As a medical anthropologist, I’ve spent a good part of the last two decades parsing out what we mean when we talk about being healthy. I’ve conducted research in indigenous communities, linking health to land and traditional practices. I’ve critiqued the division we create between physical health (commonly conceptualized as “real” health in a biomedical sense) and “wellness” (which incorporates the social dimensions of health, a “less real” concept). I’ve invited students to examine the definition ratified by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1940, which explicitly addresses a holistic model of health, including the social component. We have deeply considered if it is simply aspirational, and, if not, how individuals, communities and nations can measure physical, mental and social data — how we can operationalize health.
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