How Are Immigrants Changing Our Definition of Health?

Health involves both measures, like taking our blood pressure, and perceptions—the ideas we hold in our heads about what it means to be healthy. As California attracted a more diverse cross section of people from around the world, those ideas began to change, and once-risky enterprises—from acupuncture to eating very spicy foods or drinking a glass of wine every day—are now recognized as paths to wellness. How have immigrants and their families influenced the way we understand health? What lessons are we learning—about everything from birthing to diet to meditation—from global Californians? And what is the connection between immigration and today’s greater emphasis on a holistic sense of health, which includes the quality of our relationships with neighbors and family? Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA School of Medicine David Hayes-Bautista, journalist and author of The Immigrant Advantage Claudia Kolker, and UCLA medical anthropologist Marjorie Kagawa-Singer visited Zócalo to examine how Californians now understand wellness. The event, moderated by CALmatters health and welfare reporter Elizabeth Aguilera, took place at the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco .