Grounding global health in care: connecting decoloniality and migration through racialization

Abstract

Recent academic and activist critiques raise important points about the ways in which coloniality, migration and racialization are often overlooked in global health research and practice. In particular, these critiques highlight how such structural forces perpetuate inequalities and exclusions, as well as processes of epistemic violence in global health. While agreeing with these critical interventions, this paper argues for a focus on care and the importance that concrete acts and systems of care in postcolonial, migratory and racialized contexts have on the suffering and vulnerability of individuals and communities. Drawing on case studies from multiple different geographic and social contexts, we argue that the perspective of racialization can highlight how multi-layered inequalities in global healthcare are shaped by the intertwined processes of coloniality and migration; thereby explaining the contextual, structural vulnerability of specific groups of people to certain health conditions and their exclusion from adequate healthcare resources. We argue that social scientists and critical global health scholars and practitioners can play a central role in bringing the three strands of research – coloniality, migration and racialization – into conversation to explore their potential for jointly advancing the care and well-being of individuals and communities in different geographical and social contexts.