Radical (talk page)

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what do we mean by radical

Grace Keller 23 Feb 2014 09:36

So… Merriam and Webster offer a good start here, but I'm interested in how we might apply "radical," not just what it denotes. I like the emphasis on root (interestingly ancient Greek herbalists weren't called radicals, they were called rhizomata) — but how do we get to the root?

Are we focusing on fundamental critique, structural interventions, challenging ahistoricity? All of the above?

Or if "we" is too big a question (it intimidates me; I can't answer it), how about you? What do you mean by the "radical" in RPH?

Re: what do we mean by radical

Grace Keller 14 Mar 2014 01:54

This might also belong here:

Radical Public Health was in part founded in response to public health curricula that we think inadequately address several topics of extreme importance to public health, including:

• militarism, war prevention, and peace promotion
• mass incarceration and the prison nation
• neoliberalism
• trauma and sexual violence
• protest and dissent as key tools to achieving health equity
• facing and overcoming economic and political oppression and structural violence.

The goal of achieving health equity requires that these subjects and others be thoroughly covered in both scholarship and practice of public health. We promote active discourse and action to address such issues of extreme importance to the health of the public.