Public Health Humanities expand public health by incorporating artistic, narrative, as well as cultural and humanities-based methods and approaches to health and illness. Health, illness, disability, medical practices, and related phenomena do not refer solely to biological conditions; rather, their interpretations are shaped and reflected culturally, socially, historically, and—above all—medially and in the context of the arts. Anyone interested in people’s health, their ways of thinking, and their imaginaries is therefore well advised to enter, analyze, and, where appropriate, strategically engage with such (public) discursive and resonant spaces.

The Public Health Humanities analyze health and illness as the outcome of societal negotiation processes and focus, among other things, on the power relations involved. By paying particular attention to the social and psychosocial interrelations between health and society, they also reflect on the specific significance of profession-specific normativities and conceptions of the human being, as well as the associated constructions of normality. They expand public health by incorporating artistic, narrative, and cultural and humanities-based methods and approaches to health and illness. In this way, they open up spaces of resonance in which marginalized experiences become visible, promote participation, reflect power relations, and extend public health beyond purely empirical approaches to include critical, aesthetic, and societal perspectives.

The volume is aimed at scholars, students, and practitioners who are interested in a holistic view of health and in engaging creatively.

https://www.transcript-publishing.com/978-3-8376-7575-7/kunst-kultur-gesundheit/