Mental health, public health, global health. New and interesting developments in technology and the arts. Meditation research. And occasionally cute animals.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The first of several posts on the problems of well-intentioned humanitarian aid and global health…this is a long but articulate description of someone who went through what I am currently undergoing - a realization of the pervasiveness of the White Savior complex among those in global health, understanding the harm that causes, and trying to figure out what the next step is.
I’m hoping the following autoethnography on my sort of coming to consciousness about aid, my role, and the enduring and pervasive white savior fairy tale will turn into an introductory chapter to my dissertation, but for now it’s a lot of critical (self-)reflection, facing my former (and sometimes current) self about what feels like the moral imperative to respond to all of the images we see on screen, media parading around poverty and hopelessness, my dollar the key to reverse it all…
