Perspectives on Racism: Reflections on Our Collective Moral Responsibility When Leveraging Arts and Culture for Health Promotion

Abstract

In this commentary essay, I examine the collective moral responsibility of leveraging arts and culture for health promotion, and the role ethical storytelling can play in reframing how health educators promote “good health” with specific regard to the next generation of the workforce. I reflect on the impact of racism, White supremacy, and anti-Blackness when merging the arts and culture sector with public health disciplines, and close with a call to action as our niche field expands. I argue that no matter our role as artists, cultural workers, heritage holders, and/or focus within public health education and health promotion, our work is both an art and a science. Just as the language we use forms a story, the collection of scholars we choose to cite exposes a narrative. I hope this commentary encourages readers to reflect on opportunities in their work to close the health equity gap with recognition of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and capital within and across Black culture while also lifting up the community cultural wealth that exists in Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

Engaging Public Health Critical Race Praxis in Local Social Determinants of Health Research: The Youth Health Equity and Action Research Training Program in Portland, OR—yHEARTPDX

“…Second, we were deliberate in developing alternative ways for youth to engage in analysis and discourse of local SDH, namely, through use of creative arts. Arts play a critical role in public health [71][72][73][74][75], yet they are very rarely engaged as a part of standard research/practice, related to SDH or otherwise. By creating and holding space for creative expression of their lived SDH knowledges through planned research-arts sessions, we believe we not only more deeply engaged PHCRP principles of voice and social construction of knowledge, but honored broader CRT notions of storytelling and counterstorytelling [76,77].…”

Altering Auras, Ideas, and Dreams: Naming and (Re)Claiming a Poetry for the Public’s Health

“…One poem at a time. We invite you to co-write the public health and health promotion that we all deserve-one that future generations will recognize as worthy, as healthful (Burch, 2021), as irresistible, and unmistakably full of radical possibility.…”

Interdisciplinaridade, interprofissionalidade e diversidade racial na formação antirracista do profissional de saúde: vozes e aprendizados

“…A intenção de oferecer o recurso como complemento das atividades síncronas fundamenta-se na premissa de que ações antirracistas voltadas à equidade em saúde precisam aumentar a capacidade individual e coletiva para olhar criticamente o mundo e sonhar outras formas possíveis 16 . Acredita-se que, ao mesclar o setor das artes e da cultura com a disciplina, ampliamos a perspectiva de formas de percepção e enfrentamento do racismo, expressando em diferentes linguagens a importância da escuta de narrativas sobre e pela população negra 17 .…”