Denied access: COVID-19, the epidermal border and Black health disparities

ABSTRACT Public health research establishes clear links between race and health and identifies racism as a social determinant of health; however, little critical attention focuses on how public health discourses reproduce bordering mechanisms that reify Black health disparities. Centering the COVID-19 pandemic to explore how border logics reproduce such inequities, we introduce the “epidermal border” as an innovative and emancipatory framework for studying intersections of race and public health, drawing focus on the dermis (or skin) as our entry point of inquiry. This essay offers important insights into the theoretical and methodological development of more equitable public health interventions and practices.