The dismissal and devaluing of indigenous knowledge during the successive eras of colonialism and apartheid in South Africa compelled the African majority to adopt the colonisers' values, attitudes, language, cultural practices, morality, and institutions. In education, the consequent neglect of sociocultural contexts inevitably influenced the…

Indigenous frameworks suggest environmental risk and protective factors for American Indian (AI) children's development can be understood in terms of connecting and disconnecting forces in five domains: spirituality, family, intergenerational ties, community, and environment/land. This study examined the prevalence of these forces among 156 urban…

This scoping review focused on the experiences of Indigenous families and their children in accessing quality early learning and child care in a Canadian urban context. This scoping review was conducted to contribute to the field and frame a more extensive study involving focus groups and case studies. The analysis revealed a range of quality…

In this article, I address African indigenous knowledge of early childhood development by discussing young children's cultural spaces of care, play and learning among the Guji people of Ethiopia. I analyze practices in the cultural spaces of young children and show how participatory community-based care and learning are pivotal in the tradition of…

Early research on child development in Africa was dominated by expatriates and was primarily addressed to the topics of testing the cross-cultural validity of theories developed "in the West," and the search for universals. After a brief review of the outcome of that research, we propose two additional types of motivation that seem…

All Indigenous communities have a time-tested child-rearing knowledge base that reflects and honors their cultural beliefs and historical experiences. Many of these communities emphasize group harmony and collaboration and respect for the natural environment--competencies that are increasingly important on our crowded and depleted planet.…

This article explores critical issues linked to early child development (ECD) professionalism in African childhood contexts in the light of rights-based consideration. Against the backdrop of acculturation being a reality in Africa, it accepts professionalism as a "good thing" for ECD programmes in Africa. The article sketches a portrait…

There is currently a renaissance of interest in indigenous knowledges, after a long period of neglect and disdain by Western scientific and academic establishments. However, educational institutions have not made some of the more fundamental changes required to successfully integrate indigenous knowledges. Interventions and programs in ECD…