International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Beyond Rhetoric: A Response to Recent Commentaries

Articles in Press

Document Type : Correspondence

Authors
Eivind Engebretsen
Mona Baker
Centre for Sustainable Healthcare Education, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Keywords
Global Health
Decolonization
Settler Colonialism
Gaza

We are grateful for the six commentaries on our editorial. The responses by Anonymous,1 BlackDeer,2 Ge,3 Muller,4 Orr and Zielinska,5 and Veronese et al6 extend and sharpen the arguments we advanced, pressing them in directions we had not fully pursued. What follows takes up three lines of inquiry that emerge with particular force from that exchange: the inadequacy of decolonizing rhetoric in the face of ongoing genocide; the politics of knowledge production and the coloniality of global health; and the demands of moral and political clarity. ...(Read more...)

1. Anonymous. Are burned babies and mass graves a global health crisis? What does decolonization got to do with it? Comment on "The rhetoric of decolonizing global health fails to address the reality of settler colonialism: Gaza as a case in point?" Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024;13:8661. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8661
2. BlackDeer AA. Countering coloniality in global health: Comment on "The rhetoric of decolonizing global health fails to address the reality of settler colonialism: Gaza as a case in point." Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024;13:8670. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8670
3. Ge Y. Palestine is freeing us all before Palestine is free: Comment on "The rhetoric of decolonizing global health fails to address the reality of settler colonialism: Gaza as a case in point." Int J Health Policy Manag. 2025;14:8677. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8677
4. Muller MK. Centering local knowledge to address the imbrication of settler colonialism and global health: Comment on "The rhetoric of decolonizing global health fails to address the reality of settler colonialism: Gaza as a case in point." Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024;13:8698.  doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8698
5. Orr Z, Zielinska AC. Depoliticization, colonialism, and the imperative to disrupt denial: Comment on "The rhetoric of decolonizing global health fails to address the reality of settler colonialism: Gaza as a case in point."Int J Health Policy Manag. 2025;14:8761. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8761
6. Veronese G, Kagee A, Abu Jamei Y. Confronting the colonial roots of global health inequities in Gaza: Comment on "The rhetoric of decolonizing global health fails to address the reality of settler colonialism: Gaza as a case in point." Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024;13:8768. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8768
7. Spivak GC. The Colonizer’s Violence Only Generates Violence. Recorded Message of Solidarity With the Palestinian People [Video]. YouTube; 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liB2mr9XMp0.  Accessed May 18, 2026.
8. Tuck E, Yang KW. Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society. 2012;1(1):1-40. 
International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 08 June 2026

  • Received Date 14 May 2026
  • Revised Date 20 May 2026
  • Accepted Date 24 May 2026
  • First Published Date 08 June 2026
  • Published Date 08 June 2026