Introduction
Liping Bu, Ka-che Yip in Public Health and National Reconstruction in Post-War Asia, 2014
This volume examines developments of public health and national reconstruction in post-war Asia during a period of global turbulence and fundamental transformations. The impact of World War II and revolutionary movements as well as the often contentious process of decolonization and the emergence of the Cold War created both problems and opportunities for former colonies and new sovereign nations that launched ambitious programs of nation-building and modernization. Against the backdrop of the rivalry of the United States and the Soviet Union in expanding their global influence with competing modernization strategies, most Asian countries developed their public health programs guided by specific but different ideologies. Those territories under occupation and continued colonial rule such as Japan and Hong Kong also underwent transformative changes as the respective governments, faced with new political, economic and social realities, sought to introduce systemic changes and reforms. The reconstruction or re-building of respective public health systems in post-war Asian nations constituted one of the most important developments that were intertwined with the political, social and economic transformations. Public health was not only designed to combat diseases and improve people’s health but also served as a popular political and social discourse to promote different national visions of the respective countries. The case studies in this volume explore and analyze these various efforts and changes in China, Japan, South and North Koreas, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, and India.
Colonization, Infection, and Resistance in the Critical Care Unit
Cheston B. Cunha, Burke A. Cunha in Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Critical Care Medicine, 2020
In a follow-up cost analysis, universal decolonization was estimated to save $171,000 for every 1000 admissions [26]. In 2017, Whittington et al. performed a cost-effectiveness analysis on recommendations for MRSA prevention in adult CCUs. Three strategies were evaluated: Universal decolonization, targeted decolonization, and screen and isolate. Like the Huang et al. study, the authors found that universal decolonization is less costly and more effective [27]. This has led to a shift from a vertical approach targeting a single organism to a horizontal approach to reduce infections from all pathogens [28]. The CHG bathing aligns with this horizontal approach and should be the standard of care in the CCU. In CCUs with high rates of MRSA, universal decolonization (CHG plus mupirocin) should be considered.
Indigenous health and ethics: lessons for global health
Andrew D. Pinto, Ross E.G. Upshur in An Introduction to Global Health Ethics, 2013
Global health scholars will be familiar with the legacy of colonialism as a force that has shaped the health of communities within low-income countries and that continues to be part of the relationship between the North and South (see Chapter 1 and 10). While national liberation from colonial powers occurred in many of these countries beginning in the 1960s, in many ways “Indigenous peoples represent the unfinished business of decolonization” (Wilmer 1993: 197). Despite the denial by some of a history of colonialism (Ljunggren 2009), it is essential to see this as a process that is ongoing and not an isolated part of the historical record.
Ethical Contemporary Art Therapy: Honoring an American Indian Perspective
Published in Art Therapy, 2019
The term superior positioning describes the strategic position by the dominant culture over another cultural group as an act of power (Smith, 1999). In a reparative response, a critical deconstruction of the pattern of colonization could be approached in several ways. Decolonization is a process of “centering our concerns and world views and then coming to know and understand theory and research from our own perspective and for our own purposes” (Smith, 1999, p. 39). Gray, Coates, and Yellow Bird (2008) referred to decolonization as “the intelligent, calculated, and active resistance to the forces of colonialism that perpetuate the subjugation and/or exploitation of our minds, bodies, and land” that “is engaged for the ultimate purpose of overturning the colonial structure and realizing Indigenous liberation” (p. 2). As an example, I created Yomunnaka Choyyekke/Beautiful Deer (Figure 1) to witness the harm done to my Native community while also honoring our beauty and the fact that we are still here; we still exist. From my worldview regarding historical trauma, what has happened to my ancestors has happened to me: My ancestors’ stories are my stories. Yomunnaka Choyyekke is a personal and culturally informed image of power that teaches me how to witness, grieve, and celebrate with brutal honesty all that is our truth.
Generative disruption through occupational science: Enacting possibilities for deep human connection
Published in Journal of Occupational Science, 2021
Decoloniality means “working for a vision of human life that is not dependent upon or structured by the forced imposition of one ideal of society over those that differ, which is what modernity/coloniality does and, hence, where decolonization of the mind should begin” (Mignolo, 2007, p. 459). Decolonial perspectives problematize the logic of coloniality, locating hegemony as existing within a colonial matrix of power. Embracing what Maldonado-Torres (2011) referred to as the ‘decolonial turn’ thus involves recognising how coloniality can be challenged in everyday participation in human occupation. Ramugondo (2018) signalled that healing from the colonial wound requires that “gross economic inequality must be understood as an ongoing and de-humanizing consequence of colonialism, racism and a global capitalist neo-liberal agenda” (p. 1). Such healing needs reflexivity and critical consciousness and is implicit in occupational consciousness, which stresses the need for (ex)-colonised people to be vigilant about the ways in which “dominant practices are sustained through every day doing, with implications for personal and collective health” (Ramugondo, 2015, p. 488).
Investing in People and Communities for Social Change: Lessons from Social Enterprises in South Africa
Published in Journal of Progressive Human Services, 2020
Robert Mutemi Kajiita, Simon Murote kang’ethe
In a study by Ibrahima and Mattaini (2019) on ‘social work in Africa: decolonizing methodologies and approaches,’ the need for reorienting the methods and approaches of intervention, to match the context needs are advocated for. This means that social work approaches in Africa and elsewhere in the world must realistically align with the needs and capabilities of the people concerned. The implication is that, the approaches the in modern social work interventions should create and promote services, integrity, sustainability, excellence, teamwork (community action), and respect where they glaringly lack. Further, alluding to the study by Ibrahima and Mattaini (2019), social workers, using their multiple skills should strategically champion the agenda on investing in values and resources that affect the people most. This is because the capitalistic economic structures have been detrimental to the respect and the human dignity of many people, more especially in the African continent (Chilisa & Tsheko, 2014; Rankopo & Osei-Hwedie, 2010). This has not only affected the mainstream market, where investors value money at the expense of humanity, but also strongly impacted on research and development approaches, which in African context have not significantly created long-lasting positive changes. It is against this backdrop that, decolonization of development approaches is gaining momentum in Africa.
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