Re-imagining Indigenous knowledge in a post-COVID-19 social work in Uganda

Local responses to Covid-19 pandemic in Uganda have included the revamping of Indigenous knowledge and practices like Ryemo Gemo and creative arts to reach the communities. However, the resistance against these practices by a section of political actors aligned to pushing the Ministry of Health and WHO messages, coupled with the clear push for Covid-19 messages packaged and communicated in a biomedical and western package, reveals the strong influence of the western hegemony. We show how the pandemic presents an opportunity to revamp the debate about decolonisation in the context of emergency response. While steering clear of linear solutions, we argue that the pandemic is a reminder for social workers to challenge the predominant enlightenment modernity thinking and western colonialism that devalues Indigenous practices, knowledges, and languages.