Narratives of Stress in Health Meanings of African Americans in Lake County, Indiana

ABSTRACT

Across the life course, African Americans bear an unequal burden of disease compared to other racial groups. In spite of the widespread acknowledgment of racial health disparities, the voices of African Americans, their articulations of health and their local etiologies of health disparities are limited. In this article, we highlight the important role of communication scholarship to understand the everyday enactment of health disparities. Drawing upon the culture-centered approach (CCA) to co-construct narratives of health with African Americans residents of Lake County, Indiana, we explore the presence of stress in the everyday narratives of health. These narratives voice the social and structural sources of stress, and articulate resistive coping strategies embedded in relationship to structures.

Notes

¹ Throughout this article, we have used the term “African American” instead of “Black,” except for those instances where the latter term is used in a direct quote. While we realize that the terms are not perfectly interchangeable, we use the term after consulting with our community advisory board in Lake County, Indiana.

² All names used in this section have been changed to preserve participant anonymity.