Health geographies 1: Unlearning privilege

Abstract

Cultural safety means transforming systems and practices to enable different ways of knowing, providing a shift in our lens of inquiry – so that it includes privilege and advantage as well as the more common foci of disadvantage and exclusion. It is almost three decades since Isabel Dyck and Robin Kearns asserted the need to address these issues in health geography. Given the length of time that has passed since their suggestion, in this report, I pick up their challenge around cultural safety in relation to health geographies and explore how far we have come. In doing so, I highlight recent health geography work which exemplifies this individually and systemically transformative approach. I focus on how understanding and addressing privilege offers a helpful sensitising framework for health geographies and point to the barriers and the opportunities embracing this approach offer.