Deconstructing Hybrid Spaces: The Lived Experiences of Internationally Educated Nurses of Color

• In Event: 75.060 - Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: 75.060-1 - Understanding the Experiences of Black Academics in Higher Education

Abstract

Despite Canada’s multiculturalism policies, Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) of colour fail to occupy policy-making leadership positions. Instead, power dynamics still play out through the “ideal type nurse”, who is defined as white and middle class. Together, the ideal type and multiculturalism form an unsuspecting dialectic relationship by which they both benefit: Canada maintains its favor with the global community, while racial inequalities continue unchecked. The dialectic relationship is strategically camouflaged by creating a “hybrid space” – a space that appears to provide leadership for IENs of color, but in reality, it denies promotional opportunities. The experiences of IENs expose how power and domination are enacted through racial tension within nursing, and the strategies IENs use to survive and support each other.

Author

• Nadia M. Prendergast, University of Toronto