Racism and antiracism in nursing education: confronting the problem of whiteness

Abstract

Background Systemic racism in Canadian healthcare may be observed through racially inequitable outcomes, particularly for Indigenous people. Nursing approaches intending to respond to racism often focus on culture without critically addressing the roots of racist inequity directly. In contrast, the critical race theory approach used in this study identifies whiteness as the underlying problem; a system of racial hierarchy that accords value to white people while it devalues everyone else. Methods This qualitative study seeks to add depth to the understanding of how whiteness gets performed by nursing faculty and poses antiracism education as a necessary tool in addressing the systemic racism within Canadian healthcare. The methodology of poststructural discourse analysis is used to explore the research question: how do white nursing faculty draw on common discourses to produce themselves following introductory antiracism education? Results Analysis of data reveals common patterns of innocent and superior white identity constructions including benevolence, neutrality, Knowing, and exceptionalism. While these patterns are established in other academic fields, the approaches and results of this study are not yet common in nursing literature. Conclusions The findings highlight the need for antiracism education at personal and policy levels beginning in nursing programs.

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