‘I Am a Nurse’: Oral Histories of African Nurses

In a research published in the American Journal of Nursing (AJN) titled ‘I Am a Nurse’: Oral Histories of African Nurses. Oral information were collected from indigenous nurses in some African countries. Below are some extracts and Abstract of the research work.

"I felt good, I felt really proud, and I said to myself, ‘I am a nurse.’ I have chosen this profession and nobody can take it away from me,” said study participant Sophie Makwangwala, a retired nurse from Malawi, during an oral history interview, explaining the pride she felt when she first put on her nursing uniform and cap. To her, the uniform was a powerful symbol of professional nursing. Not only did it convey considerable authority, but it also served to prove her worth as a nurse to a society unaccustomed to black women in professional roles.

Most documentary sources of African history have been written by colonial “masters” and are skewed by cultural bias. African voices have long been obscured from Western academic disciplines. Oral history studies offer a way to access such voices. In this article, we report on a study that broke new ground through its sampling of African informants whose stories have yet to be heard. Through oral history interviews, Ms. Makwangwala and 12 other African men and women described what nursing practice and education meant to them during and after periods of colonization, and how they interpreted such meaning to meet their own needs. Their stories provide rich texts that offer alternative concepts of nursing identity formation and professionalism. They also provide evidence of African nurses’ value systems and help to clarify why they did their work.

 Abstract

Background: Much of African history has been written by colonial “masters” and is skewed by cultural bias. The voices of indigenous peoples have largely been ignored.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to collect the oral histories of African nursing leaders who studied and practiced nursing from the late colonial era (1950s) through decolonization and independence (1960s–70s), in order to better understand their experiences and perspectives.

Methods: This study relied on historical methodology, grounded specifically within the context of decolonization and independence. The method used was oral history.

Results: Oral histories were collected from 13 retired nurses from Mauritius, Malawi, and Togo. Participants’ educational and work histories bore the distinct imprint of European educational and medical norms. Nursing education provided a means of earning a living and offered professional advancement and affirmation. Participants were reluctant to discuss the influence of race, but several recalled difficulties in working with both expatriate and indigenous physicians and matrons. Differences in African nurses’ experiences were evident at the local level, particularly with regard to language barriers, gender-related divisions, and educational and practice opportunities.

Conclusion: The data show that although institutional models and ideas were transported from colonial nursing leaders to African nursing students, the African nurses in this study adapted those models and ideas to meet their own needs. The findings also support the use of storytelling as a culturally appropriate research method. Participants’ stories provide a better understanding of how time, place, and social and cultural forces influenced and affected local nursing practices. Their stories also reveal that nursing has held various meanings for participants, including as a means to personal and professional opportunities and as a way to help their countries’ citizens.

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