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. 

Reviewing for RHM--Overview and Tips

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. 

Request for Proposals: Co-Editor of Rhetoric of Health & Medicine

2020-10-31

The co-editors and editorial board of the journal Rhetoric of Health & Medicine (RHM) are soliciting proposals for a co-editor with a five-year commitment. The appointed editor should be available to work with the current co-editors starting in the summer of 2021. They will be supported by a team of assistant editors and editorial assistants.

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2025): Special Issue: Rural Health

Published: 2025-05-28

Introduction to ‘Down Home, Down the Street’: Examining Rural Health in the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine

Justiss Wilder Burry, Melissa Stone

115–126

Abstract

Introduction to the special issue on rural health. 

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Rural Librarians as Health Information Intermediaries: How Librarians Complicate “Rural,” Leverage Kairotic Opportunities, and Communicate through Health Ideographs

Sarah E. Ryan, Sarah A. Evans

127–157

Abstract

Rural librarians are intermediaries between individuals and our health system. Librarians direct their patrons to health resources, assist with...

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Googling for Abortion in the Rural United States

Crisis Pregnancy Centers as Networked Misogyny

Ava Marshall, Allison Rowland

158–85

Abstract

This project integrates Reproductive Justice (RJ) commitments with insights from networked misogyny to describe the digital coercion strategies...

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Diseases in Colonias

W. Ordeman

186–211

Abstract

In the fall of 2020, a US/Mexico border community received national attention because of its high number of COVID cases. Hidalgo county reported...

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Communication about Perinatal Mental Health Disorders in the Rural United States

Narrative and Social Support as Communication Strategies

Rebecca Kuehl, Jenn Anderson, Stephanie Hanson

212–227

Abstract

Perinatal mental health disorders (PMHDs) include perinatal depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder,...

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From ‘Crisis to Chronic’

Prioritizing 'Good Farmer' Constructs and Intersectional Farmer Identities in Mental Health Messaging

Cynthia Ryan

228–255

Abstract

In response to a documented disproportionate incidence of suicide in rural America, this autoethnographic essay explores specific ideological...

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Deficit, Exploitation, Beauty, Opportunity

Academics and Practitioners Talk Rural Health and the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine

Kari J. Lundgren, David Beard, Zomi Bloom, Connor Burke, Erin Brock Carlson, Catherine Gouge, Joshua Jordan, Brandon Rogers, Abby Sirek, Asha S. Winfield

256–280

Abstract

This dialogue examines rural health and healthcare by putting rhetoricians who study rural communities in direct conversation with healthcare...

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