Respect for Human Dignity
The cardinal principle of modern research ethics is respect for human dignity. This principle aspires to protect the multiple and interdependent interests of the person—from bodily to psychological to cultural integrity.
An ethic of service (including research) must include two essential components: (1) the selection and achievement of morally acceptable ends and (2) the morally acceptable means to those ends. The first component is directed at defining acceptable ends in terms of the benefits of international engagement for individuals, communities, and societies, and for the advancement of knowledge and service. The second component is directed at ethically appropriate means of international engagement. Enhancing your resume, improving clinical skills, opportunities for travel, attracting funding, etc are all ends, and using others (particularly those who are most vulnerable) as a means to achieving those ends is morally unacceptable.
Critical Consciousness
To mitigate this potential for harm, we focus first on building critical consciousness to ensure that students can build their own definition of ethical behaviour and navigate complex situations with greater ease and confidence. We do this also to ensure that ethical considerations have a permanent place in the culture of international engagement and ISL at UBC. The paradigm of critical consciousness is rooted in the work of the late Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. Kumagai and Lypson (2009) summarize it nicely as
linking the professional training… with human values, an orientation of education and practice towards addressing human needs and interests. […] From a pedagogic perspective, development of true fluency (and not just “competence” [emphasis added]) in these areas requires critical self-reflection and discourse and anchors a reflective self with others in social and societal interactions. By “critical self-reflection, we do not mean a singular focus on the self, but a stepping back to understand one’s own assumptions, biases, and values, and a shifting of one’s gaze from self to others and conditions of injustice in the world. This process, coupled with the resultant action, is at the core of the idea of critical consciousness.
Aspects of critical consciousness such as cultural competence are often reduced to points on a checklist – to ends in themselves – rather than being seen as one part of this larger fluency. Cultural competence can be defined as “a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes and policies that come together in a system, agency or profession that enables that system, agency or profession to achieve cultural diversity and to work effectively in cross-cultural situations”[1]. Often, the path to cultural competency is presented as a list of steps, but this should be treated only as a general guide. It is not a mere point on a checklist; it is not in itself an “educational nirvana”[2]. It is a non-linear process; a beginning. Transformative learning cannot happen by imitation because of its structural limits. Learning is a “familiarization from within”. Framed differently, Dr. David Orr reminds us that the root of our word education is to “educe”, which means to draw forth from, not to cram into[3].
Critical consciousness is not so much a goal as an ongoing process of trying to diminish the gaps in one’s continuity of awareness, of which things like cultural competence are only a part. Critical consciousness is a lens; it is an identity.
[1] Cross, T., Bazron, B., Dennis, K., & Isaacs, M., (1989). Towards A Culturally Competent System of Care, Volume I. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Child Development Center, CASSP Technical Assistance Center.
[2] Kumagai, Arno K. and Monica L. Lypson. Beyond Cultural Competence: Critical Consciousness, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education. Academic Medicine 2009; 84(6):782-787.
[3] Orr, David. “The End of Education”. Public Address. Jan 13th, 2006, Chan Shun Concert Hall, Chan Centre. University of British Columbia. Online. Available: http://www.terry.ubc.ca/index.php/2006/04/12/the-end-of-education-video/