Decolonising dental educational research: reflections from a white researcher.
Decolonisation
Everyday racism
Reflective practice
White privilege
Journal
Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice
ISSN: 1573-1677
Titre abrégé: Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 9612021
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Dec 2023
Dec 2023
Historique:
received:
19
08
2022
accepted:
26
03
2023
medline:
7
12
2023
pubmed:
19
4
2023
entrez:
19
04
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
While there is an emerging scholarship on decolonising dentistry, the debate about reflexivity, positionality and white privilege in dental educational research and practice is still at a developmental stage. This article aims to contribute to this nascent debate by contemplating the question- is it appropriate, or possible, for a white researcher to undertake decolonisation work in dental education? If so, what would it entail or 'look' like? To answer this important question, the author offers a reflective account of their ethical and epistemological journey with this very question. This journey begins with how I, a white researcher, first became aware of the everyday racism experienced by my racially and ethnically minoritized students, the whiteness of dental educational spaces and how my white privilege and position as a dental educator consciously and unconsciously implicated me in these processes of exclusion and discrimination. While this revelation led to a personal commitment to do better in my practice, both as an educator and a researcher, I continue to struggle with my white ignorance and white fragility as I strive to make my work more inclusive. To illustrate this, I discuss an ethnodrama project on everyday racism that I lead on and how, despite choosing a more democratic research method, hegemonic whiteness continued to make its presence felt through my 'going it alone' method of work. This reflective account reaffirms that regular and routine self-reflection is key to ensuring that racialised inappropriate and damaging assumptions, frameworks of thinking, and ways of working are checked for. However, my praxis won't evolve through critical introspection alone. I need to be open to making mistakes, educating myself about racism and anti-racist practice, asking for help and guidance from my minoritized colleagues and more importantly, committing to working with people from minoritized communities rather than on them.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37074593
doi: 10.1007/s10459-023-10228-9
pii: 10.1007/s10459-023-10228-9
pmc: PMC10113732
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Review
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1679-1695Subventions
Organisme : Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Bristol
ID : Research fellowship
Organisme : ESRC Impact Acceleration Fund, Exploratory Project
ID : A100109-104
Informations de copyright
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.
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