Module 1: Foundational Learning. Self-Reflection & Self Location
Welcome to Module 1: Self Reflection & Self Location
In this module, topics including the importance of self-location, positionality and land acknowledgment, healthcare provider roles and responsibilities relative to Indigenous Peoples will be explored. In addition, the overall health of Indigenous Peoples in Canada will be discussed along with the statistics relative to cardiovascular illness among Indigenous women.
Module 1 provides opportunities to explore your own personal and professional positionality as a healthcare provider, and to test your knowledge regarding health disparities among Indigenous people in Canada. By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- Apply your knowledge of current cardiovascular disease and stroke (CVD/s) morbidity and mortality statistics among Indigenous women with specific attention to gender and socio-cultural specific factors; and,
- Compose an account of your personal positionality and responsibilities relative to Indigenous peoples and demonstrate your understanding of the ongoing education and allyship required in this space.
Positionality refers to the how differences in social position and power shape identities and access in society. Citing a few key definitions of positionality, Misawa (2010, p. 26) emphasizes the fluid and relational qualities of social identity formation while also noting that “all parts of our identities are shaped by socially constructed positions and memberships to which we belong” and which are “embedded in our society as a system.”
Pascua Yaqui/Chicana scholar M. Duarte (2017, p. 135) describes positionality as a methodology that “requires researchers to identify their own degrees of privilege through factors of race, class, educational attainment, income, ability, gender, and citizenship, among others” for the purpose of analyzing and acting from one’s social position “in an unjust world.”
(source: https://indigenousinitiatives.ctlt.ubc.ca/classroom-climate/positionality-and-intersectionality/)
Indigenous" is an umbrella term for First Nations (status and non-status), Métis and Inuit. "Indigenous" refers to all of these groups, either collectively or separately, and is the term used in international contexts, e.g., the ‘United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ (UNDRIP). Recently, it has been associated more with activism than government policy and so has emerged, for many, as the preferred term.
(source: https://www.queensu.ca/indigenous/ways-knowing/terminology-guide)
Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations.
(source: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/disparities/index.htm)
the quality or practice of helping or supporting other people who are part of a group that is treated badly or unfairly, although you are not yourself a member of this group
(source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/allyship)