Critical Reflection 3

All three texts comment on social inadequacies, specifically medically and legally. However one thing they have in common is the need for a concept introduced by Cheryl A. Hyde- the concept of Critical Self Reflection. Paul farmer talks about ‘accompaniment’ in healthcare and Jill Stauffer talks about the ‘ethical loneliness’ in our legal system. Both are problems presented in our society, but both can be solved by Critical Self Reflection.

Critical self reflection in the context of your community and society is well, critical. Recognizing your dominant and subordinate identities, the privileges or consequences that come with it and their impacts on society. Essentially, identifying your role in your society. This is also a very important aspect to Paul Farmer’s concept of Accompaniment. Accompaniment is a medical term that has become a social term as well after Farmer’s work in Haiti. Accompaniment used to mean physically being with a patient, however it has taken on a new context with the outbreak of AIDS in Haiti in the 80’s. Farmer discovered that the community members weren’t coming to get help and even his patients still weren’t healing well. This was because they needed more than medicine, they needed food, they needed shelter, they needed transportation, they needed accompaniment throughout the whole treatment process in order to get medically better. Especially with a disease like AIDS, it requires lifelong help- a type of medical help shaped by Paul Farmer as accompaniment. However, Farmer brings up an interesting conundrum that “‘as a society we are happy to help and serve the poor, as long as we don’t have to walk with them where they walk, that is, as long as we can minister to them from our safe enclosures.’” This goes back to Cheryl Hydes concept of Critical Self Reflection, she argues that “with a more comprehensive understanding of our cultural identities, including the ways in which the various dimensions can change and be challenged over time, we are better situated to build authentic relationships with constituencies and community members”. It is with a healthy dose of critical self reflection and cultural humility that Farmer can solve his problem of meaningful medical assistance. Hydes concept of Critical Self Reflection relates to ethical loneliness because it gives reasoning behind the existence of ethical loneliness. Ethical Loneliness created by Jill Stauffer is “The experience of being abandoned by humanity compounded by the experience of not being heard when you testify to what happened”. This is an institutional dilemma and is not easily solved. It has a solution, Stauffer states “If you believe in a justice beyond bare legal culpability, then you have to accept responsibility for more than what you’ve done and intended”. Meaning understanding your privilege and role in society and taking responsibility for them and their many consequences, and in order to do this you need to critically self reflect on your identity and role in society like Hyde suggests.

One quote that specifically stands out with me is by Cheryl Hyde, she states “once such privilege is revealed, these individuals have an obligation to question, challenge, and otherwise act in good faith to work toward the dismantling of a system that generates such dispropriate rewards based on group membership” (431). This is the heart of the concept, not only the identification, but the implementation of it. I endeavor to live by this quote not only in my community work but with my life in general. It is one thing to understand your power and privilege, but to use it to dismantle inequality is another thing completely.