Deconstructing Professionalism as Code for White (Power): Authenticity as Resistance in Nursing

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Ethics
• Sociology of Health

Background:

• Professionalism is a core tenet of nursing education and practice.
• Existing scholarship rarely critically examines the foundations of nursing professionalism.
• The construct of professionalism in nursing is frequently unexamined and implicitly biased.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically interrogate the concept of professionalism in nursing.
• To demonstrate how nursing professionalism is constructed upon whiteness.
• To propose an ethic of authenticity as a framework for resistance and transformation.

Main Methods:

• Critical analysis of nursing scholarship and practice.
• Theoretical exploration of professionalism through a lens of whiteness.
• Development of an ethic of authenticity as a counter-construct.

Main Results:

• Nursing professionalism, as currently conceptualized, is based on whiteness.
• This construct leads to homogenization of identities, power dynamics, and dehumanization.
• An ethic of authenticity provides a framework for challenging oppressive norms.

Conclusions:

• Rethinking nursing professionalism requires confronting its basis in whiteness.
• An ethic of authenticity offers a pathway to more equitable and connected nursing.
• Implementing this requires a reflexive, self-directed process for nurses.