S3: 9:30 - 12:00 Decolonization of Global Health
Lead: Mitra Sadigh
Method: Interactive/Panel
Introduction:
The colonizer mindset is alive and pervades academia, educational institutions, healthcare centers, and communities. We aim to shine a truthful light on a tragic past and present while evaluating components that both contribute to and help combat the savior complex model.
Learning objectives are to gain a rudimentary understanding of and exposure to:
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The history of European colonization and today’s neocolonialism
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The history of colonialism and racism in global health and its impact on the development and current global health practice
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Colonial/neo-colonial attitudes and practices in oneself, global health colleagues, and global health organizations
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The discussion around steps that could be taken toward decolonization, including creation of a Global South-led taskforce and a Global South-Global South empowerment model
Method:
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The moderator (Mitra Sadigh) will give an introductory presentation
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Brief presentations will then be given by panelists (Drs. Rati Chiratidzo, Tendai Machingaidze, and Alex Kayongo as well as Mary Shah and Beth West).
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Students will divide into groups to go over discussion questions which will then be discussed jointly with the panel.
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A Q&A will be held with the panelists.
Discussion Questions
1.
How has today’s discussion encouraged reflection on elements of coloniality in previous travel, mission, and/or global health experiences you have had in the past?
2.
In what ways do we perpetuate “a single story” in our communities and in the greater global health community? Who does this benefit? Who does this harm?
3.
What can we do as individuals, communities, and institutions to combat the legacy of coloniality?
4.
What can we do as individuals, communities, and institutions to combat the legacy of coloniality?
Link to powerpoint presentation:
Supplementary Materials
1.
“Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.”
2.
Annals of Global Health, May 17, 2022
“The term “decolonization” has been increasingly used to refer to the elimination of the colonial experience and its legacy. However, the use of this overarching term masks the real root of the problem. European countries, whose populations are majority white, used their assumed supremacy as justification for the colonization of current low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the majority of non-white people live. This clear overlap between geographic and skin color differences explains how the white supremacy ideology triggered European colonization.”
3.
Lancet, November 21, 2020
“There are growing calls to decolonise global health. This process is only just beginning. But what would success look like? Will global health survive its decolonisation? This is a question that fills us with imagination. It is a question that makes us reflect on what Martin Luther King Jr saw when he said in 1968, in the last speech he gave before he was assassinated, that “I’ve been to the mountaintop…and I’ve seen the Promised Land.”’
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