What is it about?
I report on a qualitative study with Black German researchers, educators, and care providers who identified pathways towards more effective research and policy initiatives on racism, environmental justice, community health and environmental health equity in Germany including: collecting better data that is informed by structural theories of race/racialization and power; addressing history and national narratives; supporting more community-based participatory action research; engaging with existing civil society and non-governmental organizations that serve and advocate on behalf of minoritized communities; and building upon past and present progressive social movements.
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Photo by Wolfgang Weiser on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The historic global reckoning on race and racism in 2020 ushered in new anti-discrimination and anti-racism initiatives by the German Federal government including the publication of reports such as Rassismus und seine Symptome (Racism and Its Symptoms) and Rassismus Forschung I Theoretische und interdisziplinäre Perspektiven (Racism research I Theoretical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives) and the establishment of an Expert Council on Anti-Racism. However, the role of structural racism in health appears to be missing from these initiatives, community health and medical training and research, and from larger policy debates on environmental justice and health equity in Germany. If racism is indeed on the political agenda in Germany, why is there a disconnect when it comes to health and the environment? I conducted this qualitative study to begin to answer these questions.
Perspectives
During previous visits to Germany I was told that that academics and governmental actors avoided using terms such as racial/ethnic discrimination or residential racial segregation because in their opinion these problems did not exist in Germany as they do in the U.S. This denial of racism has historical roots and serious consequences for the present. I hope this article leads to more critical international comparative dialogue on racial logics, racial practices and anti-racism research especially among environmental health researchers and epidemiologists in Europe.
Devon Payne-Sturges
University of Michigan School of Public Health
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: “Remember, we don't have race categories here”: contradictions and reflections on racism, environment, and health from an interview study among Black German researchers, educators, and care providers, Frontiers in Public Health, December 2025, Frontiers,
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1658436.
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