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Despite advances in theory, often driven by feminist ethicists, research ethics struggles in practice to adequately account for and respond to the agency and autonomy of people considered vulnerable in the research context. We argue that shifts within feminist research ethics scholarship to better characterise and respond to autonomy and agency can be bolstered by further grounding in discourses from the social sciences, in work that confirms the complex nature of human agency in contexts of structural and other sources of vulnerability. We discuss some of the core concepts and critiques emerging from the literature on women and children's agency in under‐resourced settings, highlighting calls to move from individualistic to relational models of agency, and to recognise the ambiguous, value‐laden, and heterogeneous nature of the concept. We then draw out what these conceptual shifts might mean for research ethics obligations and guidance, illustrating our analysis using a case vignette based on research ethics work conducted in South Africa. We conclude that if research practices are to be supportive of agency, it will be crucial to scrutinise the moral judgements which underpin accounts of agency, derive more situated definitions of and responses to agency, and enable people and participants to influence these based on their own experiences and self‐perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The church has a key role to play in addressing the chronic levels of grief and trauma experienced by the youth in South Africa. It has a biblical mandate to bring hope and healing and has a unique station within South African society that positions it to bring about real transformation. 'Sinawe' (Zulu for [we are with you]) is a programme developed by Scripture Union South Africa to equip local churches as change agents through a relational youth ministry model that engages trauma, grief and holistic needs, both physically and spiritually. This is an important first step for churches wanting to reach and minister to young people. The South African church has an important and legitimate role to play in the lives of young people. Research indicates that although the church is considered by local residents as an important community resource, it remains ineffectual in intentional community-based youth ministry that leverages significant opportunity. This research identifies the church as an important community change agent and encourages church leaders to step into the open gap to reach local young people while providing the methodology with which to do so. This research paper examines the current South African social context, outlines a theological mandate for church involvement and presents a methodology for a supportive and effective approach to community engagement in the lives of young people led by local churches. Interdisciplinary: The article is relevant to the following disciplines within theology; missiology, family and youth ministry and pastoral care. It also has interfaces with education and sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With roots in past injustice and a future of complex social-ecological-economic-political situations, climate change calls for innovative ways to understand the evolving issues in real time and to continue to mobilise action, resources, and community around this. We, as arts-based researchers, focus on the climate change related drought in Cape Town, the city that almost ran out of water in early 2018. We embarked on a praxis process of co-producing a socially-engaged podcast series. We harnessed this medium to facilitate a form of social learning about this water crisis and as a device for uncovering the contested narratives of lived experiences of this water crisis. Our overarching goal was to support a more just and sustainable relationship with water in and beyond the crisis. We took an arts-based, relational approach to inquiry, with inquiry being both research and learning. This paper constitutes an important critical reflection on the process thus far to inform how we take this podcast into the future. We provide some context to the Cape Town water crisis and describe the building of DayOne's foundational four episodes as our research methodology. We then analyse the podcast-building process with support from literature on the podcast genre, social movement learning, and relational pedagogy. We outline why we feel relational sensibilities can contribute to social and ecological justice and how social practice podcast-building might help to cultivate these. We conclude by presenting three tensions to explore the question: how do we build podcasts in and with Cape Town as a tool for relational researchcommunication- education-action around urban water while best utilising the unique strengths of the podcast genre? These tensions are: listener-host intimacy versus sufficient contextual information; the affective power of raw audio versus the mediating power of editing audio; and the disruption versus reproduction of dominant narratives through sharing personal stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses an eclectic mix of theoretical underpinnings ranging from constructivism to postmodernism to argue that narrative approaches may be both constructivist and postmodernist. Career counselling is grounded in the narrative approach, meaning that the inquirer, in finding out, is engaged in relational practices making the self an enquirer in relation to the other. Consideration is given to career counselling practices in South African schools. Narrative approaches to career counselling are viable within the Life Orientation subject in the schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]