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This article examines how front line Chinese social workers navigate between several professional ideals and mobilise different values through their everyday practices. Often starting the work without formal qualifications, their professional identity evolves through a combination of on-the-job training and supervision, studying national textbooks for qualifying exams, and exposure to international ideas about social work. Discussions about social work in China have typically centred on the applicability of Western models and the political dynamics between different stakeholders. The current study extends these discussions by taking a view ‘from below’ on how different—and at times conflicting—sets of professional standards are experienced by social workers and how they make decisions within this context. The analysis is based on ethnographic fieldwork at a social service centre in Guangzhou that caters to both foreign and local populations. China has trained more than a million individuals in social work, and 312,000 people are employed as social workers (Ministry of Civil Affairs, 2018). This article seeks to illuminate the qualitative implications of this globally unprecedented quantitative expansion.

The main argument in this article is that methodologies rooted in African philosophies, worldviews, and history, bring to the academic discourse, alternative ways of conducting research. Such methodologies question academic and methodological imperialism, and bring to the centre problem and solution-driven research agendas. The methodologies epitomise indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) as a body of thought that embraces all knowledge systems, and legitimise ILK holders, practitioners, and communities as scholars and authors of what they know and how it can be known. The article gives examples of how mainstream methodologies based on European/Western paradigms marginalise other knowledge systems. It illustrates the contested process of integrating academic and ILK. It further discusses the philosophical foundations of methodologies rooted in African cultures and how these methodologies can inform a decolonisation and indigenisation of sustainability science and transdisciplinary research.

During the many centuries of interaction and exchange between China and Europe, one of the most complex and ambiguous relationships was that of the Catholic Church and its missionaries in China. On one hand, they contributed to and can be seen as a part of the European imperial project of world colonisation, but on the other hand, they were instrumental in sharing and exchanging knowledge, as well as creating schools and other institutions in the places they created missions. At the same time, attempts were being made within the Catholic Church to promote the development of a Chinese clergy, although this issue remained divisive. This article examines these complex relationships through the eyes of a French Jesuit, André Yverneau, who was in China between 1948 and 1951 and who left a collection of letters back to his family describing these years. His experiences, observations, reactions and attitudes towards China and the mission are presented and analysed in order to re-evaluate some of the main debates surrounding the mission in China in the mid-twentieth century: education, language, indigenisation, and politics, both internal to the Catholic Church and with its relations in China.

This article examines church–state relations in the early period of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) by scrutinising the thoughts and the administration of Chao Tzu-chen—a prominent Chinese Christian leader—at Yenching University’s School of Religion and its successor organisation. This article largely relies on the archives of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, delving into Chao’s psychological conflicts and the role of the Anglican churches in Chao’s plan for the separation of the School of Religion from the university. It argues that Chao Tzu-chen’s self-contradictions in his public versus private expressions after 1949 signify his disillusionment in fostering the convergence between Christianity and Communism, as demonstrated in his dilemma regarding church–state relations. Although Chao tried to adapt to the new political order by urging Chinese churches to offer practical and concrete social services, he continued his independent, critical theological reflections on the indigenisation of Christianity, as reflected in his private portrayal of the incompatibility between Christianity and Communism, and in his close connection with foreign churches in his fund-raising campaign. Moreover, apart from highlighting the importance of the Hong Kong Anglican church in financially supporting the Yenching School of Religion, this article seeks to contribute to academic research of Chinese higher education in the 1950s through examining how the Chinese Communist Party’s remolding of the School put an end to the emerging public sphere of a civil society. It reveals that this liberal Christian institute, which lost its control over curriculum design and the right to accept foreign funds, was quickly converted into a government-funded, socialist theological college in service of two masters: the Party and the Church.

In this paper we document the various strategies universities have undertaken or are currently undertaking in their Indigenising practices across the Australian higher education sector by screening university websites for their strategies, principles and initiatives. It serves as a vital stocktake, audited in November 2023, for institutions aiming to forge a path towards an inclusive and culturally diverse academic environment. While such benchmarks should be tempered with caution due to the diversity of First Nations communities in which universities operate, it offers a spectrum of current practices for further development and growth. At the same time, it reinforces the current transition, from the perspective of Western science, of the value of Indigenous knowledges, epistemologies and approaches within the curriculum.

In settler countries, attention is now extending to the wellbeing benefits of recognising and promoting the Indigenous cultural identity of neighbourhoods as a contributing factor to more equitable and healthier communities. Re-indigenisation efforts to (re)implement cultural factors into urban design can be challenging and ineffective without the leadership and collaboration of local-Indigenous peoples. Undertaken in Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Ara Mua — Future Street project, demonstrated that co-design has critical potential in the reclamation of Indigenous autonomy, increased local-Indigenous presence and revitalisation of cultural identity. Employing a Kaupapa Māori (Māori-centred) research approach, we focused on the workings and perspectives of mana whenua (local-Indigenous peoples) and community stakeholder engagement in Te Ara Mua. An Indigenous theoretical framework, Te Pae Mahutonga, was utilised in the data analysis to explore perspectives of Indigenous collective agency, empowerment, and wellbeing. Our research demonstrates that developing capacity amongst Indigenous communities is integral for effective engagement and that the realisation of autonomy in urban design projects has broader implications for Indigenous sovereignty, spatial justice and health equity. Significantly, we argue that future community enhancement strategies must include not only re-designing and re-imagining initiatives, but also re-indigenising.

Many Canadian universities have committed to becoming more accountable to Indigenous Peoples by confronting the systemic, historical, and ongoing colonialism and anti-Indigenous racism that shape their campuses. In this Perspective in Practice piece, we invite the field of dietetics to consider how colonialism has shaped dietetics research, teaching, and practice. We also consider how we might transform the field of dietetics in ways that accept settler responsibility for interrupting racism and colonial harm; support the resurgence of Indigenous food and health practices; and recognise the connections between struggles to ensure that Indigenous Peoples can access culturally appropriate food and health care, and struggles for Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. We do this by reviewing the history of the dietetics field, examining critical responses to existing Indigenisation and decolonisation efforts, and reflecting on recent changes to required dietetics competencies. We argue that curricula in dietetics programmes must teach the history of the colonial food system and equip students to identify and interrupt the individual and institutional colonial dynamics that contribute to the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous Peoples’ lands and food sources and negatively impact Indigenous patients.

Research works on televangelism in Africa essentially revolve around its indigenisation and its potential for socio-political mobilisation. Indeed, the bulk of the extant literature on the issue focuses on how African Pentecostal televangelists have adapted the American version of teleministry to make it suit African realities and how these Pentecostal preachers have remarkably revolutionised the American concept. Meanwhile, this revolution has been characterised by a number of ethically questionable issues, many of which have not really attracted the scholarly attention they deserve. In view of filling this gap, the present article deploys critical observations and insights from new research and case studies to explore ways in which televangelism has been perverted in two African countries namely Cameroon and Nigeria. The paper specifically sets to attain two main objectives: it illustrates the perversion of televangelism on the television broadcast of Cameroonian and Nigerian Christian televisions and examines the implications of this perversion for the regulation of religious broadcasting in the two countries. The paper argues that there are at least four ways in which televangelism is perverted in Nigeria and Cameroon. These include tele-exorcism, fake miracles, dramatisation of preaching and post-truths. These unethical issues have contributed in perpetuating negative stereotypes and gloomy social representations of Pentecostalism in the two countries. The paper recommends that media regulatory organisations in both countries should constantly intervene to ensure that the essential of religious broadcasting is observed by religious televisions.

This article analysed the constituent elements of Pentecostal spirituality from a missiological perspective. It specifically examined the current elements of spirituality in Pentecostalism in the Democratic Republic of Congo and assessed their consequences for doctrine and church growth. To achieve this goal, the study uses the analytical method. It argued that the fundamental components of Pentecostal spirituality are the supernatural encounter with God, the practice of charismatic gifts and missionary passion. These elements interact and overlap, making Pentecostal theology distinctive. The first Pentecostals saw themselves as the prototype of a restored community in this sense. The gestures, including dances, applause and other practices, are a way of expressing faith and demonstrating that the charismatic phenomena experienced are a result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, confirming his empowerment. This also confirms that, like the branches of the vine, the Church is the Body of Christ.ContributionThis article focusses on the present constitutive elements of spirituality in Pentecostalism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It urges Christians to pursue the divine initiative, which is the action of the Holy Spirit in the churches. Understanding the constitutive elements of spirituality will restore the basic characteristics of the early church in present Pentecostalism.

The application of both Indigenous and Western knowledge systems in research may provide a well-rounded understanding of health, illness, and wellbeing for Indigenous communities in colonised societies. While many researchers have used a dual approach to researching Indigenous communities in colonised societies, tensions continue to exist around the use of Indigenous and Western ways of knowing together. There are also ongoing tensions between Indigenous methodologies and ethics processes rooted in Western understandings of research. Kaupapa Māori research is an Indigenous Māori approach to research that is about being Māori, is connected to Māori philosophy, culture and knowledge, and centres priorities for Māori. Grounded theory is a Western scientific approach to produce a theory grounded in qualitative data. This paper presents a novice researcher’s reflections on using kaupapa Māori research and grounded theory to explore the relational aspects of acute health care in Aotearoa, New Zealand. The research design attempts to utilise the ethics of kaupapa Māori research and the essential methods of grounded theory to develop a research approach that is robust and culturally appropriate. Conforming to conventional Western science-based research methods while endeavouring to privilege Indigenous realities is challenging and, at times, impossible. However, grounded theory can be flexible enough to adapt to the ethics of kaupapa Māori research. Research at the interface between Indigenous and Western knowledge systems presents opportunities for innovation in research design and can provide an ethical foundation for conducting research with Indigenous communities.