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Health Geographies

Module description

This module develops a critical approach for understanding the nature of different health geographies today. The course focuses on:

i) the relationships between people and other organisms that are important to health;

ii) the importance of place, space, and environments in shaping healthy relations; and

iii) the role of political, economic, and other practices in creating health inequalities and in the search for new ways of reimagining and remaking healthy geographies

We explore these through different sites important to health geographies, looking at how data, knowledges, and experiences around health are remade across bodies, clinics, laboratories, policies, and environments.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to introduce students to key debates, ideas and methods in health geographies and consider what a geographical approach to health can contribute to research and practice. Students will explore case studies of health in varying geographical contexts to understand how geographical ideas and approaches can inform our understanding of health. This module will equip students with the skills and knowledge to enhance their employability for careers in a variety of sectors, including in environmental and public health.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand how geographers have considered the spatial and temporal dimensions of health
• 2. Discuss examples and case studies of health that reflect a range of geographical contexts

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Understand key geographical and social science concepts and how they relate to health geographies
• 4. Engage with methodological debates in interdisciplinary research on the geographic, social and political relations of health

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Identify, evaluate and synthesise material from a range of sources effectively
• 6. Draw connections across the module content, understand the literature, and communicate effective arguments in the assessment

Syllabus plan

The module will cover a range of debates about how geographers and geography as a discipline have explored health and engage with varied case studies that reflect a range of geographical contexts. Indicative themes within the module include:

• Health and place
• Health inequalities
• Politics of health
• Disease
• Biomedicine and laboratory spaces
• Bodies and environments
• Digital technologies
• More-than-human geographies of health
• Planetary health
• Activism and advocacy
• Methodological approaches to studying health

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Brown, T., Andrews, G. J., Cummins, S., Greenhough, B., Lewis, D., & Power, A. (2017). Health geographies: A critical introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
• Gatrell, A. C., & Elliott, S. J. (2014). Geographies of health: An introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
• Hazen, H., & Anthamatten, P. (2019). An introduction to the geography of health. Routledge.
• Emch, M., Root, E. D., & Carrel, M. (2017). Health and medical geography. Guilford Publications.
• Brown, T., McLafferty, S., & Moon, G. (Eds.). (2010). A companion to health and medical geography. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Gesler, W. M., & Kearns, R. A. (2005). Culture/place/health. Routledge.
• England, M., Fannin, M., & Hazen, H. (2018). Reproductive geographies. London: Routledge.
• Braverman, Irus (ed) 2023 More-than-One Health: Humans, Animals, and the Environment Post-COVID, Routledge, New York
• Boyd, C. P., Boyle, L. E., Bell, S. L., Högström, E., Evans, J., Paul, A., & Foley, R. (Eds.). (2025). Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Taylor & Francis.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE

Key words search

Health; Disease; Illness; Wellbeing; Inequalities