Health geographies II: The posthuman turn

Abstract

This report, the second of three, discusses the nature of a recent turn in health geography towards a posthuman theoretical orientation. This is an ontological turn that challenges basic categories leading to the understanding that health is not solely a human condition, but one created within assemblages of multiple human and nonhuman actors and forces. This is a turn concerned with the immediate and processual emergence of health, hence one that recognises the critical roles of pre-personal and more-than-representational events and forces. These facets are explored along with the extent to which the new ‘posthuman geography of health’ is a departure, and the forms of enquiry and ethics it brings forth.