What to do with privilege: moving from allyship to co-liberatorship
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In Episode 38 of The HQ podcast, we have the honour of engaging with Stephanie Nixon, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Director of the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen’s University. Throughout our conversation, Stephanie expertly guides us through the complexities of privilege and allyship shedding light on their significance and their relevance to healthcare before inviting us to consider why this may not be the right desired outcome. Instead – spoiler alert – she introduces the concept of “co-liberatorship” and why this may be a better way through systemic power dynamics.
One of the highlights of our discussion is the introduction of the Coin Model of Privilege (see link in show notes). This powerful model helps us understand how social structures can simultaneously produce unearned advantages and disadvantages. Stephanie’s illustration of the Coin Model provides invaluable insight into the dynamics of privilege, and how it can be used to guide the actions of people in positions of privilege for resisting the unjust structures that create health inequities.