Black Placemaking as Health-Making: Rethinking Health in Place

Session Submission Type: Invited Session (90 minute)

Description

Too often, Black spaces are viewed as unhealthy, pathological, or harmful in some way. However, this should be approached as an empirical question rather than a fixed assumption. More scholars need to explore when, where, why, and for whom Black spatial contexts matter. Crucially, the default framing of these spaces as pathogenic or disadvantaged should be rejected. Instead, scholars should develop a framework that recognizes Black places can be salutogenic and beneficial. To achieve this, the panel asks: how can we move toward a more transformative understanding of race, place, and health in the 21st century? In line with the conference theme of “Disrupting the Status Quo: Putting Sociology to Work for a More Equitable Society,” this session will challenge traditional urban and health literature by exploring new paradigms of thinking and rethinking health in place. Approaches will include analyzing nationally representative health data, community-based health data, climate-related health experiences, and cultural perspectives on health and neighborhoods. Throughout these quantitative and qualitative methods, the panel will focus on the agentic and collective practices of Black placemaking to consider how a space can be organized to promote both physical and mental health.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Session

Presider

• Christy L Erving, University of Texas-Austin

Panelists

• Courtney S Thomas Tobin, University of California, Los Angeles

• Myles D. Moody, The University of Alabama at Birmingham

• Lacee Anne Satcher, Boston College

• Demetrius Miles Murphy, Boston College

• Brandi Thompson Summers, Columbia University

Session Organizers

• Demetrius Miles Murphy, Boston College

• Lacee Anne Satcher, Boston College