Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellywidening the theoretical possibilities from post-colonial with an emphasis onlyon colonisation, to postcolonial feminism; there is less risk of makingassumptions about what is happening in a health care encounter. The danger inpresuming that there is a shared experience of colonisation among Aboriginalwomen is that health carers and researchers can overlook importantdifferences, unique experiences and personal agency. This can occur withinpostcolonial feminism itself. Aboriginal postcolonial feminist MoretonRobinson (2002) strongly critiques white Australian feminist practices andwriting in relation to Aboriginal women because of the total exclusion of issuesof race in the analysis; post colonial feminism may not always address race.In contemporary Australia (as in Canada), both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal,health professional and community women are situated in complex andambiguous positions, experiencing differing levels of capacity, resistance andagency at different times and in different situations (Browne et al 2005;McConaghy 2000). Complex relationships and changing dynamics exist withinAboriginal women’s health and well-being and health care provision as hasbeen discussed in chapters two and three. Postcolonial feminism encourageshealth professionals to work in collaboration with community women towardfinding ways of addressing health inequities in active, pragmatic and culturallysafe ways. It increases awareness that the past is present in every moment ofevery day, in every policy and practice and in the language that we use(Browne et al 2005) and that through recognising and positively addressing thecomplexities and inequities that exist, we can find positive ways to moveforward together. One example of this, developed in nursing, is cultural safety.Cultural SafetyMaori nurse Irihapeti Ramsden (2002) developed a model of culturally safepractice and education underpinned by social justice, critical, feminist, and neocolonial (postcolonial) theories 15 . Cultural safety promotes a respectful15 Ramsden herself stated that she did not believe New Zealand had reached a state ofpostcolonialism when Indigenous people were still struggling with colonisation issues andinstitutional discrimination (interpreting postcolonial to mean ‘after colonisation is over’), andpreferred to use the term neo-colonial to postcolonial (2001a).102