ABSTRACT
White Western social workers should not take leadership in a process of decolonisation, but they can have an important role in terms of the critique of whiteness from within. We can identify three stages of such a process which apply both to practice and to knowledge: first is stepping aside, without condition, so that other knowledges, world views and practices can take the lead. The second is falling in behind to learn from the leadership of Indigenous and other non-Western colleagues. Only after these two stages can the third stage, walking beside in solidarity, be reached, with an opportunity for genuine dialogue. From a white Western perspective, seven areas are identified for the decolonisation of social work knowledge: the dominance of individualism, the English language, the use of metaphor, the use of story, valuing and understanding history, the place of creative and performing arts, and relationships with the nonhuman world.
