Between dissonance and desire-queer(ing) adaptive rituals of conformity: wit(h)nessing inequities and social justice in healthcare education in the Global South through body pedagogies

22/06/2026

AI Summary

Curricular inclusion of LGBTQIA+ content often perpetuates pathologising, violent teaching practices rather than affirming gender diversity.
Colonial and institutional power structures shape whose bodies are validated and who gains access to healthcare services.
Body pedagogies provide counter practices to unsettle reductionist teaching and reimagine care, learning and inclusion in Global South healthcare education.

AI Summary

In other words, the historical patterns of teaching LGBTQIA+ people as "problems" (i.e., as pathological entities that need intervention), as at-risk groups that need to be managed, and as an example of how not to be healthy are continued by most educators despite the existence of LGBTQIA+ health content.

The way that LGBTQIA+ health content is taught in the Global South reflects the influence of historical power relations that are built into medical education systems inherited from colonial powers as allied health practitioners and medical institutions continue to control whose bodies will be seen as worthy, acceptable, and validated as being a part of the "normal" world and as a result who will have access to health care services.

This study analyzes how body pedagogies can disorient reductionist and interventionist approaches to LGBTQIA+ identities in health care education in the Global South.

Basic summary

Front Public Health. 2026 Jun 5;14:1830881. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1830881. eCollection 2026.

ABSTRACT

The state of healthcare education in the Global South is at a critical point of change. In general terms, the introduction of LGBTQIA+ health content into curricula is widely accepted as an important contribution and a step toward acceptance of gender diversity and inclusion. However, the actual way of teaching this content oftentimes simply continues to perpetuate violence against LGBTQIA+ people and, by extension, their communities. In other words, the historical patterns of teaching LGBTQIA+ people as “problems” (i.e., as pathological entities that need intervention), as at-risk groups that need to be managed, and as an example of how not to be healthy are continued by most educators despite the existence of LGBTQIA+ health content. The way that LGBTQIA+ health content is taught in the Global South reflects the influence of historical power relations that are built into medical education systems inherited from colonial powers as allied health practitioners and medical institutions continue to control whose bodies will be seen as worthy, acceptable, and validated as being a part of the “normal” world and as a result who will have access to health care services. There is limited attention to how LGBTQIA+ body pedagogies can serve as counter-practices to reimagine care, learning, and inclusion in the contexts outlined previously. This study analyzes how body pedagogies can disorient reductionist and interventionist approaches to LGBTQIA+ identities in health care education in the Global South.

PMID:42326962 | PMC:PMC13279512 | DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2026.1830881

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