Theorising Indigenous health: a political economy of health and substance misuse

For more than two decades we have bene engaged in a program of research which examines the health of Indigenous people. More recetnly this work has focussed on ways in which the substance misuse affects communities, and their responses to it. Our work is framed by understandings derived from politic...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Saggers, S., Gray, Dennis
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2002
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/5663
_version_ 1848744859576303616
author Saggers, S.
Gray, Dennis
author_facet Saggers, S.
Gray, Dennis
author_sort Saggers, S.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description For more than two decades we have bene engaged in a program of research which examines the health of Indigenous people. More recetnly this work has focussed on ways in which the substance misuse affects communities, and their responses to it. Our work is framed by understandings derived from political economy, which directs attention to the web of political and economic relations surrounding individuals and social groups. We have stressed that this framework should not be interpreted in a crudely deterministic fashion, which neglects the nuances of the social determinants of health, or individual and community agency. Much of our recent work documents such agency in community-based actions throughout Australia. In this paper we examine Indigenous drinking and its consequences, outline a political economy approach to drinking, and discuss how this has informed our work. We conclude with a discussion of some criticisms of this approach and our responses.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T06:08:10Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-5663
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T06:08:10Z
publishDate 2002
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-56632017-01-30T10:47:41Z Theorising Indigenous health: a political economy of health and substance misuse Saggers, S. Gray, Dennis alcohol - substance abuse - Aboriginal For more than two decades we have bene engaged in a program of research which examines the health of Indigenous people. More recetnly this work has focussed on ways in which the substance misuse affects communities, and their responses to it. Our work is framed by understandings derived from political economy, which directs attention to the web of political and economic relations surrounding individuals and social groups. We have stressed that this framework should not be interpreted in a crudely deterministic fashion, which neglects the nuances of the social determinants of health, or individual and community agency. Much of our recent work documents such agency in community-based actions throughout Australia. In this paper we examine Indigenous drinking and its consequences, outline a political economy approach to drinking, and discuss how this has informed our work. We conclude with a discussion of some criticisms of this approach and our responses. 2002 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/5663 fulltext
spellingShingle alcohol - substance abuse - Aboriginal
Saggers, S.
Gray, Dennis
Theorising Indigenous health: a political economy of health and substance misuse
title Theorising Indigenous health: a political economy of health and substance misuse
title_full Theorising Indigenous health: a political economy of health and substance misuse
title_fullStr Theorising Indigenous health: a political economy of health and substance misuse
title_full_unstemmed Theorising Indigenous health: a political economy of health and substance misuse
title_short Theorising Indigenous health: a political economy of health and substance misuse
title_sort theorising indigenous health: a political economy of health and substance misuse
topic alcohol - substance abuse - Aboriginal
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/5663