Poverty, structural barriers, and health: a Santali narrative of health communication

Recent years have witnessed a surge in scholarship that problematizes the linear, Eurocentric approach to international health communication and suggests the pressing need for a culture-centered approach. This author takes a culture-centered approach to exploring the Santali meanings of health in rural Bengal. The open-ended interviews conducted with the Santals bring to surface key issues and meaningful theories of health. Central to the Santali experience of health is food; for the Santal, it is his or her hunger that is the greatest cause of disease and illness. Poverty and the presence of structural barriers that cripple Santali existence emerge as the critical themes of Santali health meanings. The study also illuminates the complex process of meaning making engaged in by participants of marginalized sectors. The author draws policy-based implications from the findings of this research.