Cultural allies: creating allegiances across borders

Culture brokerage, as a nursing intervention, is a strategy that is intended to assist nurses to "bridge" the gap between the orthodox health care system and the health belief systems of clients and their families who are from "different" cultures. However, this intervention often reinforces and solidifies borders, rather than expanding or eliminating them. Culture brokerage will be examined against social constructions of "borders", "Others", and the power relationships that influence these constructions. Fein's (1979) "universe of obligation" will provide the framework for a critique of the culture brokerage intervention. This paper argues that culture brokerage maintains existing borders by ignoring the power differentials that exist between the nurse and the client. Reconceptualizing the nurse as cultural ally begins the process of bringing all clients into the universe of obligation. The nurse, as cultural ally, recognizes the differences that exist between the nurse and the client, and asks each to examine how their different lives and experiences are connected. It is through this nurse-client allegiance that borders can be crossed and meaningful relationships created.