Intersectionality and Health Promotion

Health promotion is grappling with how to address growing health inequity and engagement with critical social theories is essential for this work. This chapter provides a brief overview of why inequity is core business for health promotion and introduces the reader to intersectionality theory as one of the possible tools that can support research and practice toward health equity. A brief history of intersectionality theory and its definitions are provided, before exploring how intersectionality theory might be applied in health promotion research and practice. The chapter describes a participatory health promotion project that drew on intersectionality across design and implementation to encourage creative explorations for doing this work. Finally, this chapter provides readers with some reflexive provocations to support emerging health promotion scholars and practitioners to engage with intersectionality theory in their future work.