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Vital Geographies: Life, Luck, and the Human Condition

2009; American Association of Geographers; Volume: 99; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00045600902967177

1467-8306

Gerry Kearns, Simon Reid‐Henry,

Public Health Policies and Education

Abstract Life has been problematized anew by recent social change and scientific innovation. There are important and little studied geographical dimensions to any such understanding of "the politics of life itself," however. A geographical perspective involves, first, highlighting the spatial aspects of both states and capital, two rather neglected dimensions of vital politics. Elaborating the geographical constitution of vital politics entails further describing the related powers of knowledges and practices. Reflecting on the geographical dimensions of longevity and health leads directly to a recognition of the ethical implications of the geographical luck of birth and residence. Taking up this ethical challenge requires specifying at least six components of geographical justice: culpability, fairness, care, state failure, human rights, and solidarity with environmental and social justice. Otra vez, la vida adquiere dimensión problémica en virtud del cambio social y la innovación científica. Sin embargo, aunque existen importantes dimensiones geográficas para comprender "las políticas de la vida misma," muy escaso es el estudio hecho sobre el particular. Una perspectiva geográfica a este respecto implica, primero que todo, destacar los aspectos espaciales tanto de los estados como de sus capitales, dos expresiones de las políticas vitales hasta ahora muy marginadas. Elaborar la constitución geográfica de la política vital demanda describir con mayor profundidad los poderes relacionados de conocimientos y prácticas. El reflexionar sobre las dimensiones geográficas de longevidad y salud lleva directamente a un reconocimiento de las implicaciones éticas de la casualidad geográfica del lugar de nacimiento y residencia. Para asumir estos retos éticos se requiere especificar por lo menos seis componentes de justicia geográfica: culpabilidad, equidad, cuidado, falla del estado, derechos humanos y solidaridad con la justicia ambiental y social. Key Words: biomedicinecarehealthinequalityjusticelongevitymedical ethics关键词: 生物医学护理保健不平等司法长寿医疗道德Palabras clave: biomedicinacuidadosaluddesigualdadjusticialongevidadética méedica Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge the support of the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant No. RG48163), which funded the seminar series for which this article was produced. We would also like to thank the seminar participants for their advice and comments. Gerry Kearns would like to acknowledge sabbatical support from the University of Cambridge and research support from Jesus College, Cambridge, as well as the facilities offered by the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Minnesota–Minneapolis where a Visiting Fellowship provided a stimulating environment for developing some of these ideas. Simon Reid-Henry would like to thank members of the Health, Place and Society research group at Queen Mary, University of London, for their support of the vital geographies project and their advice on some of the arguments herein and the Department of Geography at the University of Macquarie, Sydney, for hosting him as Visiting Fellow during part of the writing. We are particularly grateful to the following for the improvements they suggested: Richard Ashcroft, Bruce Braun, Michael Brown, Vinny del Casino, John Cornwell, Susan Craddock, Paul Draus, Rory Gallagher, Matt Gandy, Jon Harkness, Clare Herrick, Alan Ingram, Steve Legg, Jay Levy, David Nally, Vinh-Kim Nguyen, Jim Oeppen, Brian Salter, Richard Smith, Katerini Storeng, Karen Till, Andy Tucker, and Sridhar Venkatapuram. Thanks also to the referees and to Audrey Kobayashi for constructive suggestions. Notes 1. We are grateful to one of the referees for pointing out to us this implication of Western universality. "La conquête du Pain … ne s'agit pas simplement de manger, mais de manger le pain dÛ a son droît d'homme."