Postcolonial theory encompasses a group of theories that share a social, political and moral concern about the history and legacy of colonialism and are derived from diverse disciplinary perspectives. An essential feature of postcolonial theory, and of particular relevance to the work described here, is a focus on disrupting the thinking behind structural inequities, such as those that are evident in health care systems, that have been brought about by the histories and ongoing legacy of colonial practices. Aboriginal scholars have made strong contributions to postcolonial thought; these contributions have developed from Aboriginal epistemologies and the need to accommodate the complexities of identifying and seeking to address colonialism. A postcolonial perspective provides a theoretical lens to show how marginalization occurs in day-to-day relationships and in the systems structuring human relations, such as the health care
setting.