Responding to racism: Insights on how racism can damage health from an urban study of Australian Aboriginal people
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 19:00authored byZiersch, A, Gallaher, G, Baum, F, Bentley, M
This paper examines responses to racism and the pathways through which racism can affect health and wellbeing for Aboriginal people living in an urban environment. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in 2006/07 with 153 Aboriginal people living in Adelaide, Australia. Participants were asked about their experience of, and responses to, racism, and the impact of these experiences on their health. Racism was regularly experienced by 93% of participants. Almost two thirds of people felt that racism affected their health. Using a thematic analysis with a particular focus on how agency and structure interacted, a number of key reactions and responses to racism were identified. These included: emotional and physiological reactions; and responses such as gaining support from social networks; confronting the person/situation; ignoring it; avoiding situations where they might experience racism; 'minimising' the significance or severity of racism or questioning whether incidents were racist; and consuming alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. A further theme was a conscious decision to not 'allow' racism to affect health. Our study found that most people used more than one of these coping strategies, and that strategies were selected with an awareness of positive and negative health impacts. While individuals demonstrated substantial agency in their responses, there were clear structural constraints on how they reacted and responded. We found that not only was racism potentially detrimental to health, but so too were some responses. However, while some strategies appeared 'healthier' than others, most strategies entailed costs and benefits, and these depended on the meanings of responses for individuals. This paper concludes that initiatives to promote health-protective responses to racism need to consider structural constraints and the overarching goal of reducing systemic racism.
History
Publication title
Social Science & Medicine
Volume
73
Issue
7
Pagination
1045-1053
ISSN
0277-9536
Department/School
Wicking Dementia Research Education Centre
Publisher
Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd
Place of publication
The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, England, Ox5 1Gb
Rights statement
Crown Copyright 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd
Repository Status
Restricted
Socio-economic Objectives
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander determinants of health