Creative Arts and Health Communication in Ghana
Written by IAMCR Member Ama De-Graft-Aikins
The intersections between arts, creativity and health are of significant importance in the humanities and social sciences. Arts and health research, for example, suggests that the arts offer participatory and transformational alternatives to traditional health communication. However, concepts and methods are predominantly informed by Global North research, and critical insights from arts traditions elsewhere remain to be fully integrated into common models. Ghana offers a unique case study for examining local and global dynamics in arts-based health communication, because of the country's rich art traditions as well as its place in global history and in the global imagination. Healing art forms like music and sculpture have evolved through intentional cross-cultural borrowings, as well as through changes imposed through slavery, colonialism and post-colonial political systems. Selling Healing tells a polyvocal story of how Ghanaian art forms intersect with health, illness and healing, inviting a re-imagining of health communication in global health.
- Provides a template for inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary approaches to arts-based health communication, while acknowledging the specific concerns of advancing these projects in African contexts
- Presents a wealth of data and sources including systemic reviews of past research, artist interviews, archival data, and public domain art works
- Illustrated with numerous photos of art and art objects
The above text is from the publisher’s description of the book:
Title: Selling Healing: Creative Arts and Health Communication in Ghana
Author: Ama De-Graft-Aikins
Published: 2025
Publisher: Cambridge University Press