"Cultural Humility: People, Principles and Practices," is a 30-minute documentary by San Francisco State professor Vivian Chávez, that mixes poetry with music, interviews, archival footage, and images of community, nature and dance to explain what Cultural Humility is and why we need it. The film describes a set of principles that guide the thinking, behavior and actions of individuals and institutions to positively affect interpersonal relationships as well as systems change. These principles are:
• Lifelong learning and critical self-reflection
• Recognizing and changing power imbalances
• Developing institutional accountability

More than a concept, Cultural Humility is a process of communal reflection to analyze the root causes of suffering and create a broader, more inclusive view of the world. Originally developed by Doctors Melanie Tervalon and Jann Murray-Garcia (1998) to address health disparities and institutional inequities in medicine, Cultural Humility is now used in public health, social work, education, and non-profit management. It is a daily practice for people who deal with hierarchical relationships, changing organizational policy and building relationships based on trust.

The film tells stories of successes and challenges, and the road in between for those working to develop partnerships among community members, practitioners and academics. It encourages us to realize our power, privilege and prejudices, and be willing to accept that acquired education and credentials alone are insufficient to address social inequality. The first segment introduces Cultural Humility and features interviews with Melanie Tervalon and Jann Murray-Garcia. The second clip offers the context and setting, poetry readings by San Francisco State public health students and an analysis of privilege and power. The third segment is about Community Based Participatory Research and Education; it features the work of the Chinese Progressive Association academic partners and critical educators/students. The last segment brings closure with a reflection on peace, embodied images of nature and a quote by Audre Lorde.

Audiences who might find this documentary helpful include professionals, students, providers, organizers and policy makers in public health, social work, medicine, psychology, nursing, education and more.

M. Tervalon, J. Murray-Garcia (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: a critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education, Journal of health care for the poor and underserved, Vol. 9, No. 2. (May 1998), pp. 117-125.

Vivian Chavez © 2012, Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncnd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/