Health and Wellness among POC Communities in the Bronx: Perceptions and Realities

Abstract

This research takes a look at different themes of inequality that are present within the Bronx, closely focusing on African American and Latinx communities. By examining certain infrastructures and how they interconnect into various aspects of living, we can study how ideas of health/wellness are adapted from culture, assimilation and interaction with society’s discriminatory institutions. The main claim of this piece is the lack of concern and access when it comes to the health of POC communities. Food, recreation facilities, businesses and health care are systematically limited to keep low income neighborhoods, like the Bronx, impoverished and deprived. With historical research, I have analyzed gender, class, geographic location, medicine and media and how they influence the health of disadvantaged communities. Using anthropologic study and ethnographic research methods, I come to the conclusion that with education and public awareness, policy change can take place on local, state and national level. This can only happen if the individual becomes conscious of the injustice and seeks restitution. Often times, we blame the communities themselves for their standard of living but this research aims to bring self-awareness to people, encouraging activism and equal opportunity at a healthy life.