Unequal Places and Health: Why Does Culture Matter?

Environmental justice advocacy and research has drawn critical attention to how unequal physical and social environments have lead to health disparities. Less attention has been brought to bear on why the symbolic, social, and cultural meanings of unequal environments make a difference for health. Drawing on concepts from medical anthropology, Claire Snell-Rood describes two case studies: one on how women in Indian slums understand and redefine their challenging environment; the second on how depression in central Appalachia is normalized as a response to living in a depressed area. In both, Snell-Rood raises questions about community-based and policy-oriented health research can address culturally variable concepts of the environment and incorporate participant perspectives into their design and analysis.

Speaker: Claire Snell-Rood, UC Berkeley