ABSTRACT
The inclusion of indigenous perspectives as part of the global definition in social work should be meaningfully utilised across social work education, practice, policy and research. Social workers can be proactive in promoting practice, policy and research approaches that enable Indigenous Pacific people to see their indigeneity as strength, an asset, and even a commodity that can better inform wider conversations around development. Pacific social work with its emphasis to truly understand the Pacific context and spaces in which Pacific people exist, should be further nuanced and shaded with expectations that are shared in nature, rather than applied based on existing professional rhetoric and expectations. The need to ensure Pacific epistemologies and ontologies feature heavily in the practices, policy and research undertaken with Pacific communities is not static or fixed, which is often the same across human societies and cultures globally.
