27th Annual Student Research Conference
Racial Categories and Discrimination in the Health Care System of South Africa
Megan M. Distler
Dr. Elaine McDuff, Faculty Mentor
Ethnicity and race are two categories humans use to group each other. The U.S. Department of Education defines ethnicity as social groups with a shared history, sense of identity, geography and cultural roots which may occur despite racial difference, while race represents human population considered distinct based on physical characteristics. In South Africa, segregation based on race, along with the idea of a superior white race at the top of a racial hierarchy, became a dominant social reality from 1948-1994, under the policy of apartheid. South Africa can begin to move forward from their apartheid past once every South African recognizes this beauty in each other, not just in people of their own ethnicity. This can begin once the medical field determines the appropriate times to apply ethnicity to their practice, and begins to see each patient as a person.
Keywords:
Topic(s):Democracy and Human Rights in South Africa
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 305-2
Location: MG 2090
Time: 1:15