Health and Culture: Beyond the Western Paradigm / Edition 1

by Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, PhD

Overview

Offering a trenchant analysis of the effect that culture has in determining our perceptions - and expectations - of health care, this provocative volume challenges traditional, Westernized, medical models. The author surveys various aspects of the health education domain, discusses the elements that inform an educational diagnosis of health behaviour and considers the cultural appropriateness of health behaviour in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803971561
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	04/11/1995
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Collins Airhihenbuwa is Professor and Head of the Department of Biobehavioral Health at the Pennsylvania State University. His research interest is health and culture and he is the author of the PEN-3 model and co-author of critical race theory applied to public health. His work has informed ways of addressing the intersection of culture, race and health in many NIH -funded projects and he has facilitated research collaborations, institutional partnerships, and mentoring of junior faculty from underrepresented groups at various institutions domestically and globally. Dr. Airhihenbuwa is currently collaborating with colleagues at several universities, including the University of Minnesota, New York University, the University of Maryland, and UCLA to forge a partnership that can further build the capacity of underrepresented minority faculty members domestically and globally.

Table of Contents

PART ONE: THEORIZING HEALTH AND CULTURE IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT
Culture, Health Promotion and Development
Communicating Health within Culture
Developing Culturally Appropriate Health Programs
PART TWO: REPRESENTATION AND DIFFERENCE IN HEALTH PROMOTION
Health, Healing and Medicine as Cultural Constructs
African Women's Health and the Confluence of Patriarchal and Western Hegemonies
The Cultural Production of Healthy Children and Youth
Contextualizing the Health Praxis of African-Americans
Approaches to Health Promotion Beyond the Fin de Siecle

Editorial Reviews

Airhihenbuwa (health education, Pennsylvania State U.) challenges the reigning paradigms in health, education, and development as producing and acquiring information based on a Eurocentric and patriarchical model, promoting western hegemony as though is were universal progress, and overemphasizing the medical model of disease prevention. He proposes the PEN-3 model as an alternative, based on African theories and practices of health that are rooted in cultural codes and meanings, and applies it to specific populations, ranging from women and children of all races to subgroups within the African American community. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews