Exploring the Letter 'H' in 'ASBH': Insights from a Junior Bioethicist
In a groundbreaking plenary session at the 2020 annual meeting of The American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH), junior bioethicist Keisha Ray presented her research that aims to bring justice to black people who have been denied basic human dignity by healthcare for too long.
Ray argues that using both bioethics and humanities is necessary to be a good researcher and professor of black people's health. She contends that the advice to make a junior bioethicist's work distinctly bioethics may have been appropriate during the genesis of bioethics, but it is problematic for researchers whose work involves social justice issues and racial issues.
"For bioethics to provide a suitable backdrop for social justice work that draws on the humanities, bioethics as a profession must make changes," Ray asserted. She uses bioethics to theorize what justice for black people means in name and in practice, while health humanities gives her insight into human nature, the meaning of well-being, and the impact of health inequities on individual lives and generations of black people.
Ray's primary research project focuses on the intersection of structural inequities and social determinants of health and its influence on black individuals' health outcomes and experiences with healthcare. She believes that center directors in medical schools should encourage their faculty to center their work in both humanities and bioethics and reward those efforts.
The ASBH has the opportunity to model what it means to be a bioethicist and a humanities scholar to junior faculty. To set a clear message for the future of bioethics, ASBH should prioritize presentations, workshops, and plenary sessions that are both bioethics and humanities in nature. Grant giving institutions that fund bioethics and humanities research should also fund projects that meet their requirements for the intersection of bioethics and humanities.
Moreover, the ASBH annual meetings send the message that bioethics is its primary concern, and the humanities are an afterthought. This kind of advice stifles research projects that draw on both bioethics and humanities, keeping bioethics from being a driving force in contemporary social justice issues that affect marginalized populations.
The author's research requires the use of both bioethical and humanities values, principles, and research methods. She suggests that the advice to make her work distinctly bioethics implies that research into racial justice is not truly bioethics and that scholars who study these topics are not true bioethicists.
Ray's presentation, titled "What about the 'H' in 'ASBH'", was preceded by Jennifer K. Walter's presentation at the same annual meeting. The ASBH should issue clear standards on what it means to succeed in the profession, especially for junior faculty of colour who are more likely to research social justice topics. The author contends that prioritizing hubris and ego over research is detrimental to the growth and evolution of bioethics.
In conclusion, Keisha Ray's call for a reimagined bioethics challenges the traditional approach to bioethics and encourages the integration of humanities in research and practice. Her work underscores the importance of addressing social justice issues in healthcare and the need for a more inclusive and transformative approach to bioethics.
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