Does SPH Curricula Promote ‘Health Equity’, Reproduce Injustice, or both?
Presenter Biography
I am a cis-gendered queer white woman who entered the field of public health as a clinician. I recognize the privileges and power afforded to me and am devoted to challenging power structures that perpetuate white supremacy and silence marginalized voices. I was raised in a single parent low income household and am a first-generation college graduate. I am interested in pursuing work that illuminates systemic barriers preventing equitable access to quality healthcare.
Institution
OHSU
Program/Major
Epidemiology
Degree
MPH
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
4-4-2023 4:15 PM
End Date
4-4-2023 4:25 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40227
Keywords
Health equity, epidemiology, power, anti-racism, curriculum, public health education, social justice
Abstract
Does SPH Curricula Promote ‘Health Equity’, Reproduce Injustice, or both?
The social justice movements of recent years (preceded by [generations of] insurmountable suffering) have facilitated a collective recognition of the systemic effects of racism and epistemic violence. Despite the ambitious and well-intentioned vision of “health equity” as defined by epidemiologic scholarship - progress is slow and injustices prevail.
Students, scholars, and researchers of ‘Public Health’ are uniquely positioned to imagine and create innovative ways of understanding and addressing the harmful inequities and injustices perpetuated by white settler colonialism. I argue that Academic institutions delivering Public Health education are uniquely positioned to challenge existing power structures by supporting scholars, faculty members, and learners that share non-dominant perspectives, methodologies, and ‘ways of knowing’ in the name of justice and ‘health equity’.
This exploratory analysis will provide valuable insight into the current curricula offered to students within the School of Public Health as it relates to the mission, values, and vision of [OHSU-PSU’s] SPH and its respective graduate programs.
The analysis will identify ‘knowledge’/epistemologies currently disseminated within SPH curricula. Using syllabi from required courses, a citational analysis of required course materials will identify themes related to anti-racism, power, ‘ways of knowing’, epistemologies, decolonization, and justice - outlined by the 2022 SPH Strategic equity Goals. The analysis demonstrates that [an] “effective social justice and equity- informed public health education” (as described in the SPH Strategic Plan 2022) is not possible without first implementing methodology and citational practices that call for the decolonization of academic curricula and methodology.
Does SPH Curricula Promote ‘Health Equity’, Reproduce Injustice, or both?
Does SPH Curricula Promote ‘Health Equity’, Reproduce Injustice, or both?
The social justice movements of recent years (preceded by [generations of] insurmountable suffering) have facilitated a collective recognition of the systemic effects of racism and epistemic violence. Despite the ambitious and well-intentioned vision of “health equity” as defined by epidemiologic scholarship - progress is slow and injustices prevail.
Students, scholars, and researchers of ‘Public Health’ are uniquely positioned to imagine and create innovative ways of understanding and addressing the harmful inequities and injustices perpetuated by white settler colonialism. I argue that Academic institutions delivering Public Health education are uniquely positioned to challenge existing power structures by supporting scholars, faculty members, and learners that share non-dominant perspectives, methodologies, and ‘ways of knowing’ in the name of justice and ‘health equity’.
This exploratory analysis will provide valuable insight into the current curricula offered to students within the School of Public Health as it relates to the mission, values, and vision of [OHSU-PSU’s] SPH and its respective graduate programs.
The analysis will identify ‘knowledge’/epistemologies currently disseminated within SPH curricula. Using syllabi from required courses, a citational analysis of required course materials will identify themes related to anti-racism, power, ‘ways of knowing’, epistemologies, decolonization, and justice - outlined by the 2022 SPH Strategic equity Goals. The analysis demonstrates that [an] “effective social justice and equity- informed public health education” (as described in the SPH Strategic Plan 2022) is not possible without first implementing methodology and citational practices that call for the decolonization of academic curricula and methodology.