screenshot of virtual zoom meeting panelists decolonizing nursing: what? why? how?The UC Irvine Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing Center for Nursing Philosophy was honored to team up with Nursology.net to co-sponsor a virtual webinar panel presentation titled Decolonizing Nursing; Why? Why? How?

The event, held Thursday September 23, 2021, began as an initiative in the Theory-Guided Practice Expert Panel of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). The chair of that AAN panel, Dr. Marlaine Smith, and Dr. Peggy Chinn, editor of the journal Advances in Nursing Science and a founder of Nursology.net, coordinated with panel speakers to organize this important event.

The distinguished panel of speakers included:

  • Dr. Lisa Bourque Bearskin, associate professor and Inaugural BC Research Chair in Indigenous Health in Nursing at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada, who introduced the concepts of decolonization and truth and reconciliation
  • Dr. Lucinda Canty, assistant professor of Nursing at the University of Saint Joseph, a Certified Nurse-Midwife, and host of Overdue Reckoning on Racism in Nursing, who spoke about her scholarship on perinatal morbidity and mortality of Black women and its implications
  • Dr. Jennifer Woo, assistant professor at Texas Woman’s University, who spoke about the importance of highlighting BIPOC nursing heroes in nursing/midwifery education as a means of decolonizing nursing
  • Dr. Barbara Hatcher, Principal at Hatcher-DuBois-Odrick Group, who spoke about vaccine hesitancy and the experiences that give rise to it and other issues effecting Black and Brown people
  • Dr. Lucy Mkandawire-Valhmu, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who spoke about the importance of decolonizing nursing academia as a way of enhancing the success of BIPOC students
  • Dr. Daniel Suarez-Baquero, a latino nurse from Colombia and a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California San Francisco, who spoke about his scholarship related to discounting the ways of people around the world and the concepts and perspectives embedded in Spanish and Latin America
  • Dr. Bukolla Salami, associate professor at the University of Alberta in Canada, who spoke about her work with Black youth from a decolonization and critical lens

Peggy Chinn and Marlaine Smith introduced the panel event, which was moderated by center Director and Associate Professor Miriam Bender. There were 776 registrants from across the globe, who utilized the chat box extensively during the event to share their thoughts and materials such as links to articles and blog posts related to the speaker’s topics.

The consistent view coming from participants was how “powerful” and “eloquent” each panelist’s talk was, sharing critical knowledge and providing concrete actions to decolonize nursing. As one participant put it, “ This panel has been fully BRILLIANT! Profound. Deep Truth Telling. Radical: Taking us to the roots. Appreciate the great clarity of each panelist. Soul & Heart revealed to all of us! Thank you, each & everyone.”

Watch the panel


View the chat file, with its wealth of resources and engaged conversation.

Visit Nursology.net to view post-panel responses to the questions that were not able to be addressed during the event due to time constraints.