Department of Geography & Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
Department of Geography & Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
Health Place. 2021 May;69:102561. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102561. Epub 2021 Mar 21.
Social epigenetics explores relationships between social factors and health inequities embodied at the molecular level. Through modulating gene expression, epigenetic changes resulting from human-environment interactions may play a role in shaping health trajectories. This paper applies a health geography lens to explore the potential and support for conducting social epigenetic studies of chronic diseases with complex and dynamic etiologies. In so doing, we argue that social epigenetics presents a novel space for investigations of health and disease that is transdisciplinary and builds upon new understandings of bodies and place-based experiences. Given gender disparities in chronic diseases, we adopt a feminist perspective that cogitates the transactive relationships between gender and health/ill-health as mediated by biosocial processes at a variety of scales. Looking forward to the practical undertaking of social epigenetic studies, we assess existing theoretical and methodological support as well as insights to be gained. Reflecting upon the central tenets of health geography, we propose a unique positionality for health geographers to drive this field forward.
社会表观遗传学探索社会因素与健康不平等之间的关系，这些不平等体现在分子层面上。通过调节基因表达，人类与环境相互作用产生的表观遗传变化可能在塑造健康轨迹方面发挥作用。本文运用健康地理学的视角，探讨了对具有复杂和动态病因的慢性疾病进行社会表观遗传学研究的潜力和支持。在这样做的过程中，我们认为社会表观遗传学为健康和疾病的研究提供了一个新的空间，这个研究是跨学科的，并建立在对身体和基于地点的经验的新理解之上。鉴于慢性疾病中的性别差异，我们采用了一种女性主义视角，即思考性别与健康/疾病之间的相互关系，这种关系是由各种规模的生物社会过程中介的。展望社会表观遗传学研究的实际进行，我们评估了现有的理论和方法支持以及可以获得的见解。反思健康地理学的核心原则，我们为健康地理学家提出了一个独特的定位，以推动这一领域的发展。
