Health and Borders across Time and Cultures: Introduction

Abstract

This special issue of Portal brings together papers examining the intersection of health and borders. In this analysis health is understood not only as the absence of illness, but also as knowledge, as a right, and as the pursuit of identity and self-transformation. Similarly, borders here are used as both physical and mental constructs. The special issue represent a multidisciplinary effort that looks at health from a social science perspective through historical, socio-economic, and cultural approaches. It is also concerned with the health inequities across and within national borders, due to economic imperatives, changing technologies and environments. The articles in this special issue explore lessons learned and new ways of understanding health across time and borders, with specific reference to the cases of India, Australia, Hong Kong and China, Pakistan, and Thailand.