized in synchrony with land, natural cycles, and spiritual relationships—countering the Western worldview of linear and production-centered time. In both contexts, time is not treated as a resource to be optimized but as a relational dimension involving humans, non-human beings, and territory. Through personal narratives, the article demonstrates how temporal experience shifts within and beyond the villages, revealing tensions between Indigenous temporalities and capitalist acceleration. Ultimately, the study argues that Indigenous struggles for land are simultaneously struggles for the right to live according to temporalities that resist dispossession and affirm that time can belong to the land.
This poem centers on my adult nephew, who has autism and verbal communication challenges, as a survivor of the Lahaina wildfire. I use his perspective to highlight the Lahaina community's ongoing response, refusal, and resistance since the August 2023 disaster. The poem focuses on the heroic resilience of community members whose need for survivor housing caused them to occupy Kaʻanapali beach for nearly six months and take on the political issue of Maui’s lack of housing for its long-term, permanent residents.
This article draws on research undertaken for the study, Kaitiakitanga: Māori experiences, expressions, and understandings. Four main themes were identified in that research: whānau, taiao, taonga tuku iho, and tino rangatiratanga. This article draws on one component from the larger study that concerned Kaitiaki—spiritual guardians and beings. The research was undertaken through a Kaupapa Māori methodology, which carried an obligation to apply Māori ways of knowing and being across all areas of the study. Participants discussed how Kaitiaki brought them messages and information that helped inform their lives and that these relationships gave them confidence, strengthened life balance, cultural connection, and spiritual awareness. The findings demonstrate how Māori express, experience and understand their Kaitiaki. These insights offer a way to record how Kaitiaki shows up in our contemporary lives and how we articulate why they show up. This research identifies that Māori continue to be in relationship with Kaitiaki despite the severe impacts of colonization on these understandings and practices. The article begins by briefly outlining how Māori discuss whakapapa relationships which is the context that binds humans to our relations in our environment. Kaitiaki are then discussed and defined. Finally, the methodology, methods, findings, and discussions are offered.
Social work education, a field historically entangled with assimilation policies, continues to perpetuate colonial logics that devalue and erase Indigenous knowledge systems. While calls for “inclusion” are common, integration often remains tokenistic, failing to challenge the Eurocentric, heteropatriarchal, and capitalist ideologies at the discipline’s core. This essay emerges from our participation in a 2024 Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Annual Program Meeting session focused on integrating Indigenous knowledges into social work curricula. Using a “Reflection as a Method” approach grounded in Indigenous Feminist Thought (BlackDeer, 2023), we analyze the collective praxis of a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators. Our thematic reflections explore key sites of decolonial resistance: (1) shifting pedagogy from symbolic inclusion to sovereignty-affirming practices; (2) centering community-defined, land-based healing practices over institutional “best practices”; and (3) resisting extractive research logics by upholding epistemic sovereignty and relational accountability. We argue that integrating Indigenous knowledge is not only a reframing action, but a transformative, decolonial praxis of resistance and resurgence. We conclude with a call for social work education to move beyond rhetorical commitments and into material and epistemic practices that support Indigenous sovereignty and knowledge justice.
Indigenous resistance comes in many forms, such as attendance at Rangi Parauri (a five-day a-tinana wānanga) aimed at addressing institutional racism, healing, and reconnection for participants. This article unpacks the Mataora (change agents who attend Rangi Parauri) journeys of four wāhine (Māori women), three social work educators, and a healthcare worker in Radiology, who attended the Rangi Parauri training in October 2024. This article promotes not only speaking our truths in the form of narration (pūrākau) but also holds space for discussion and experiences, which centres around our own traditional ways of healing and transforming. Colonial forces are heavily indoctrinated into our everyday lives; therefore, taking five days out of a year to RE-learn and RE-claim and RE-remember our birthright as tangata whenua (people of the land) is essential to reconnect with the learnings and teachings of our tūpuna within our ancestral spaces. The training provoked thought on a personal level through stories and narratives, inviting participants to sit with a range of emotions as highlights of the wānanga are revealed. This way of writing allows Indigenous storytelling and emancipation to be showcased and is grounded in kaupapa Māori narrative praxis whilst utilising pūrākau and wheako as method.
Jordan’s Principle is a Canadian public policy principle implemented to ensure that all First Nations children can receive access to the services and supports they need. When it comes to health services for Indigenous people, the provincial government delivers health care off-reserve, while the federal government funds it on-reserve. This has resulted in jurisdictional disputes leaving Indigenous children at a disadvantage to receive care. In the case of Jordan River Anderson, disputes between the provincial and federal governments regarding who would pay for his at-home care delayed his ability to leave the hospital and return to his community. Jordan died in the hospital when he was just five years old. Under Jordan’s Principle, regardless of who comes in first point of contact with the child, if there is no existing funding for the service then the funding is requested under Jordan’s Principle as long as it falls under the guidelines to ensure substantive equality. This paper highlights the importance of aligning allied health professionals and how they can assist in educating Indigenous families about Jordan’s Principle. Allied health professionals who are knowledgeable about Jordan’s Principle are invaluable in helping Indigenous families receive the health resources they need.
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) college students navigate higher education within Indigenous worldviews that emphasize relational accountability, collective responsibility, and cultural dignity. Although existing research documents barriers to mental health service utilization among NHPI populations, less is known about how NHPI students actively navigate help-seeking within cultural, familial, and institutional contexts. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, this study examined help-seeking processes among ten NHPI students enrolled at a faith-based university in Hawaiʻi. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using constant comparative methods. Findings revealed a core process conceptualized as help-seeking as relational risk management. Participants described enduring stress independently while continuously assessing cultural obligations, relational safety, and potential impacts on family relationships, identity, and dignity prior to seeking support. Help-seeking occurred selectively and relationally, most often through trusted faculty members, mentors, or peers, with formal institutional services accessed conditionally. An Indigenous conceptual framework grounded in participants’ narratives is presented to illustrate this cyclical and relational process. The findings challenge deficit-based interpretations of delayed help-seeking and highlight the importance of culturally grounded, relational approaches to student support in Indigenous-serving higher education institutions.
Compared to the general population, Indigenous people experience disproportionate increases in mental health and addiction issues, particularly among Indigenous youth living in remote/rural areas. Despite urgent calls for support, Indigenous youth continue to face a lack of health services and support. The aim of this study was to review literature focused on interventions/programs on improving mental health and wellbeing in Indigenous youth living in remote/rural areas, through youth’s perspectives. Five databases (Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, the WHO Global Index Medicus, and Medline) were searched, and ten articles met inclusion criteria. Findings revealed several key themes: culture as treatment, storytelling as a powerful culture-based intervention, and Two-eyed Seeing approaches in terms of enhancing mental health and wellbeing among Indigenous youth.
The current textual analysis, which comes against the backdrop of the unmistakable denigration of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems in some quarters of the Sub-Saharan societies, discusses the centrality of Indigenous Knowledge to sustainable development in the region in question. The article, therefore, interrogates African Indigenous Knowledge Systems through the lens of decolonial ideals, critical consciousness, and the Unhu/Ubuntu philosophy. In its interdisciplinary approach, this discussion is anchored in and informed by Gade’s theory of ‘narratives of return’ as well as by the Sankofa principle —notions that look into the past for solutions to the socio-economic problems vexing Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) within the postcolonial dispensation. The current inquiry observes the primacy of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems mainly in the fields of education, medicine, mathematics, agriculture, environmental conservation, maintenance of a clean environment, and biodiversity preservation. Although African Indigenous Knowledge Systems are sometimes indicted for being anachronistic and viewed in some quarters of African society as manifestations of pseudoscience, they remain the key to unlocking the door that has prevented the masses from accessing mathematics, science, and engineering. Thus, African Indigenous Knowledge Systems are neither anachronistic nor pseudoscience but a sine qua non for sustainable socio-economic development in SSA in general and Zimbabwe in particular. However, this does not warrant the wholesale removal of Western Knowledge Systems from the local socio-economic development spheres. The current reflection, therefore, recommends the hybridization of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Western Knowledge Systems for sustainable socio-economic development in SSA.
This qualitative study uses Indigenous ethical protocols and the Medicine Wheel as a guiding framework for deductive coding to examine the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual care provided by ten Indigenous Carer-Employees (CEs) living and working in Ontario. CEs are individuals who work in paid employment while providing unpaid care to family, friends, and/or relatives with physical, mental and/or cognitive disability or challenges. The paper adopts a holistic perspective by acknowledging the Medicine Wheel's four aspects—spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical well-being—to understand the nature of care provided by these CEs to their loved ones from an Indigenous perspective. This care manifests in a plethora of ways, including the importance of aiding loved ones with intellectual tasks, the need to provide physical labour, the importance of providing a safe emotional space for loved ones, and the role of helping with spirituality in the caregiving practice. The role of the workplace, including policies, experiences, and the differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employers, is also explored through inductive thematic analysis. This paper contributes to the growing literature on CEs and contemporary Indigenous caregiving. It provides suggestions for future scholarship to elevate the voices of Indigenous CEs, the importance of Carer-Friendly Workplace Policies, and the necessity to consider participant positionality in all research, particularly in research involving Indigenous participants, where the impacts of colonialism continue to pervade into many aspects of daily life.
This study explored the challenges in implementing Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) among Lumad learners in Pangantucan, Bukidnon. Using a qualitative, narrative approach, data were collected through semi-structured, in-person interviews with five purposively selected teachers who have taught Lumad learners for at least three years and who are familiar with Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSPs). These teachers are also Lumads themselves belonging to the Manobo, Talaandig, and Umayamnon communities. Thematic analysis was conducted using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase model to identify recurring patterns and themes in the narratives. The researcher, a member of the Higaonon community but who was born and raised in a highly urbanized setting, also practices reflexivity in the analysis of the data. The research examined the implementation of CSP through its key components: dynamic use of community languages, incorporation of local knowledge and practices, student and community agency, historical context in content and instruction, the ability to address internalized oppression, and effective integration of these elements into the curriculum. Findings revealed structural challenges, including limited school and faculty support, insufficient training, lack of Lumad representation in policymaking, a rigid national curriculum, and scarce historical documentation. Content-related challenges also emerged, such as the difficulty in addressing the traumatic history of the Lumad, the sacredness and technical nature of IKSPs, and language barriers. Furthermore, the teachers' cultural backgrounds and the effects of modernization on students’ cultural self-esteem added to the complexity of implementing CSP. Despite these obstacles, teachers demonstrated agency by adapting and embedding CSP into their classrooms. The study emphasizes the need for institutional support to foster a pedagogy that honors Indigenous cultures, languages, and identities, ultimately promoting both academic success and cultural sustainability.
The Aloha Evaluation Framework is a culturally responsive evaluation approach that has been developed for use in Indigenous communities. Guided by the concept of Aloha (love) as conceptualized by kūpuna (elder) ʻAnakē Pilahi Pāki, the framework is based on the values of respect, empowerment, collaboration, and sustainability, and emphasizes the importance of building evaluation capacity within the community. Aloha is defined as Akahai (gentleness), Lōkahi (harmony), ʻOluʻolu (agreeableness), Haʻahaʻa (humility) and Ahonui (patience); the synthesis of which describes different attributes of love and ultimately the spirit of Aloha. This paper describes the use of the Aloha Evaluation Framework as an approach in an evaluation capacity building effort within a Native Hawaiian serving organization. The positive feedback from the evaluation training series demonstrates the value of incorporating Aloha and its various forms of love into evaluation as a practice. The results have implications for ways to privilege the values and voices of Indigenous communities in evaluation.
Despite global recognition of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in social work ethics and definitions, their integration into education and practice remains limited, particularly in postcolonial contexts like Zimbabwe. Social work in Zimbabwe continues to be dominated by Eurocentric paradigms, resulting in a disconnect between professional training and cultural realities of local communities. This study systematically reviews literature on the integration of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems, particularly Ubuntu and ancestral wisdom into Zimbabwean social work education and practice. Guided by PRISMA 2020 and employing the SPIDER framework, 612 records were screened across seven databases, yielding 13 eligible studies published between 2015 and 2025. Thematic synthesis revealed four primary contributions of IKS: promoting culturally responsive practice through Ubuntu, decolonizing social work education, revitalizing community-based care systems, and inspiring hybrid models that integrate local and global paradigms. However, key barriers persist, including the hegemony of Western epistemologies, institutional resistance, epistemological tensions with rights-based frameworks, and the lack of formal documentation of IKS. The review concludes that meaningful integration of IKS is not only a curricular concern, but a social justice imperative. For Zimbabwean social work to achieve contextual relevance and cultural responsiveness, IKS must be structurally embedded in pedagogy, policy, and practice. This calls for collaborative curriculum reform, Indigenous knowledge documentation, and the development of practice models rooted in African worldviews.
In the aftermath of violent conflict, Indigenous cultural practices have played a significant role in restoring peaceful relations among former adversaries. Processes such as Mato Oput in Uganda, Gacaca in Rwanda, and Kukeleeku ka tonu in Liberia exemplify community-based approaches to reconciliation and social healing in post-conflict environments. Today, scholarly research has begun investigating and exploring the relevance and applicability of Indigenous cultural practices to conflict resolution and peacebuilding in post-conflict contexts. These practices have proven effective in addressing conflict and restoring social cohesion within Indigenous, conflict-affected communities. However, a comprehensive synthesis of the scholarly work on this subject is absent. This neglect is twofold: while there is growing recognition of ritual and cultural practices in peace studies more broadly, Indigenous practices remain underrepresented because existing literature often sidelines Indigenous voices and rarely grounds analysis in empirical work led by or with Indigenous communities. This neglect reflects broader assumptions that Indigenous knowledge is unscientific, lacking empirical validity, and insufficient for addressing structural drivers of conflict such as political exclusion or economic inequality. Consequently, Indigenous cultural practices remain underrepresented in conflict resolution and peacebuilding literature. This article seeks to address that disrepair by providing a systematic review of English-language scholarly literature on Indigenous cultural practices in post-conflict peacebuilding. It offers a thematic synthesis of key findings, outlines prevailing scholarly perspectives, highlights research gaps, and identifies directions for future research.
The study took a qualitative approach with face-to-face in-depth interview and observation as the data-generation instruments. The research design was hermeneutic phenomenology in the form of a case study. This approach was chosen to allow for the in-depth exploration of the lived experiences and resilience of elderly rural women in the Chivi District of Zimbabwe. Eighteen elderly rural women were selected using snowball sampling and were interviewed in their immediate environments, which suggest a focus on their naturalistic daily living context. This inquiry was guided by the Afrocentric ideology and the Life Course Perspectives which illuminated the inquirers’ understanding of these elderly rural women’s life experiences in Chivi District. The Life Course Perspective was a complementary framework that helped to analyse how experiences and challenges accumulate over a person's lifetime. Indigenous African Knowledge Systems (IAKS) were found to be a crucial factor in the resilience of these women as they navigated daily challenges. These elderly rural women were not passive victims but active agents in improving their living conditions. It also emerged that, the traditional extended family is no longer a "safety net" for the elderly. The government's social protection policies are neither effective nor consistently enforced in alleviating the challenges faced by the elderly in rural Zimbabwe. The study recommends the government to improve social protection policies that target the elderly women; policies should provide social, economic, and psychological support to enhance their health and living conditions. Communities are urged to strengthen family support systems, making them more vibrant and comprehensive.
Zero hunger and good health are two main goals for sustainable development, but when it comes to vulnerable sections of society, they struggle to meet basic needs. Sahariyas are a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) that faces numerous challenges in achieving food security and adequate nutrition. This study sought to comprehend the complexities of food and nutrition among the Sahariya Tribe. It also aimed to determine the coping mechanisms used by households to mitigate food insecurity. This study is the result of empirical data collected through fieldwork among 168 households in the Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh. Household surveys, interviews, participant observation, case studies, and focus group discussions were used as methods of data collection. The study revealed that Sahariyas are mainly landless laborers (80.95%), beggars and ragpickers (25%), and forest dwellers (61.31%). 69.12% of households migrated for food and money. Thus, Sahariyas are found to be food insecure; an immediate solution is needed for their survival.
U.S.-born and migrant Latiné communities historically access traditional healers, preferring culturally informed treatment approaches. Biomedical practitioners occasionally integrate traditional healers into treatment to inform culturally bound syndromes. This study used a qualitative framework to explore traditional healers’ lived experiences of working with biomedical practitioners. Eight traditional healers who specialize in one or more traditional healing art sat for semi-structured interviews on their attitudes and beliefs about collaboration, steps to collaboration, and ways to overcome barriers. Findings reflected the oppression, marginalization, and obstacles to collaboration traditional healers often encounter from biomedical practitioners. The findings highlight the role of cultural preservation as a form of resistance against the Latiné health paradox, which posits that Latiné migrants experience poorer health the longer they are in the United States. The findings can inform legal mandates and policies on how best to incorporate traditional healers into treatment.
The Métis are one of three recognized Indigenous groups in Canada and are defined by their mixed First Nations and European ancestry. In this grounded theory study, sixteen (n=16) Métis participants in Bawating[1], Ontario, Canada were interviewed to share their experiences as Métis people. Participants described common themes of being disconnected from their Métis identity in childhood, which contributed to a sense of loss and confusion. Following their experiences of having languishing identities, participants shared their complex and life-long journeys towards a flourishing identity. This journey involved learning and sharing cultural knowledge with others, connecting to the land, and engaging in traditional practices. The ultimate integration of these findings was an overwhelming and hard-earned sense of pride in being Métis. [1] Bawating, meaning rapids in Ojibway, is the original Indigenous name of Sault Ste. Marie, a city of 72,000 people located in Northern Ontario, Canada
