title: Healthicization and Lay Knowledge About Eating Practices in Two African American Communities.
abstract: In this manuscript, we expand upon sociological research in lay knowledge about health and healthicization by examining socially mediated ways in which 40 African American adults in two communities acquired information about eating practices. Participants employed a variety of socially informed information-seeking strategies. Many, but not all, used socially prescribed sources exhorting them to maximize their own health and reported an amalgam of experiences concerning their interpretation of healthist messages. Participants variously accepted messages about healthy eating or engaged in strategies of micro-resistance that decentered and/or reinterpreted health promotion discourse. Furthermore, participants used emic community-based resources including those that prioritized familial engagement over individual responsibility in eating practices or that drew upon alternative health practices. We discuss the implications our work has for further research on healthicization and lay knowledge about eating practices, in which community members are actively engaged in meaning-making within local socio-structural contexts.
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA Deborah.potter@louisville.edu.
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Potter
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Markowitz
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Siobhan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Theresa A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Rajack-Talley
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret U
authors.initials: MU
authors.lastname: D'Silva
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsay J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Della
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Latrica E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Best
authors.affiliation: Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods, Office of the Mayor, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Quaniqua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Carthan
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States
keywords: African Americans; America, North; agency; diet, nutrition, malnutrition; health, information-seeking; interviews (research methods); marginalized or vulnerable populations; qualitative