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Women, Weaving, and Well-Being: The Social Reproduction of Health in Laos
Kristin V. Lundberg

University of Kansas, USA


Health is more than a biological phenomenon and demographic indicators. It exists in synergistic processes between biological actions and social constructs. To a large degree, health occurs because of the interactions of people and their commitment to relationships, institutions, and productive means, resources affected by historical, ideological, political, social, and economic forces. The interconnectedness of social determinants and biology coalesce in the concept of a social reproduction of health where the focus is on how health is created, maintained, and reproduced. Women weavers and their families in Laos provided a microcosm by which to study the social reproduction of health because of particular conventional cultural practices connected to the making of textiles within a country striving to prosper and overcome least-developed status.

Keywords: social reproduction, health, social determinants of health, weaving, Laos.