title: 'I Am a Nurse': Oral Histories of African Nurses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Much of African history has been written by colonial "masters" and is skewed by cultural bias. The voices of indigenous peoples have largely been ignored.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to collect the oral histories of African nursing leaders who studied and practiced nursing from the late colonial era (1950s) through decolonization and independence (1960s-70s), in order to better understand their experiences and perspectives.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study relied on historical methodology, grounded specifically within the context of decolonization and independence. The method used was oral history.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Oral histories were collected from 13 retired nurses from Mauritius, Malawi, and Togo. Participants' educational and work histories bore the distinct imprint of European educational and medical norms. Nursing education provided a means of earning a living and offered professional advancement and affirmation. Participants were reluctant to discuss the influence of race, but several recalled difficulties in working with both expatriate and indigenous physicians and matrons. Differences in African nurses' experiences were evident at the local level, particularly with regard to language barriers, gender-related divisions, and educational and practice opportunities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data show that although institutional models and ideas were transported from colonial nursing leaders to African nursing students, the African nurses in this study adapted those models and ideas to meet their own needs. The findings also support the use of storytelling as a culturally appropriate research method. Participants' stories provide a better understanding of how time, place, and social and cultural forces influenced and affected local nursing practices. Their stories also reveal that nursing has held various meanings for participants, including as a means to personal and professional opportunities and as a way to help their countries' citizens.
authors.affiliation: At the time of this writing, Barbra Mann Wall was an associate professor of nursing and the associate director of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She also coordinates AJN's Looking Back column. Krist Dhurmah is a nurse with the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life in Forest Side, Mauritius. Bassan Lamboni is a nursing teacher at the National School of the Medical Auxiliaries of Lome, Togo, and a research officer in Togo's National Noncommunicable Disease Program. Benson Edwinson Phiri is a nurse and an officer in the National Organization of Nurses and Midwives of Malawi in Lilongwe, Malawi. This research was supported by a Faculty Pilot Award for the African Oral History Project by the University of Pennsylvania Research Committee and the Office for Nursing Research, Philadelphia. Contact author: Barbra Mann Wall, wallbm@nursing.upenn.edu. The authors and planners have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
authors.forename: Barbra Mann
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.forename: Krist
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dhurmah
authors.forename: Bassan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lamboni
authors.forename: Benson Edwinson
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Phiri
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D044383:Black People; D004506:Education, Nursing; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D033262:Narration; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*