Global Health Issues
Many Westerners engage in a high degree of ethnocentrism which is the belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others and that their culture’s way of thinking about the world or doing things is the only correct way. Exceptionalism is evident in the belief that people from other cultures are “under-developed”, “primitive”, or “savages”. Western educational systems generally teach from an “Eurocentric” perspective which means students are mostly exposed to the ideas of old,rich,white,straight,often long-dead men. The social theories that underpin the discipline of global health are no exception. The ideas from amazing scholars from the 84% of the world that is non-Western are not regularly presented to students.
We will be critically analyzing how Western ethnocentrism and exceptionalism regularly creates problems in global health work. Some of the problematic Western ethnocentric and exceptionalist ideas we will consider are: 1) “Doing something is always better than doing nothing”, 2) “I want to be a voice for the voiceless”, 3) “Impoverished people in developing countries always want our help”, 4) “Westerners know best how to help impoverished people in developing countries” and 5) ” People in impoverished countries, who are closest to the problems, are not well-educated and are therefore not capable of developing their own solutions”.
Module Learning Objectives
By the completion of this module, the student should be able to do the following:
- Critically analyze and reflect on ideas that challenge the notion of Western ethnocentrism and exceptionalism.
- Critically analyze and reflect on the effects of Western ethnocentrism on global health work.
Required Learning Activities
Reading:
Ethnocentrism
The White Savior Industrial Complex — Teju Cole
No White Saviors
The reductive seduction of other people’s problems
The third world is not your classroom
How not to save the world: Why US students who go to poor countries to do good often do the opposite
Volunteering abroad? Read this before you post that selfie
Barbie challenges the ‘white savior complex’
Video:
Meet the women behind #nowhitesaviors
Assignments and Grading Rubric
Reaction and Reflection _1 Assignment instructions and grading rubric x
Reaction and reflection 1 questions template x
HSCI309 Global Health Issues
Reaction & Reflection Assignment #1
Relationship of culture to health: Western ethnocentrism and exceptionalism
Our beliefs are very much shaped by the culture and society in which we live and we are often not consciously aware of the extent to which culture shapes our perspectives on almost every aspect of our lives. Effective global health work requires us to be able to develop an ability to
critically analyze
our own cultural perspectives and be open to learning from others whose cultural perspectives may be radically different from our own.
Assignment purpose:
To introduce students to thought-provoking ideas related to global health that may challenge their current paradigm and ask students to go beyond just reacting to new perspectives, with which they may or may not agree, by engaging more deeply with the ideas in a process of critical analysis and self-reflection.
Assignment process:
1) Complete the following readings that are available in D2L:
“The White Savior Industrial Complex”
“The Third World is Not Your Classroom”
“How NOT to save the world: Why U.S. students who go to poor countries to ‘do good’ often do the opposite”
“Volunteering Abroad? Read This Before You Post That Selfie”
“Barbie challenges the ‘white savior complex’ ”
“The reductive seduction of other people’s problems”
2) After completing all of the readings, students will answer each of the questions using the Reaction and Reflection #1 questions template. The template is a Word document set up so students can type their answers in and then upload that document to the dropbox.
3) Reaction portion of the question: After completing the readings students will quickly write their immediate reactions to the ideas presented in the articles. **There are no “right” or “wrong” answers here. The point is for students to record their immediate, honest reactions to what they are reading*** Student’s reflections will not be “graded” as they are personal, the students receives the points for completing the reaction portion of the assignment.
4) Reflection portion of the question: Students will take some time to think about their immediate reactions and reflect on “where do my beliefs or understandings regarding this issue come from?”
Students will be required to demonstrate evidence of critical analysis as evidenced by the ability to relate their reactions to the assigned readings to Western ethnocentrism and exceptionalism. Students need to respond with a 2-3 paragraph answer to each of the questions.
Questions to consider while you are reflecting on the ideas presented in the articles:
Why might these authors have perspectives on global health work done by Westerners that might feel upsetting to some students?
If you agree with these perspectives, is there something about your personal life experiences that led you to that particular understanding of the subject? Perhaps you have lived or worked in an impoverished country? Perhaps you have an educational background in the social sciences or humanities where you have engaged in deep critical reflection on issues of ethnocentrism and Western exceptionalism?
5) The assignment template will be uploaded to the course dropbox in D2L by the due date indicated on the course schedule.
Developed by Dr. Ruth Staus, 2019
Reaction
and reflection #1 questions
Students will be required to demonstrate evidence of critical analysis as evidenced by the ability to relate their reactions to the assigned readings to Western ethnocentrism and exceptionalism. Students need to respond with a 2-3 paragraph answer to each of the questions. Ideas taken from the readings need to be cited using APA format.
1) Martin notes that “Learning, rather than being an exchange, becomes an act of consumption… the problem lies in the assumption that marginalized people are always at the ready to enlighten the privileged.” (1.5 pts)
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Reaction |
Q. What do you think she means by these statements? |
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A. |
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Reflection |
Q. Do you think that it is the job of marginalized persons to enlighten relatively wealthy, privileged Westerners? |
2) Physicist Robert A. Millikan notes that “Fullness of knowledge always and necessarily means some understanding of the depths of our ignorance, and that is always conducive to both humility and reverence.” Humility, according to Martin, is our capacity to know that there is much we don’t know, and act accordingly. (1.5 pts)
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Q. Do you think that Americans have trouble with both intellectual and cultural humility? |
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Q. What are some aspects of the American educational system that may foster this lack of humility? |
3) Martin notes that “often…the best thing you can do as a privileged outsider is step back, shut up, even leave.” (1.5 pts)
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Q. What is your reaction to this statement? |
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Q. Why do you think you are reacting this way to the statement? |
4
) Teja Cole writes that “The White Savior Industrial Complex is not about justice. It is about having a big emotional experience that validates privilege”. (1.5 pts)
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Q. What is your immediate reaction to this statement? What do you think he means by this statement? |
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Q. Do you think that global health educational programs may possibly be just “big emotional experiences” that validate our Western privilege? Why or why not? |
5) Teja Cole notes that “The American’s good heart does not always allow him to think constellationally. He does not connect the dots or see the patterns of power behind the isolated “disasters.” All he sees are hungry mouths, and he… is putting food in those mouths as fast as he can. All he sees is need, and he sees no need to reason out the need for the need.” (2 pts)
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Q. What is your reaction to this statement? What do you think he means by this? |
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Q. What do you think it means to “reason out the need for the need”? What might be some reasons that Americans might not see the need to “reason out the need for the need”? |
6
. Courtney Martin discusses the “reductive seduction” of other people’s problems. (2 pts)
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Q. What do you think she means by “reductive seduction”? What does it mean to be reductively seduced by the problems of people on the other side of the world? |
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Q. Why do you think that well-intentioned young Americans often engage in the reductive seduction of other people’s problems? What might be the unintended consequences of engaging in that reductive seduction? |
Grading rubric
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Element |
Points |
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Student answers each question |
6 |
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Reflection answers show evidence of critical analysis as evidenced by: Ability to relate issues discussed by the article authors to the effects of Western ethnocentrism and exceptionalism |
4 |