Abstract
Re-naming, categorizing, and universalizing are implicit yet ongoing colonist and neo-colonist practices in exerting power and control over the “Other.” In the context of healing practices, this is evident in the privileging of Western notions of health and well-being in global narratives on health knowledge and education. In the Canadian context, this has resulted in traditional health practices being collapsed into a category of “alternative” medicine, and then subsumed into Western biomedicine systems of care and appropriated by capitalist industries. This chapter draws on anti-colonial and anti-racist theories to interrogate the hegemonic neo-colonial values and methods that privilege Western systems of care. This chapter also advocates for the decolonization of healthcare education.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adele, C., Mamo, L., Fosket, J., Fishman, J., & Shim, J. (2010). Biomedicalization: Technoscience, health and illness in the US. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Akomolafe, A. C. (2010). Decolonizing the notion of mental illness and healing in Nigeria, West Africa. Critical Psychology in Changing World, 726–740. Retrieved from https://thediscourseunit.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/nigeria-726-740.pdf.
Amzat, J., & Abdullahi, A. A. (2008). Roles of traditional healers in the fight against HIV/AIDS. World Health, 2, 153–159.
Baskin, C. (2011). Strong helpers’ teachings: The value of Indigenous knowledges in the helping professions. Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Dei, G. J. S. (2000). Rethinking the role of Indigenous knowledges in the academy. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 4(2), 111–132.
Dei, G. J. S. (2012). Indigenous anti-colonial knowledge as ‘heritage knowledge’ for promoting Black/African education in diasporic contexts. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 102–119.
Dei, G. J. S., & Calliste, A. (2000). Mapping the terrain: Power knowledge and anti-racism education. In G. J. S. Dei & A. Calliste (Eds.), Power, knowledge and anti-racism education (pp. 11–22). Halifax, NS: Fernwood.
Dyck, I. (2006). Travelling tales and migratory meanings: South Asian migrant women talk of place, health and healing. Social and Cultural Geography, 7(1), 1–18.
Flint, A. (2015). Traditional healing, biomedicine and the treatment of HIV/AIDS: Contrasting South African and native American experiences. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(4), 4321–4339. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120404321.
Gahayr, S. (2011). Invisibility, disappearance and reclamation: A sociological investigation into the locations(s) of Aboriginal and African women in Canada (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto Online database.
Grenier, L. (1998). Working with Indigenous knowledge: A guide for researchers. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.
Harley, D. A. (2006). Indigenous healing practices among rural elderly African Americans. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 53(4), 433–452.
Hill, (Gus) Louis Paul. (2008). Understanding Indigenous Canadian traditional health and healing (Theses and Dissertations [Comprehensive], 1050). https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/1050.
Jagtenberg, T., & Evans, S. (2003). Global herbal medicine: A critique. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 9(2), 321–329.
Pederson, D., & Baruffati, V. (1985). Health and traditional medicine cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean. Social Science Medicine, 21(10), 5–12.
Pon, G., Gosine, K., & Phillips, D. (2011). Immediate response: Addressing anti-native and anti-black racism in child welfare. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 3, 385–409.
Singer, J., & Fisher, K. (2007). The impact of co-option on herbalism: A bifurcation in epistemology and practice. Health Sociology Review, 16(1), 18–26.
Tilburt, J. C., & Kaptchuk, T. J. (2008). Herbal medicine research and global health: An ethical analysis. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 86(8), 594–599.
Tsey, K. (1997). Traditional medicine in contemporary Ghana: A public policy analysis. Social Science Medicine, 45(7), 1065–1074.
Tupper, K. W. (2009). Ayahuasca healing beyond the Amazon: The globalization of a traditional Indigenous entheogenic practice. Global Networks, 9(1), 117–136.
Wane, N. (2001). Narratives of Embu rural women: Gender roles and Indigenous knowledges. Gender Technology and Development, 5(3), 383–408. https://doi.org/10.1177/097185240100500303.
Wane, N. N. (2014). Indigenous African knowledge production. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
World Health Organization. (2002). Traditional medicine strategy 2002–2005. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/.
World Health Organization. (2013). Traditional medicine strategy 2014–2023. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Benn-John, J. (2019). Decolonizing Western Medicine and Systems of Care: Implications for Education. In: Wane, N., Todorova, M., Todd, K. (eds) Decolonizing the Spirit in Education and Beyond . Spirituality, Religion, and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25320-2_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25320-2_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-25319-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-25320-2
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)