Landscapes of
Self-Determination:
Power, Culture and Equity
Part One: Widening the Cultural Lens
Dr Lewis Williams, Director
Prairie Region Health Promotion Research Centre
August 16, 2005
Mental Health Promotion: Identity, Power & Culture Summer School 2005
Source
• This presentation is based on Lewis
Williams’ PhD research, referenced on the
last slide.
Defining Culture
Culture can be thought of:
• “as shared systems of meaning, symbols,
norms & worldviews held by particular groups”
• It can be applied to ethnicity, gender, sexuality etc.
• Culture is conveyed through institutions, public policy,
media, dress, thoughts, words and actions.
• Culture is multi-faceted, dynamic, contested and
changing.
Defining Power
Power can be thought of as operating at the individual,
group and institutional levels:
• “Power within” – the exercise of personal power
• “Power with” – the collective exercise of power by a
group
• “Power over”- the ability to enforce particular
behaviors or influence thinking, often through
legislation, use of media to shape public attitudes and
policy debate
Power-Culture
Refers to the dynamics between different forms
of power and culture that are activated from
context to context. Different forms of power
(such as personal, group and institutional) are
brought into dynamic interaction with different
cultural systems (such ethnicity, gender, class),
resulting in varying forms of self-determination
relations. Power-culture dynamics and
associated opportunities self-determination, will
vary from situation to situation (Williams, 2001).
Mental Health Promotion as
Self-Determination
Mental Health Promotion is primarily :
“a process of enabling individuals and communities
to express consciously constructed (cultural)
identities and aspirations through access to
capacities such as land, language, housing,
economic resources and decision making
institutions in ways that are mutually
empowering” (Williams, 2004)
Williams, L. (2001). Identity, culture and power: Towards Frameworks
For Self-determination of communities at the margins. Unpublished
PhD Thesis: Auckland.
Perceptions and Beliefs
“Sask. Native Population to
Explode”
StarPhoenix June 29, 2005, A3
“Teen Beaten on Her Way to
Holiday Fireworks”
A heavy-set aboriginal female who
approached the grouped for a cigarette…
started ‘whaling on my daughter’ when
they refused.
StarPhoenix July 4, 2005, A3
“Girls’ Terror as Patient Escapes”
A mother rushed six girls to safety when a patient
at a neighbouring mental health unit smashed into
her garden.
BBC News on-line, July, 12, 2005
“MLAs Get into Argument Over Stronach Comments ”
Conservative MLA Tony Abbott apologized Wednesday for saying Belinda Stronach prostituted herself for a cabinet position, but his
comments still caused a confrontation with a Liberal MLA.
"There's a right way to say things and there's a wrong way to say things, and I chose the wrong way," said Abbott, who said Stronach
whored herself out for power after she left the federal Conservatives for the Liberals Tuesday.
"As soon as I got home and talked to my wife about it, she thought it wasn't good and it was the wrong thing to say. And I certainly realize
that and I apologize." - CBC News On-line, May 19, 2005
Perceptions and Beliefs
“Half of Canadians Say
Homosexuality
‘Abnormal’: Poll”
StarPhoenix June 2, 2005, A11
Not only does he “sometimez” hate himself, he despises
gays.
“I want to be normall…have a wife…lotz of children…but
wat can I say…I love men” (shorthand common among
young computer users)
Globe and Mail 2005
“Not Disabled Enough for
Paid Wheelchair”
A Laval man wants the Quebec
government to pay for a wheelchair.
But it says his disability is not
severe enough to qualify. David
Murray lost a leg and nine toes to
diabetes. But Quebec's medicare
benefits board says it takes ten lost
toes to qualify for a wheelchair.
"What do they want for crippled?
The two legs cut off? The two
arms?" …“You get aggravated you
know? Because when you work all
your life and you help a lot of people
and now you need help and you
can't get it." …But the health
minister says rules are rules, and
money is limited.
- CBC News on-line March 24th , 2000
Key Elements that Comprise the Internal and
External Agency Landscapes
Internal Agency Landscape External Agency Landscape
Consciousness
Economic globalization
- Knowledge, critical thinking, spontaneity &
intuition
- The global movement of capital & goods
Identity
Cultural globalization
-Sense of self & hersrory/history, selfesteem, sense of belonging
- The globalization of culture via migration,
electronic & print media
Culture
Economic & other physical resources
- Internalized systems of meaning, world
views and symbols shared by a collective
such as housing, access to health care
Dominant social structures (rules,
norms, conventions) & institutions
(democracy, neo-liberalism, religion,
professions) that transmit cultural systems
Social networks & interorganizational
networks
Source: Williams, L. (2001). Identity, culture and power: Towards
frameworks for self-determination of communities at the margins.
Unpublished PhD Thesis, Massey University: Auckland
A Pacifika Experience
Fire Dancers
(Auckland)
Orakei Marae
Papua new
Guinea
Karekare (Auckland)
Samoa
Auckland City
Solomon Islands
Papua new
Guinea
Landscapes of Self-Determination: The
Story of Shifting Power-Culture Dynamics
Personal
power
Ethnicity
Gender
Class
Religion
Sexuality
Group
power
Institutional
power
Why are Power-Culture
Dynamics Important for MHP
Work?
• Influence access to mental health
capacities
• Influence our internal worlds – how we
think and feel about ourselves
• Structure the agency landscape
References.
• Williams, L. (2001). Identity, culture and power: Towards
frameworks for self-determination of communities at the margins.
Unpublished PhD Thesis: Massey University: Auckland.
• Williams, L. Labonte, R. and O’Brien, M. Empowering social action
through narratives of identity and culture. Health Promotion
International, Vol 18 (1), 33-40.
• Williams, L. & Labonte. (2003). Changing health determinants
through community action: power, participation and policy.
Promotion and Education, Vol X (2) 65-71.