Practices of Resistance and Nursing

This Special Collection of Nursing Philosophy aims to (re)think resistance in innovative and productive ways, moving away from traditional notions of ‘problems’, with empirical descriptions of issues that plague nurses, nursing, and our healthcare systems and need redressing. Rather, the contributors to this Special Collection have mobilised critical concepts concerning resistance and nursing, theorising the notion of problems in original ways and thus conceiving resistance as opportunities and/or practices for nurses and nursing as such. Practices of resistance manifest themselves in a myriad of ways in clinical contexts and in academia as well as health-related governmental agencies. Consequently, practices of resistance both can and are shaping nurses' and patients' subjectivities and their respective experience in healthcare systems. The articles in this Special Collection help to better situate and understand these practices of resistance as they pertain to nursing. The articles illuminate the multifaceted nature of resistance in relation to nursing; resistance as not merely ‘defiance’, but also as a dynamic and transformative force. Across diverse contexts, these articles delve into the themes of decolonisation, systemic critique, professional identity and the pursuit of social justice. Together, they paint a picture of a discipline and a profession grappling with power structures, oppressive norms, and the quest for equity. Martin and Laurin (2025) make it clear that resistance is ‘a necessary response’ to social injustices that are dependent upon increasing complexities facing modern societies, and yet this necessary work is paradoxically ‘viewed negatively’ by these very societies. They counter with the idea that ‘resistance is ontologically inherent to life’ (Martin and Laurin, p. 8) and provide a ‘typology’ of nursing practices that effectively embody resistance in changing the worlds we practice in. From quiet quitting to collective organising, resistance challenges oppressive systems while enabling practitioners to reclaim their agency. Quiet quitting, framed as ‘obedience a minima’, is highlighted as an ethical stance against neoliberal healthcare systems that prioritise financial gains over patient welfare (Domingue, Lauzier, and Foth 2024, p. 2). This act of restraint reflects a broader strategy where nurses deliberately refrain from perpetuating harmful practices. The Foucauldian perspective further enriches this discourse, portraying nurses as both subject to and agents within power structures. By adopting a ‘prefigurative anarchist approach’, nurses can resist hierarchical dynamics and reimagine their practice (Oppedisano and Dillard-Wright 2024, p.1). Similarly, Morenoa et al. (in press) also examine resistance through Foucault's frameworks, emphasising nurses as political agents capable of transforming oppressive systems. Or, using Deleuze and Guattari's frameworks, nursing can take on new forms of resistance and creativity, such as ‘assembling packs’ to build alliances outside coercive practices (Johansson, Turcotte, and Holmes 2024). Another critical avenue of resistance lies in decolonising nursing knowledge. The persistence of colonial epistemologies marginalises indigenous and diverse ways of knowing, creating hierarchies that undermine equity. What is needed is a ‘Pluriverse of Nursologies’, that advocates for recentralizing marginalised perspectives (Cleofas 2024). This decolonial paradigm underscores that resistance in nursing extends beyond individual actions, requiring systemic efforts to disrupt entrenched hierarchies through epistemic resistance aimed at exposing and dismantling epistemological hierarchies. This call to action situates resistance as a foundational practice for achieving epistemic justice, ensuring that nursing knowledge development reflects the diversity of human experiences. Resistance also extends to nursing education, particularly in addressing anti-Black racism. The integration of critical digital pedagogy and arts-based approaches fosters equity and inclusivity, creating transformative learning environments. By challenging traditional student-educator dynamics, these strategies empower future nurses to confront systemic injustices. One educator's approach encapsulates this transformative potential, arguing that Anti-Black racism resistance becomes a powerful antidote in dismantling anti-Black racism within nursing education (Prendergast 2024). Another form of resistance is critiquing healthcare's fixation on performance and optimisation. Lecocq (2024) advocates for a shift toward robustness, which emphasizes resilience through redundancy, slowness, and diversity—a stark contrast to systems driven solely by efficiency, motivated by desires for prediction and control. Wesp, Bowman and Adams (2024) interrogate healthcare organisational activities that ostensibly serve to make care better, and yet perpetuate oppressive status quos instead. They argue for practices of disruption that mobilise mutual aid and grassroot action across ‘28 million nurses and midwives worldwide’ (p. 7) as the route out of reproducing systems of ‘totalitarian management’ (p. 4). Another article echoes this perspective, focusing on nursing practices of cunning, seduction, and fidelity as modes of active resistance in the context of efficiency-driven protocols that were promoted by health administrators during the early phases of the Covid-19 pandemic in Belgium (Philippe 2025). The goal of the nurses was to rehumanize these settings, which took active modes of resistance to the rules and policies being mandated from ‘above’. Nurses' experiences of ‘abjection’ were explored in another article focused on the nursing experience of Covid-19 in Wuhan China (Zhang 2024). The author demonstrates how ‘caring for Covid-19 patients disturbs the systems of order that attempt to govern through structures of truths’ (Zhang 2024, p. 8). In this situation, abjection serves for nurses as both a mode of resistance to these disturbances and as a mode of connection towards those suffering from Covid-19. Resistance also manifests in the struggle to redefine nursing's professional identity. Long associated with feminine care and nurturing, nursing often deters men from entering the field due to societal biases. However, the concept of ‘constructive resistance’ offers a pathway for male nurses to navigate and redefine these stereotypes (Bayuo et al. 2024). By embracing alternative identities, male nurses contribute to the profession's diversity and resilience. This perspective not only addresses the gender disparity in nursing but also sheds light on the broader implications of resistance in redefining professional roles. Another professional perspective is that social justice is a cornerstone of nursing. And yet its enactment often reveals inconsistencies. Many nurses operate within a ‘hegemonic distributive paradigm’ of justice, focusing on resource allocation. However, some adopt a systemic paradigm that emphasizes harm reduction, triage, and care planning as strategies to address structural inequities (Slemon et al. 2025). These efforts demonstrate that resistance is not confined to theory but actively reshapes practices within institutional contexts. Melino, Bell, and Freborg (2025) go further by critiquing the notion of nursing professionalism as nursing identity, showing how nursing must resist its own professionalizing attempts at inculcating oppressive structures of power-over each other, over patients- that makes for an elite nursing perspective which paradoxically effaces the ‘authentic’ humanity of nurses and those cared for. With a similar orientation, Brooks, Johnston, Gilson (2025) critiques the vulnerabilities that arise in psychiatric care when staff adopt a reductive understanding of vulnerability. By resisting dominant protocols constructed upon ideas of power and control, nursing rethink vulnerability as openness rather than weakness, and staff-patient relationships can become more therapeutic and less coercive. In conclusion, the articles collectively reveal that nursing is at a crossroads, grappling with systemic challenges while envisioning transformative possibilities. Resistance, whether through decolonisation, ethical defiance, or educational reform, emerges as a unifying thread. By embracing these acts of resistance as nursing practices as such, nursing can redefine its role in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, fostering justice, equity, and resilience. If, according to Oppedisano and Dillard-Wright, ‘Our only limitation is our imagination’ (2024, p. 1)—then it serves as a powerful reminder that the future of nursing lies in its ability to imagine and enact a better world through creative practices of resistance. The authors received no specific funding for this work. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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