Introduction to Decoloniality & Anti-racism in global health
Introduction to Decoloniality & Anti-racism in global health
Introduction
On 02 June 2020, amid the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests, a Black employee at LSHTM began a movement when she wrote a letter calling for LSHTM leadership to be held accountable for their silence after George Floyd’s murder. By 08 June, the letter had been signed by 619 LSHTM staff, students and alumni and gathered over 60 testimonies, and was sent to LSHTM Leadership. With this, a group which became known as Black Lives Matter-LSHTM was formed. While not an official Black Lives Matter chapter, it represented the movement’s impact at LSHTM.
Those in the BLM-LSHTM group were invited to present their knowledge of the racism within the Institution to the governing LSHTM Council on 02 July. The presentation can be accessed here. One of the key requests was that an external review of the racism within the Institution be conducted. This review was undertaken, and the final report was made publicly available in December 2021 and can be found here.
The idea of founding the Fighting Against Institutional Racism (FAIR) Network sprung from these foundations, to continue building momentum for change and pushing for anti-racism practices and historical accountability at LSHTM. FAIR is a more formal and institutional realisation of the initial aims of BLM-LSHTM. Details of all the projects, presentations, blog posts and letters can be found on the FAIR website.
In May 2021, in response to a recommendation from the external investigation into the ‘16 months to nowhere’ case, the Executive Leadership reached out to the FAIR Network with the request to work together collaboratively. Details of this collaborative working arrangement can be found in the shared Statement of Intent.
Who is this toolkit for?
This toolkit is accessible and relevant to everyone despite the students focus. It was written to reduce the knowledge gaps around decoloniality and anti-racism in global health and encourage the critical reflections that our industries need. This toolkit aims to encourage students to critically engage with their education and the discourses and practices in their fields in an effort to support their journey to become active anti- racist professionals. It will also equip staff and others with the knowledge and tools to welcome these exchanges.
What to expect from the toolkit & how should you use it?
This toolkit is not a “practical guide” in the sense of a “to do list”. We chose to provide readers with the information we believe is needed to critically reflect on the challenges of our fields including key theoretical understanding of race theory, postcolonialism, decoloniality, racism and whiteness.
This toolkit is not meant to be read all at once. It is designed to be a resource that readers can refer to over time. We encourage you to use the table of content to navigate around this document, taking the time to pause and reflect using the reading and resources table at the end of each section.
Introduction to Decoloniality & Anti-racism in global health
Koum Besson ES, Clarke A, Kedebe MA, Ismail Z, Pensa S; (2022) Introduction to decoloniality and anti-racism in global health: Student Toolkit. Other. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4664957 (Unpublished)