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Decolonizing Western Medicine and Systems of Care: Implications for Education

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Decolonizing the Spirit in Education and Beyond

Part of the book series: Spirituality, Religion, and Education ((SPRE))

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.

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Correspondence to Jacqueline Benn-John .

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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

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25320-2_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-25319-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-25320-2

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