Abstract
Critical Whiteness studies seek to understand ways people racialized as White collectively maintain racist systems even whilst professing anti-racism. Key to Whiteness are discursive moves that have the effect of making the benefits of being White invisible for the beneficiaries. In the era of Black Lives Matter and decolonization, it has been noticed that Whiteness is increasingly defensive and disturbed. With its invisibility under threat, hegemonic Whiteness now relies on disavowal of open racists as “too” White (by implication, not really White), as part of a continuous process of protecting its appearance of being position-free and universal. Thus, its “civilizational” reach is underpinned. This chapter argues that in health and social care, the machinery of Whiteness can be seen at work in attempts to instill “cultural competence.” While cultural competence is popular as a tool for redressing racism in institutional contexts, in practice it reflects and re-inscribes social difference. Cultural competence is therefore best understood as a technology of Whiteness, along with other “soft” equality measures like diversity management. The chapter considers the promotion of cultural competence in Scotland and identifies the traces it bears of Scotland’s particular history of race and racism as a former slave-owning wing of British colonialism now seeking to position itself as multicultural and post-colonial. Efforts to foster cultural competence can be seen as Whiteness “in the headlights,” seeking its once cozy invisibility, yet they also create liminal spaces where racial certainties may be unsettled.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barn R, Das C (2016) Family group conferences and cultural competence in social work. Br J Soc Work 46(4):942–959. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcu105
Baskin C, Hare C, Peltier C, Lougheed S, Chabbert P, Boudreau C, Bruner B, Moir L (2020) Biigiiweyan (“coming home”): social work and health care with indigenous peoples from competency to safety. Soc Work Pol Stud: Soc Justice Pract Theory 3(1)
Beagan BL (2018) Chapter Six: a critique of cultural competence: assumptions, limitations, and alternatives. In: Frisby C, O’Donohue W (eds) Cultural competence in applied psychology. Springer, Cham, pp 123–138. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78997-2_6
Behrent MC (2013) Foucault and technology. Hist Technol 29(1):54–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/07341512.2013.780351
Betancourt JR, Green AR, Carrillo JE, Ananeh-Firempong O 2nd (2003) Defining cultural competence: a practical framework for addressing racial/cultural disparities in health and healthcare. Public Health Rep 118(4):293–302
Bhopal RS (2012) The quest for culturally sensitive health-care systems in Scotland: insights for a multi-ethnic Europe. J Public Health 34(1):5–11. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdr094
Cebula C, Evans J (2021) Ethnicity, poverty and the data in Scotland. Briefing note. Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER) (2014) The state of the nation: race and racism in Scotland. Ethnicity and employment in Scotland’s public sector 3, 2nd edn. CRER, Glasgow
Cross TL (1988) Services to minority populations. Cult Competence Continuum Focal Point 3(1):1–4
Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) (2021) Hate crime in Scotland, 2020–21. Available at: https://www.copfs.gov.uk/media/qqpht4vq/hate-crime-in-scotland-2020-21.pdf. COPFS, Edinburgh. Last accessed 9 June 2022
Cruz JP, Aguinaldo AN, Estacio JC, Alotaibi A, Arguvanli S, Cayaban ARR, Cecily HSJC, Contreras FAM, Hussein A, Idemudia ES, Mohamed SAM, Sebaeng J (2018) A multicountry perspective on cultural competence among baccalaureate nursing students. J Nurs Scholarsh 50(1):92–101. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12350
Davidson N, Liinpää M, McBride M, Virdee S (eds) (2018) No problem here. Understanding racism in Scotland. Luath Press, Edinburgh
Dittfield T (2020) Seeing White: turning the postcolonial lens on social work in Australia. Soc Work Pol Stud: Soc Justice Pract Theory 3(1)
Drevdahl DJ, Canales MK, Dorcy KS (2008) Of goldfish tanks and moonlight tricks. Can cultural competency ameliorate health disparities? Adv Nurs Sci 31(1):13–27. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ANS.0000311526.27823.05
El-Enany N (2020) (B)ordering Britain. Law, race and empire. Manchester University Press, Mancester
Expert Reference Group on Covid-19 and Ethnicity (2020) Improving data and evidence on ethnic inequalities in health: initial advice and recommendations from the expert reference group on ethnicity and Covid-19. Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/expert-reference-group-on-covid-19-and-ethnicity-recommendations-to-scottish-government/. Accessed 26 May 2022
Frankenberg R (1993) White women, race matters: the social construction of Whiteness. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Goldberg DT (2009) The threat of race: reflections on racial neoliberalism. Blackwell manifestos series. Wiley-Blackwell, Malden
Goldberg DT (2013) The post-racial contemporary. In: Kapoor N, Kalra V, Rhodes J (eds) The state of race. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp 15–30
Guner S, Akturk SO, Aydin SO, Saydam BK (2022) Investigation of intercultural sensitivity and ethnocentrism levels of midwife candidates in Turkey sample: a cross-sectional study. J Transcult Nurs 33(2):208–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/10436596211057914
Hage G (2016) État de siege: a dying domesticating colonialism? Am Ethnol 43(1):38–40
Haria J (2017) CRER submission on NHS Governance. NHSG012. Available at: https://archive2021.parliament.scot/S5_HealthandSportCommittee/Inquiries/NHSG012_Coalition_for_Racial_Equality_and_Rights.pdf. Accessed 10 June 2022
Hollinsworth D (2013) Forget cultural competence; ask for an autobiography. Soc Work Educ: Int J 32(8):1048–1060. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2012.730513
Hunter S (2010) What a White shame: race, gender, and White shame in the relational economy of primary health care organisations in England. Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Soc Polit 17(4):450–476. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxq015
Hunter S (2015) Power, politics and the emotions: impossible governance? Routledge-Cavendish
Hunter S, van der Westhuizen C (2020) Viral Whiteness: twenty-first century global colonialities. In: Routledge handbook of critical studies in Whiteness. Routledge: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, pp 1–28
Käkelä E (2020) Narratives of power and powerlessness: cultural competence in social work with asylum seekers and refugees. Eur J Soc Work 23(3):1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2019.1693337
Lau LS, Rodgers G (2021) Cultural competence in refugee service settings – a scoping review. Health Equity 5(1):124–134. https://doi.org/10.1089/heq.2020.0094
MECOPP (2017) An introduction to cultural competence. Briefing sheet 06. Available at: https://www.mecopp.org.uk/mecopp-publications/2018/12/14/briefing-sheet-06-an-introduction-to-cultural-competence. Accessed 31 May 2022
Meer N, Akhtar S, Davidson N (eds) (2020) Taking stock: race equality in Scotland. Runnymede, London
Meghji A (2021) Decolonizing sociology. An introduction. Polity, Cambridge
Mikulewicz M (2019) Thwarting adaptation’s potential? A critique of resilience and climate-resilient development. Geoforum 104:267–282
NES (2017) Equality outcomes and mainstreaming report. NHS Education for Scotland. Available at: https://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/media/w13lu3n4/equality-outcomes-and-mainstreaming-report.pdf. Accessed 31 May 2022
Netto G, Bhopal R, Lederle N, Khatoon J, Jackson A (2010) How can health promotion interventions be adapted for minority ethnic communities? Five principles for guiding the development of behavioural interventions. Health Promot Int 25(2):248–257. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daq012
Netto G, Sosenko F, Bramley G (2011) Poverty and ethnicity in Scotland. Briefing note. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York
Nicolson M (2021) Islamophobia report reveals Scotland not quite as tolerant as it would like to think. The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/islamophobia-report-reveals-scotland-not-quite-as-tolerant-as-it-would-like-to-think-164828. Accessed 9 June 2022
Paul D, Ewen SC, Jones R (2014) Cultural competence in medical education: aligning the formal, informal and hidden curricula. Adv Health Sci Educ 19(5):751–758. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-014-9497-5
Phipps A (2010) Drawing breath: creative elements and their exile from higher education. Arts Humanit Higher Educ 9(1):42–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022209350103
Pons G (2009) Cultural competency as new racism: an ontology of forgetting. J Progress Hum Serv 20:59–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428230902871173
Quickfall J (2014) Cultural competence in practice: the example of the community nursing care of asylum applicants in Scotland. Divers Equality Health Care 11:247–253. https://doi.org/10.21767/2049-5471.1000013
Racine L, Perron A (2012) Unmasking the predicament of cultural voyeurism: a postcolonial analysis of international nursing placements. Nurs Inq 19(3):190–201. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1800.2011.00555.x
Rhodes J (2013) Remaking Whiteness in the ‘Postracial’ UK. In: Kapoor N, Kalra V, Rhodes J (eds) The state of race. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp 49–71
Russell L (2014) Whiteness in Scotland: shame, belonging and diversity management in a Glasgow workplace. Ethn Racial Stud 37(8):1371–1390. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2012.734381
Savreemootoo A (2020) Smile, we can’t see you: the voices of workers of colour navigating Whiteness in the Australian child protection system. Soc Work Pol Stud: Soc Justice Pract Theory 3(1)
Scottish Executive (2002) Fair for all: working together towards culturally competence services. NHS HDL, Edinburgh
Seukwa LH (2007) The ingrained art of survival: the nexus between competence and migration as reflected in refugee biographies. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, Köln
Shen Z (2015) Cultural competence models and cultural competence assessment instruments in nursing: a literature review. J Transcult Nurs 26(3):308–321. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659614524790
Spears Y, DeLoach L (2020) Black women resistance to Whiteness in social work. Soc Work Pol Stud: Soc Justice Pract Theory 3(1)
Tascón SM, Gatwiri K (2020) Towards cultural humility: theorising cultural competence as institutionalised Whiteness. Soc Work Pol Stud: Soc Justice Pract Theory 3(1)
Thomas J (2006) Breaking through: improving access to short break and respite care services for Black and minority ethnic communities. Shared Care Scotland, Dunfermline
Tuck E, Yang KW (2012) Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: indigeneity. Educ Soc 1(1):1–40
Wasige J (2022) Diaspora space and transculturality – disrupting Whiteness? Through preventing female genital alteration (FGA). Doctoral dissertation, Glasgow Caledonian University
Wolfe P (2016) Traces of history: elementary structures of race. Verso, London
Yassine L, Tseris E (2020) Beyond ‘cultural competency’: confronting Whiteness in social work. Soc Work Pol Stud: Soc Justice Pract Theory 3(1)
Zarzycka D, Chrzan-Rodak A, Bak J, Niedorys-Karczmarczyk B, Ślusarska B (2020) Nurse cultural competence-cultural adaptation and validation of the Polish version of the nurse cultural competence scale and preliminary research results. PLoS One 15(10):e0240884. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal/pone.0240884
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Russell, L. (2023). Cultural Competence as Whiteness in Health and Social Care. In: Ravulo, J., Olcoń, K., Dune, T., Workman, A., Liamputtong, P. (eds) Handbook of Critical Whiteness. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1612-0_64-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1612-0_64-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-1612-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-1612-0
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences