This journal publishes studies of health and medicine that take a rhetorical perspective. Such studies combine rhetorical analysis with any number of other methodologies, including critical/cultural analysis, ethnography, qualitative analysis, and quantitative analysis. Rhetoric of Health & Medicine seeks to bring together humanities and social scientific research traditions in a rhetorically focused journal to allow scholars to build new interdisciplinary theories, methodologies, and insights that can impact our understanding of health, illness, healing, and wellness.
2023-10-23
Recently, the editing team held a "coffee chat" at the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine Symposium. For that event, co-editor Kim Hensley Owens prepared this video , which offers an overview and tips for those interested in reviewing for the journal.
2021-05-24
RHM Statement about Anti-Racist and Inclusive Scholarly Reviewing Practices
2020-06-17
The co-editors of RHM want to empahsize the journal's commitment in cultivating, sponsoring, publishing, and promoting scholarship that addresses racism and interlocking systems of oppression as public health (and/or other health or medical) issues. We welcome queries or submissions around these important issues.Vol. 9 No. 2 (2026): Spring 2026
Published: 2026-04-01
Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Constructing Risk at Advanced Maternal Age
128–150
AbstractExisting research has explored the rhetoric surrounding women’s health, fertility, and motherhood, as well as the effect of medical discourse...
Techne and Eating Disorder Recovery
151–177
AbstractIn this article, the author uses the rhetorical concept of techne, here understood as a repeated engagement involving mind and body, to...
An Analysis of the Medical Debates Over the Diagnosis and Treatment of “Transsexualism”
178–207
AbstractThis article revisits the mid-century medical debate over the “treatment” of transsexualism in the U.S., summarily represented in the most cited...
Research Methods, Lyric Theory, and Genres of Believability
208–233
AbstractThe following article is a rendering of the opening keynote speech given by Dr. V. Jo Hsu at the 2025 Rhetoric of Health and Medicine...
Minor Troubles: Racial Figurations of Youth Sexuality and Childhood’s Queerness. Erin J. Rand. Durham, OH: Ohio State University Press,...
Patient Sense: Rhetorical Body Work in the Age of Technology. Lillian Campbell. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2025. 192...
Doing Gender Justice: Queering Reproduction, Kin, and Care, Shui-yin Sharon Yam and Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins...