Skin Color as Health Pathology: The Implications of Eurocentrism for Social Work Practice and Education
Ronald E. Hall *
School of Social Work, Michigan State University, USA.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
People of color live shorter lives than those of European descent and they are more likely to encounter significant health risk. As pertains to skin color cardio disease, hypertension, depression and skin bleaching suggest that the current level of study involving skin color as health pathology is acutely insufficient. That insufficiency relative to health pathology is sustained by intellectual influences of Eurocentrism. Eurocentrism manifests as a tendency to interpret and prioritize the world in Western terms, values and experiences. That is all matters including disease which pertain to other than a Eurocentric existence are by irrelevance determined to be non-existent. If Social Work health practitioners in the U.S. are to understand people of color, understanding the implications of skin color for
their overall health and well-being will be imperative to the assessment and ultimate resolution of their presenting problems.
Keywords: Skin color, eurocentrism, social work, people of color.