Abstract
Health geography has emerged from under the “shadow of the medical” to become one of the most vibrant of all the subdisciplines. Yet, this success has also meant that health research has become increasingly siloed within this subdisciplinary domain. As this article explores, this represents a potential lost opportunity with regard to the study of global health, which has instead come to be dominated by anthropology and political science. Chief among the former's concerns are exploring the gap between the programmatic intentions of global health and the unintended or unanticipated consequences of their deployment. This article asserts that recent work on contingency within geography offers significant conceptual potential for examining this gap. It therefore uses the example of alcohol taxation in Botswana, an emergent global health target and tool, to explore how geographical contingency and the emergent, contingent geographies that result might help counter the prevailing tendency for geography to be side-stepped within critical studies of global health. At the very least, then, this intervention aims to encourage reflection by geographers on how to make explicit the all-too-often implicit links between their research and global health debates located outside the discipline.
Highlights
Health geography has emerged from under the “shadow of the medical” to become one of the most vibrant of all the subdisciplines
It uses the example of alcohol taxation in Botswana, an emergent global health target and tool, to explore how geographical contingency and the emergent, contingent geographies that result might help counter the prevailing tendency for geography to be sidestepped within critical studies of global health
The second concern originates in the observation that despite “emerging work in health geography . . . which calls for a rethinking of the meaning of global health” (Dunn, Le Mare, and Makungu 2015, 17), such advances have been eclipsed by anthropological and political science engagements with this novel field
Summary
Health geography has emerged from under the “shadow of the medical” to become one of the most vibrant of all the subdisciplines. This article emerges from two concerns: first, that the potential health significance of much geographical research is being footnoted rather than foregrounded; second, that this trend is acute in relation to the contemporary field of critical global health studies.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
