Social Science & Medicine 65 (2007) 169–171
Concluding commentary
Report from the Eleventh International Symposium in Medical
Geography: A comment from the senior editor
This collection of papers come from the 11th
International Symposium in Medical Geography, a
biennial event convened in 2005 in Fort Worth by
the team of health geographers at University of
North Texas. As Guest Editor for this Special Issue,
Professor Earickson provides an introduction that
includes some reflections on how medical/health
geography has developed over time.
All those working in this field recognise that,
while Bob Earickson was Senior Editor for Medical
Geography at Social Science & Medicine, publica-
tions in this journal have made major contributions
to the development of this sub-discipline in geo-
graphy, and have charted its progress over time. The
vital role of the Medical Geography Office of Social
Science & Medicine under his stewardship cannot be
over-estimated in this respect. The 11th Interna-
tional Symposium in Medical Geography was a
fitting occasion for health geographers from around
the world to thank him for all his excellent work for
the journal and for geography.
Bob Earickson’s editorial overview also high-
lights the diversity of conceptual and methodologi-
cal approaches now current in health geography.
We might also note, how the application of these
various approaches advances knowledge and theory
about space and place in relation to health, which
forms the core of geographical research in this field.
For example, the papers here contribute to our
understanding of conceptual spatialisation, through
which ideas about health and illness are constructed
and differentiated, in varying ways, by different
social and demographic groups. We also see the
exemplified potential of spatial analysis as a tool to
help us understand the geographical clustering of
health outcomes. The collection also includes
illustrations of studies of particular places and
individuals, which reveal the socio-cultural pro-
cesses by which places constitute social relations
influencing health and access to health care and
provide symbolic representations of therapeutic en-
vironments devoted to improving health. The
following paragraphs elaborate briefly on these
points.
Some of the papers here use theoretical and
empirical models to describe and explain the
‘conceptual spatialisation’ through which ideas of
‘health’ are constructed. Using a principal compo-
nents analysis of survey data collected in the Swiss
population, Charis Keller-Lengen, Jorg Blasius and
Thomas Kistemann have applied an approach
similar to Bourdieu’s theoretical and empirical
interpretation of ‘social space’ to an analysis of
‘health space’ (Keller-Lengen, Blasius, & Kiste-
mann, 2007). The results draw our attention, for
example, to debates about the importance for social
construction of health of distinctions made between
physical and mental illness. Other health geogra-
phers have also drawn on these ideas about
‘spatialisation’ to study lay constructions of health
(e.g. Gatrell, Popay, & Thomas (2004) who also
draw on Bourdieu’s theories) and medical profes-
sional constructions (e.g. Philo (2000), referring to
Foucauldian interpretations of medical knowledge).
A ‘position paper’ in the Special Issue by Gavin
Andrews, Malcolm Cutchin, Kevin McCracken,
David Phillips and Janine Wiles focuses attention
on the conceptual construction among academic
researchers (as well as wider society) of the health of
older populations (Andrews, Cutchin, McCracken,
Phillips, & Wiles, 2007). Socio-geographical differ-
ences in health among people in this growing
demographic group, spanning cohorts of people in
their 60s as well as significant numbers aged over 80,
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