Postcolonial Theory, Nursing Knowledge, and the Development of Emancipatory Knowing

Abstract

Nurses must assume a leadership role in confronting inequitable access to health care. This imperative is realizable through contributions to the knowledge of the discipline, reflecting on the profession's mandate for social justice and elimination of health inequities, as well as embracing the diversity of nursing's fundamental patterns of knowing. Emancipatory knowing involves critically examining social, political, and institutional structures to uncover social injustices and inequities and disrupt the status quo, as well as asking critical questions. Postcolonial theory, aligned with these foundational principles, can be used to answer such critical questions, thus contributing to the advancement of disciplinary knowledge.