Towards a bidirectional decoloniality in academic global health: insights from settler colonialism and racial capitalism

doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00307-8

Review

. 2023 Sep;11(9):e1469-e1474.

doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00307-8.

Towards a bidirectional decoloniality in academic global health: insights from settler colonialism and racial capitalism

Bram Wispelwey¹, Chidinma Osuagwu², David Mills³, Tinashe Goronga⁴, Michelle Morse⁵

Affiliations

¹ FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: bwispelwey@hsph.harvard.edu.
² Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
³ FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA; Global Health Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
⁴ Centre for Health Equity Zimbabwe, Equal Health Global Campaign Against Racism, Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; New York City Department of Public Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY, USA.

PMID: 37591594
DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00307-8

Free article

Review

Towards a bidirectional decoloniality in academic global health: insights from settler colonialism and racial capitalism

Bram Wispelwey et al. Lancet Glob Health. 2023 Sep.

Free article

. 2023 Sep;11(9):e1469-e1474.

doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00307-8.

Authors

Bram Wispelwey¹, Chidinma Osuagwu², David Mills³, Tinashe Goronga⁴, Michelle Morse⁵

Affiliations

¹ FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: bwispelwey@hsph.harvard.edu.
² Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
³ FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA; Global Health Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
⁴ Centre for Health Equity Zimbabwe, Equal Health Global Campaign Against Racism, Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; New York City Department of Public Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY, USA.

PMID: 37591594
DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00307-8

Abstract

This Viewpoint considers the implications of incorporating two interdisciplinary and burgeoning fields of study, settler colonialism and racial capitalism, as prominent frameworks within academic global health. We describe these two modes of domination and their historical and ongoing roles in creating accumulated advantage for some groups and disadvantage for others, highlighting their relevance for decolonial health approaches. We argue that widespread epistemic and material injustice, long noted by marginalised communities, is more apparent and challengeable with the consistent application of these two frameworks. With examples from the USA, Brazil, and Zimbabwe, we describe the health effects of settler colonial erasure and racial capitalist exploitation, also revealing the rich legacies of resistance that highlight potential paths towards health equity. Because much of the global health knowledge production is constructed from unregenerate contexts of settler colonialism and racial capitalism and yet focused transnationally, we offer instead an approach of bidirectional decoloniality. Recognising the broader colonial world system at work, bidirectional decoloniality entails a truly global health community that confronts Global North settler colonialism and racial injustice as forcefully as the various colonialisms perpetrated in the Global South.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests We declare no competing interests.

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Towards a bidirectional decoloniality in academic global health: insights from settler colonialism and racial capitalism

Affiliations

Towards a bidirectional decoloniality in academic global health: insights from settler colonialism and racial capitalism

Authors

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Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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