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

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

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.

Reviews

Semmes discusses the effect of systematic inequity, which has in the past and now continues to alter the health of African Americans. The narrative is well written, and the author's powerful and focused message is supported by credible academic scholorship to show that cultural instability and health are linked. In the struggle to overcome institutionalized racism in American life, health becomes both a means and a desired end. An important resource for libraries serving academic needs in African American studies, public health, and public policy.-Choice
"Semmes discusses the effect of systematic inequity, which has in the past and now continues to alter the health of African Americans. The narrative is well written, and the author's powerful and focused message is supported by credible academic scholorship to show that cultural instability and health are linked. In the struggle to overcome institutionalized racism in American life, health becomes both a means and a desired end. An important resource for libraries serving academic needs in African American studies, public health, and public policy."-Choice

Author Bio

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.