Racism, Health, and Post-Industrialism: A Theory of African-American Health

by Clovis E. Semmes

Overview

Historical, sociological, and ecological analyses reveal that the health of a people is broadly determined by the strength, resilience, and vitality of their culture. The destructive effects of oppression and exploitation on health linger and are difficult to transcend when systemic attacks on the institutional stability of a people persist. Normative cultural destabilization produces added and abnormal challenges to the health status of African Americans. The pursuit of health becomes both a goal and a tool of liberation. Better health builds and releases mental, physical, and spiritual energy that can be directed toward achieving empowerment and development. The process of self-consciously pursuing better health attacks the fundamental mechanisms of cultural exploitation and oppression by serving to dismantle colonial-like relationships of dependency.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275949457
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/28/1996
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

CLOVIS E. SEMMES is Professor of African American Studies at Eastern Michigan University. His earlier book, Cultural Hegemony and African American Development (Praeger, 1992), received the Choice Outstanding Book Award in 1993.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Emancipation of the Roots of Health
Race and Culture Contact and the Equilibrium of Health
Antebellum Life and Health
The Challenges of Post-Slavery Rural and Urban Life
Folk, Popular, and Alternative Health Practices
An Extended Look at Alternative African-American Health Practices
Racism, the Medical-Industrial Complex, and Post Industrialism
Contemporary Challenges to Health: Toward a Wholistic Theory
Strategies for Change: Community Action and Public Policy
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Semmes (African American studies, Eastern Michigan U.) analyzes health in the African American community from a historical and sociological view. He argues that health consciousness becomes political consciousness as we understand how the mechanisms of exploitation and liberation provide particular challenges to the health status of a minority people. His discussions examine health transitions from slavery through the post-slavery periods of economic dislocation; alternative and folk remedies within the community; and specific issues of modern health care access, as well as community based reform strategies. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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