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The barrier of language and the lack of adapted services in Creole seem to explain why public services are underutilized despite some caregivers needs to access these
services. Although Haitians are one of the larger groups of
new Canadian citizens, Torczyner and Springer (2001) report
that their demographic representation has been underestimated by 40%. This skewed representation, perhaps
related to some extent to illegal immigration, affects claims
or demands for health and social services since it minimizes
the Haitian demographic weight. Therefore, Haitian caregivers experiences of caring for ageing relatives at home
cannot be dissociated from the ideology of whiteness
(Frankenberg 1993) and its dominant effects (Lewis 2000)
in Othering people of the South. Frankenberg (1993)
defines whiteness as a set of locations that are historically,
socially, politically, and culturally produced and, moreover,
are intrinsically linked to unfolding relations of domination
(6). As well, the impact of nursing professional practice in
shaping caregivers experiences must be examined. This interview excerpt illustrates how a woman caregiver perceives
home visiting nurses:
Interviewer: Can you tell me if you consider home care
nurses as support resources? I mean, for caregivers like you,
who care for ageing relatives at home?
Woman: Actually, I cant say this since nurses are not
supportive. Psychologists and social workers are the only
professionals from whom I can get support.
postmodernism9 constitutes a relevant theoretical framework from which to assess ways of caring, its limitation in
exploring how the everyday world of Haitian caregivers is
embodied in a complex nexus of social and cultural forces a
turn towards postcolonial feminism.
FROM POSTMODERNISM TO
POSTCOLONIALISM
Smith (1999) points out that feminist inquiries must be
directed at investigating how society organizes and shapes
the everyday world of experience (74). She argues that inquiries
must be grounded in peoples experiences to uncover
the relations of ruling into which, these experiences
are socially and culturally constructed (Smith 1999).
Reinharz (1992), while acknowledging different strands10 of
feminisms, states that feminist research must be grounded in
a common struggle, which is to unmask womens oppression
and develop emancipatory knowledge towards achieving
social justice.
For postcolonial scholars, the notion of subjective
experience or subjectivity is not without its problems.
Hall (1997) states that, despite the positive aspects of
learning about peoples subjective experience or subjectivity, the focus on subjective experience overlooks the
collective effects of social, political, economical, and social
forces in shaping identity. Lewis (2000) points out that
white feminists notion of subjectivity erases the sociality
of peoples experiences to universalize peoples and
especially womens identity without acknowledging the
multifaceted and complex differences of locations11 in
modeling peoples lives. According to Lewis (2000), the very
notion of subjective experience has to be broadened to
account for the meanings attached to race, gender, and
social class occurring in various historical moments.
Subjects are constituted through experiences of
10
11
DEFINING POSTCOLONIALISM
What is postcolonialism and how can it be articulated
in nursing research? Postcolonialism challenges Western
science as the unique source of knowledge production and
uncovers healthcare inequities related to gender, race, and
class resulting from the process of colonization and postcolonization. Said (2000) defines colonization as:
2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Nursing Inquiry 10(2), 91102
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TOWARDS A DEFINITION OF
POSTCOLONIAL FEMINISM
I draw on Anderson (2000a,b), Meleis and Im (1999),
Quayson (2000), Smith (1987), and Schutte (2000) to define
postcolonial feminism as a critical perspective aimed at
addressing health inequalities related to asymmetrical
power relations, at disrupting the relations of ruling that
silence culturally different Other voices; at integrating subjugated knowledge in nursing theorization; at developing
transformative knowledge directed at achieving social
justice by correcting health inequities arising from social
discrepancies affecting people of the South.
Anderson (2000b) urges nurses to hear the silenced
subaltern voices as a means to generate transformative
knowledge that will, in turn, call for the implementation
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The concept of cultural safety was developed in the late 1980s in New
Zealand by a group of Maori nurses. Cultural safety is defined as actions
which recognize, respect, and nurture the unique cultural identity of the
Tangata Whenua [or Maori] and safely meet their needs, expectations, and
rights (Polaschek 1998, 453) The concept of cultural safety is an analytic
framework that serves to examine health policies and programs offered to
members of minority groups by a dominant group (Polaschek 1998). For a
fuller discussion of the concept of cultural safety and its methodological
implications in nursing research, see for example, Papps and Ramsden
(1996), Polaschek (1998), Smye and Browne (2002), Browne and Smye
(2002), Reimer Kirkham, Smye and Tang et al. (2002).
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CONCLUDING REMARKS
In this paper, I have attempted to demonstrate that nursing
cultural research is at a crossroads of its development since
research has to espouse the health concerns of the people of
the South. At the same time, the limitations of culturalist
theories to address racial, gendered, and class social discrimination in achieving social justice must be acknowledged. In
articulating Bhabhas notion of third space to nursing, the
aim is to demonstrate that the negotiation of cultural differences and meanings is the basis upon which culturally safe
nursing care can be designed. The issue is to adapt nursing
practice to the needs of people of the South by integrating
marginalized knowledge in nursing scholarship. Postcolonial feminism provides the analytic lens to critically assess
the effects of power, race, gender, and social class on health;
to democratize nursing research and practice; to bridge
theory and practice by generating transformative knowledge;
and to sensitize policy-makers to the experiences of people
of the South in the health system.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am indebted to the Haitian caregivers who helped me while
doing this study and who welcomed me into their homes. I
thank the National Health Research and Development Program of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Doctoral Fellowship for the financial support. I express
my deepest gratitude to Joan Anderson, of the School of
Nursing, University of British Columbia, for the mentoring
provided in exploring issues related to race, gender, class,
and postcolonial feminism. I am grateful to the reviewers
whose thoughtful comments have helped me to strengthen
the paper.
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