Challenging Dominant Discourses of Professionalism Through Decolonial, Relational, and Contextually Grounded Perspectives

Professionalism and professional identity formation have long been central to health professions education, shaping how practitioners think, act, and belong within their professions. Yet, these constructs are not value-neutral – they are historically and culturally situated. Global discourses on professionalism have often reflected dominant Western epistemologies that define what is considered ethical, competent, and professional. In response, scholars are increasingly calling for perspectives that interrogate and reimagine professionalism through diverse cultural and social lenses. Emerging research grounded in African philosophies such as Ubuntu (I am because we are), and scholarship exposing epistemic injustice and colonial legacies in health professions education (HPE), highlight the importance of contextualised, relational, and inclusive understandings of what it means to be a “professional”. This collection invites a critical rethinking of professionalism as a lived, negotiated, and socially embedded practice shaped by histories, power, and place.This collection seeks to amplify counter-narratives that challenge dominant colonial constructions of professionalism and professional identity in healthcare and health professions education. We define counter-narratives as frameworks and forms of knowledge that challenge dominant Western professional discourses based on individualism, cognitive rationality, emotional detachment, and universalist ethics. Counter-narratives foreground voices, contexts, and epistemologies – especially those rooted in relational ontologies, communal ethics, and contextually situated understandings of care – that have historically been underrepresented in mainstream HPE literature. The goal is to generate scholarship that not only critiques existing norms but also proposes generative, pluralistic, and justice-oriented models for health professions education that better reflect the diversity of our global professional community. We particularly welcome contributions that employ decolonial and other critical theories and challenge the dominance of the Global North – voices, experiences, and forms of knowledge that disrupt the hegemony of Western-centric or universalist models of professionalism.Contributors are encouraged to employ methodologies that centre marginalised voices and epistemologies, including but not limited to indigenous research methodologies, participatory action research, narrative inquiry, autoethnography, critical discourse analysis, and decolonial qualitative approaches. Submissions should explicitly articulate their theoretical positioning vis-à-vis dominant discourses of professionalism and demonstrate how their approach advances epistemic justice in health professions education.Potential areas of focus include, but are not limited to:• Reframing Professionalism through Indigenous and Relational Ethics: exploring how Ubuntu and other indigenous philosophies can reshape global understandings of professionalism, and the intersection of cultural values and ethical practice in healthcare education.• Epistemic Justice and the Hidden Curriculum: investigating whose knowledge counts as “professional”, power, voice and silencing in professional identity formation, how informal learning environments shape professionalism, and examining the importance of faculty role models and peer influence.• Professionalism across Contexts and Cultures: how geographic, historical and cultural contexts shape professionalism and the potential and challenges of using resource-constrained settings as sites of alternative practice.• Professionalism and Equity, Addressing Bias and Disparities: how professionalism intersects with social justice, advocacy and equity, and training healthcare professionals to recognise and mitigate their own, others and institutional bias.• Professionalism in Interprofessional Education (IPE): the value of collaborative professionalism across healthcare disciplines, and how interprofessional identity formation, in/through IPE, intersects with individuals and cultures.We welcome all article types: Original Research, Systematic Review, Methods, Review, Mini Review, Policy and Practice Reviews, Hypothesis and Theory, Perspective, Case Report, Community Case Study, Curriculum, Instruction and Pedagogy, Policy Brief, Brief Research Report, General Commentary, and Opinion. Topic editors: Mantoa Mokhachane, Ann George, Jana Vera Muller, Danica Anne Sims Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76617/challenging-dominant-discourses-of-professionalism-through-decolonial-relational-and-contextually-grounded-perspectives