Tomorrow is cancelled: Rethinking nursing resistance as insurrection (original) (raw)
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Nursing Inquiry, 2022
We bear witness to a sweeping social movement for change-fostered and driven by a powerful group of Black nurses and nursing students determined to call out and dismantle anti-Black racism and discrimination within the profession of nursing. The Black Nurses Task Force, launched by the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) in July 2020, is building momentum for long-standing change in the profession by critically examining the racist and discriminatory history of nursing, listening to and learning from the lived experiences of the Black nursing community, and shaping concrete, actionable steps to confront anti-Black racism and discrimination in academic settings, workplaces, and nursing organizations. The Black Nurses Task Force and the RNAO are standing up and speaking out in acknowledgment of the magnitude of anti-Black racism and discrimination that exist in our profession, health system, justice system, and economic system. This social movement is demonstrating, in actions, how individuals and a collective act as change agents to drive meaningful and widespread change for our present and future Black nurses. We also acknowledge the Black nurses who have gone before us.
Nurses in the Civil Rights Movement
AJN, American Journal of Nursing
A black student at a "whites-only" Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina; a Freedom Rider in Jackson, Mississippi; a participant in the March on Washington; a community organizer for the Freedom Summer; two marchers from Selma to Montgomery-one a black nun, the other a white activist murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. What these women have in common-in addition to being dedicated civil rights activists-is that they were nurses. One hundred years after slavery African Americans in the South were still subject to the Jim Crow laws that banned them from using public, tax-supported, "whites-only" facilities-including schools, libraries, parks, and hospitals. In the 1950s and 1960s, as increasing numbers of Americans became aware of these injustices, the desire for racial equality reached its peak and the civil rights movement was born. This article highlights the experiences of five nurses and one nursing student who joined tens of thousands of other citizens in taking a stand for social justice.
Nursing Inquiry, 2013
Although there are notable exceptions, examination of nursing's participation in colonizing processes and practices has not taken hold in nursing's consciousness or political agenda. Critical analyses, based on the examination of politics and power of the structural determinants of health, continue to be marginalized in the profession. The goals of this discussion article are to underscore the urgent need to further articulate postcolonial theory in nursing and to contribute to nursing knowledge about paths to work toward decolonizing the profession. The authors begin with a description of unifying themes in postcolonial theory, with an emphasis on colonized subjectivities and imperialism; the application of a critical social science perspective, including postcolonial feminist theory; and the project of working toward decolonization. Processes involved in the colonization of nursing are described in detail, including colonization of nursing's intellectual development and the white privilege and racism that sustain colonizing thinking and action in nursing. The authors conclude with strategies to increase the counter-narrative to continued colonization, with a focus on critical social justice, human rights and the structural determinants of health.
“There comes a time when silence is betrayal”: Racism and nursing
Racism is an awkward subject: difficult to talk about, let alone deal with in the workplace, without making people feel uncomfortable, guilty, angry, or afraid.Yet we know that it has major health consequences (Harris et al., 2012). Race is a social construct that describes relationships between groups on the basis of observable characteristics, such as skin tone, facial features, and hair (Barbee, 2002, p. 194); however, we also know that people cannot be easily organized into biologically-distinctive groups, and it is more helpful to talk about ethnicity and culture (Cortisa & Law, 2005).
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Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 2004
Health care reform in Canadian hospitals has resulted in increased workloads and bureaucratization of patient care contributing to the development of a new economy of care. Interviews with nurses and visible (non-white) minority women who have given birth in institutions undergoing health care reform revealed that nurses felt compelled to avoid interactions with patients deemed too costly in terms of time. Overwhelmingly, these patients were members of culturally marginalized populations whose bodies were read by nurses as potentially problematic and time consuming. As their calls for assistance go unanswered, visible minority women complained of feeling invisible. Taken in context of historical and contemporary interethnic relations, these women regarded such avoidance patterns as evidence of racism. Obstetrical nurses, too, understood that the new economy of care wrought by health care restructuring has altered nursing practice and patient care to the detriment of minority women. [racism, health care reform, visible minority women, nursing, Canada]
Journal of clinical nursing, 2018
This paper explores the invisibility and underrepresentation of Black nurses in formal and informal leadership roles using a Black feminist poststructuralist framework. The paper describes historical and contemporary challenges experienced by Black nurses throughout their nursing education and in practice. It also highlights how social and institutional discourses continue to marginalize and oppress Black nurses as leaders and render them invisible. Diversity amongst nursing leaders is essential to inform health care delivery, develop inclusive practices and provide culturally sensitive care. Despite this glaring need for diversity within nursing in Canada, there remains a significant underrepresentation of Black nurses in the workforce and as leaders. This is a discursive paper on Black nurses in nursing education and the workforce as well as their location as leaders in health care through a critical analysis using Black feminist poststructuralism. A review of the literature invol...
Nurses, the Oppressed Oppressors: A Qualitative Study
Global Journal of Health Science, 2015
Healthcare equity, defined as rightful and fair care provision, is a key objective in all health systems. Nurses commonly experience cases of equity/inequity when caring for patients. The present study was the first to explain nurses' experience of equal care. A qualitative study sought to describe the experiences of 18 clinical nurses and nurse managers who were selected through purposive sampling. The inclusion criteria were the nurses' familiarity with the subject of the study and willingness to participate. The data were collected through in-depth, unstructured, face-to-face interviews. The sampling continued up to data saturation. All the interviews were recorded and then transcribed word by word. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The major theme extracted in this study was the equation between submissiveness and oppression in nurses. It had two subthemes, namely the oppressed nurse and the oppressive nurse. The first subtheme comprised three categories including nurses' occupational dissatisfaction, discrimination between nursing personnel, and favoring physicians over nurses. The second subtheme consisted of three categories, namely habit-oriented care provision, inappropriate care delegation, and care rationing while neglecting patient needs. When equal care provision was concerned, the participating nurses fluctuated between states of oppression and submissiveness. Hence, equal conditions for nurses are essential to equal care provision. In fact, fair behavior toward nurses would lead to equity nursing care provision and increase satisfaction with the healthcare system.
Breaking the silence: A new story of nursing
Journal of Clinical Nursing, 2018
We live in challenging times, for the planet, for our societies and for the health of nations. The challenges have major implications for nurses-a global profession of some 23 million women and menfrom caring for older people to halting infectious disease epidemics, reducing mother and child deaths and tackling and mitigating the health effects of climate change. The challenges confronting nurses are remarkably similar worldwide, and so are their humanitarian values. We see this daily in our work as international nursing leaders and activists. The value of nursing to health and society has barely been explored or quantified outside its own professional circles. Despite all the lip service, our potential to improve health and well-being has never been fully acknowledged or developed. Our experience also bears out the observations of sociologist Celia Davies that "nursing internationally has often occupied a marginalised and culturally ambiguous position" and that fundamental
What nurses of color want from nursing philosophers
Nursing Philosophy, 2023
Scholars of color have been instrumental in advancing nursing knowledge development but find limited spaces where one can authentically share their philosophical perspective. Although there is a call for antiracism in nursing and making way for more diverse and inclusive theories and philosophies, our voices remain at the margins of nursing theory and philosophy. In nursing philosophy, there continues to be a lack of racial diversity in those who are given the platform to share their scholarship. Five nurse scholars of color attended the International Nursing Philosophy Conference in August 2022. We established a collective system of support by sharing our experiences as researchers, scholars, and educators with each other. The theory of emancipatory nursing praxis informed this process. In this dialogue, we reflected on what it is like to present at and attend predominantly white nursing conferences. We shared our experiences of how we exist as nurse scholars, our philosophical views, and our thoughts on how we create spaces where scholars of color can feel welcomed and acknowledged for their contributions to advancing nursing knowledge.