Learning to walk the walk

Incorporating praxis for decolonization in global health education

Bibliographic Data

ID15540010
AuthorsShela Sridhar (0000-0002-1024-9120, Brigham and Women's Hospital, corresponding author), Faraz Alizadeh (0000-0001-9452-4566, Boston Children's Hospital), Leah Ratner (0000-0001-6326-3543, Brigham and Women's Hospital), Christiana M Russ (0000-0002-3723-3532, Boston Children's Hospital), Stephanie Sun (0000-0002-2368-7795, Massachusetts General Hospital), Mike A Sundberg (University of Minnesota Medical Center), Sam L Rosman (Boston Children's Hospital)
Year2023
Volume18
Issue1
Pages2193834-2193834
Publication date2023-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-1692 • E-ISSN: 1744-1706
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17441692.2023.2193834
PMID36989128
OpenAlexW4361303054
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited31

Colonial history has deeply influenced the structures that govern global health. Though many curricula promote equity, few focus on developing competency in understanding and dismantling colonialism, and the structural barriers to global health equity. To dismantle colonial structures and create equitable collaborations, learners must be able to recognise how colonialism permeates global health practice. We propose a praxis cycle in education that asks learners to actively engage with these concepts. The praxis cycle includes: Theory: Learners explore the principles of decoloniality to understand how attitudes and practices are shaped by biased social structures influenced by colonialism. Reflection: Learners reflect on their work in LMIC settings through a lens of decoloniality and positionality. Action: Learners work in LMIC settings where they apply and actively engage with these concepts and insights. During implementation of this curriculum, we encountered several challenges including the cognitive dissonance of the learner to changing mental models of global health practice, existing systemic barriers to changing one's practice and the development of accountability mechanisms for learners in this type of curriculum. Intentionally incorporating a praxis cycle helps learners recognise their role in disrupting the structural forces that promote inequities, and actively dismantle the forces upholding systemic oppression

Colonialism · Curriculum · Decoloniality · Engineering ethics · Oppression · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Praxis · Public relations · Sociology · Cultural Competency in Health Care · Global Health and Surgery · Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access