Culture/Place/Health is the first exploration of cultural-geographical health research for a decade, drawing on contemporary research undertaken by geographers and other social scientists to explore the links between culture, place and health. It uses a wealth of examples from societies around the world to assert the place of culture in shaping relations between health and place. It contributes to an expanding of horizons at the intersection of the discipline of geography and the multidisciplinary domain of health concerns.

Putting Health into Place draws together original works that collectively argue for a reinvention of medical geography. There is a growing interest worldwide in relationships between human health and the experience of place, an interest driven both by developments in sociocultural theory and observed health concerns. This book is a resource for those wishing to explore or to teach beyond the frontiers of conventional medical geography. As the first word of the book's title suggests, this is an active volume, one that contributes to situating health in the simultaneously tangible, negotiated, and experienced realities of place. Robin A. Kearns and Wilbert M. Gesler argue that medical issues are a necessary but insufficient focus in developing geographies of health and healing. This contention is supported by the authors of the thirteen substantive chapters who convey research findings from the Americas, Britain, and the Pacific. This book represents a collective commitment to exploring links between social and cultural theory, ideas about place, and discourses on health that will be of interest to readers across the social and health sciences.

Weaving together the various foundations of psychology and health into a compelling narrative, this book culturally and historically situates the practice, strengths, and shortcomings of the field. Historian of psychology Wade Pickren traces the development of the relationship of health and psychology through a critical history that incorporates context, culture, and place from the early modern period to the present day. Covering a range of topics and time periods including psychology and health in the nineteenth century; stress in post-World War II USA; and the relationship between body, mind, and emotion in the modern world, Psychology & Health: Culture, Place, and History outlines the journey of an understanding of health rooted in nature, to a commodity governed by the neoliberal values of the marketplace, including an exploration of the roles of self-help, emotions, and resilience. The book closes with an outline of contemporary alternatives in health psychology and points toward a future when, once again, psychology and health are grounded in nature. Throughout, the rich connections across cultures illustrate the importance of cultural variations in understanding health, disease, and treatment. This book is essential reading for scholars and students of health psychology at all levels. It will also be of interest to professionals and practitioners in related fields, as well as those interested in the enduring connection between health and psychology.

Arguing that medical systems must be seen in a social context, Gesler (geography, U. of North Carolina) applies the concepts of cultural geography to health care and shows that in both developed and developing countries alike the social sciences can inform the medical sciences and make them more effective and less expensive. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

A significant body of theoretical and empirical studies describes 'sense of place' as an outcome of interconnected psychological, social and environmental processes in relation to physical place(s). Sense of place has been examined, particularly in human geography, in terms of both the character intrinsic to a place as a localized, bounded and material entity, and the sentiments of attachment/detachment that humans experience and express in relation to specific places. Scholars in a wide range of disciplines are increasingly exploring the relationship between place and health, and recently, the field of public health has been encouraged to recognize sense of place as a potential contributing factor to well-being. It is evident that over the last few decades, sense of place has developed into a versatile construct. This important book brings together work related to sense of place and health, broadly defined, from the perspective of a variety of fields and disciplines. It will give the reader an understanding of both the range of applications of this construct within approaches to human health as well as the breadth of research methodologies employed in its investigation.