ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses critical race theory and its application to the healthcare establishment in enabling us to understand the role of race and racism in contributing to health disparities. We will look at the origins as well as the various concepts central to critical race theory including color-blindness, which is a contested concept, race consciousness, storytelling and self-reflective listening. Critical race theory has been used mostly in the education literature, but seldom as a guiding framework in studies focused on health. It is, however, a framework that is applicable to the work of healthcare providers given its utility as a tool for engaging in the exposure, analysis and the interruption of racism, which plays a central role in contributing to health disparities.
