Making and maintaining racialised ignorance in Australian nursing workplaces: The case of black African migrant nurses

IF 0.1 Q2 Arts and Humanities

Australasian Review of African Studies Pub Date : 2018-12-01 DOI:10.22160/22035184/aras-2018-39-2/48-73

Virginia Mapedzahama, T. Rudge, S. West, Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo

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引用次数: 5

Abstract

In this article we apply a sociological framework of ignorance to explore the experiences of black African migrant nurses working in the Australian healthcare system. We contend that explorations of how ignorance is constructed, maintained and utilised within workplaces are critical for a nuanced understanding of black African skilled migrants' subjective experiences of institutional racism. This article draws on interview data investigating black African migrant nurses workplace experiences. We examine the intersection between the 'native ignorance' (Proctor, 2008) of the migrant (ignorance as deficit or lack of knowledge) and 'active' or 'systemic' ignorance' (ignorance as intentionally or unintentionally constructed within the workplace) and from this analysis make two significant claims. First, that black African migrant nurses' ignorance about their work/place is created, maintained and reproduced through practices such as: failing to provide important and accurate information about the workplace; the non-recognition, undermining and/or devaluing of black migrant nurses' knowledge, skills and experience; organisational secrecy; and racial stereotyping. Second, that the maintenance of systemic ignorance serves to construct a migrant who is both unknowing and suspect, and therefore incompetent and in need of surveillance. These constructions lead to the underutilisation of black migrant nurses' skills and reproduce institutional racism while also negating the potential economic benefits of migration and undermining the rationales for recruiting black African migrant nurses into Australia's nursing workforce. We live in an age of ignorance, and it is important to understand how this came to be and why... [so as] to explore how ignorance is produced and maintained in diverse settings, through mechanisms such as deliberate or inadvertent neglect, secrecy and suppression, document destruction, unquestioned tradition and myriad forms of inherent (or unavoidable) culturopolitical selectivity.

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在澳大利亚护理工作场所制造和保持种族化的无知：以非洲黑人移民护士为例

在这篇文章中，我们应用无知的社会学框架来探索在澳大利亚医疗系统工作的非洲黑人移民护士的经历。我们认为，探索无知是如何在工作场所构建、维持和利用的，对于细致入微地理解非洲黑人技术移民对制度性种族主义的主观体验至关重要。本文利用访谈数据调查了非洲黑人移民护士的工作经历。我们研究了移民的“本土无知”（Proctor，2008）（无知是指知识不足或缺乏）与“主动”或“系统性”无知（无知是在工作场所有意或无意构建的）之间的交叉点，并从这一分析中提出了两个重要的主张。首先，非洲黑人移民护士对自己的工作/场所的无知是通过以下做法造成、维持和复制的：未能提供有关工作场所的重要和准确信息；不承认、破坏和/或贬低黑人移民护士的知识、技能和经验；组织保密；以及种族成见。其次，系统性无知的维持有助于构建一个既不知情又可疑的移民，因此不称职，需要监视。这些建设导致黑人移民护士的技能未得到充分利用，并再现了制度性种族主义，同时也否定了移民的潜在经济利益，破坏了招募非洲黑人移民护士加入澳大利亚护理队伍的理由。我们生活在一个无知的时代，了解这是如何发生的以及为什么。。。[以便]探索无知是如何在不同的环境中产生和保持的，通过故意或无意的忽视、保密和压制、文件销毁、毫无疑问的传统和无数形式的固有（或不可避免）文化批判选择性等机制。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Australasian Review of African Studies AREA STUDIES-

CiteScore

0.20

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Australasian Review of African Studies aims to contribute to a better understanding of Africa in Australasia and the Pacific. It is published twice a year in June and December by The African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific. ARAS is a multi-disciplinary journal that seeks to provide critical, authoritative and accessible material on a range of African affairs that is interesting and readable to as broad an audience as possible, both academic and non-academic. All articles are blind peer reviewed by two independent and qualified experts in their entirety prior to publication. Each issue includes both scholarly and generalist articles, a book review section (which normally includes a lengthy review essay), short notes on contemporary African issues and events (up to 2,000 words), as well as reports on research and professional involvement in Africa, and on African university activities. What makes the Review distinctive as a professional journal is this ‘mix’ of authoritative scholarly and generalist material on critical African issues written from very different disciplinary and professional perspectives. The Review is available to all members of the African Studies Association of Australia and the Pacific as part of their membership. Membership is open to anyone interested in African affairs, and the annual subscription fee is modest. The ARAS readership intersects academic, professional, voluntary agency and public audiences and includes specialists, non-specialists and members of the growing African community in Australia. There is also now a small but growing international readership which extends to Africa, North America and the United Kingdom.