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Who we are: We are a collaborative of bioethics scholars interested in creating a more inclusive space to explore topics relevant to bioethics and the medical humanities while advancing equity and social change/restitution. Although we found our shared interests through our membership in the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Race Affinity Group, we are independent of ASBH and any other organization. The views expressed in this podcast are our own and the speakers and do not represent our employers, institutions, or professional societies. Mission: Bioethics in the Margins aims to include topics, guests and audiences who are not always highlighted in mainstream bioethics discourse. We will focus on structural inequity and the role bioethics can play in social change. We aim to move beyond traditional bioethics frameworks and intentionally draw on intersectionality, social justice, racial justice, disability ethics, women, LGBTQ ethics, and topics specific to Black, immigrant/refugee, Native American, Latinx populations.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ equity-centered bioethics • structural racism, colonialism, capitalism • immigrant/refugee policy, sanctuary, detention • reproductive justice, Black women’s health, genetics • disability ethics, homelessness, dignity • gun violence, policing, carceral health • disaster ethics, climate, One Health • organizational ethics, community engagement, censorship/privacyThis podcast explores bioethics through an explicitly social justice–oriented lens, centering people and problems that are often peripheral in mainstream bioethics and medical humanities. Across conversations with clinicians, scholars, lawyers, librarians, journalists, and community-engaged professionals, the show treats health and health care as deeply shaped by structural forces such as racism, immigration policy, capitalism, colonial histories, disability exclusion, and the carceral state. Rather than focusing narrowly on bedside dilemmas or abstract principles, discussions frequently examine how institutions, laws, and public policies distribute risk, resources, and recognition—and what responsibilities bioethicists and health professionals may have in response.
A recurring theme is solidarity with marginalized communities, particularly immigrants and refugees. Episodes address how shifting enforcement policies affect schools, churches, and health systems; what practical protections institutions can adopt; and how faith communities and legal strategies intersect with moral obligations to newcomers. Relatedly, the podcast often highlights interdisciplinary tools for health justice, including medical-legal partnerships, community advisory boards, and public engagement practices that aim to rebalance power between institutions and the people they serve.
The show also examines ethically charged sites where state power meets bodies: gun violence framed as a biosocial or public health crisis; policing practices and protest-related harms; disaster response infrastructure and the consequences of eroding public capacity; and capital punishment, including the medical and physiological realities of emerging execution methods and professional prohibitions on clinician involvement.
Several episodes focus on inequities within clinical care and research, including racialized communication and empathy gaps in critical care, homelessness and discharge planning, oral health justice, and reproductive justice—especially the reproductive health experiences of Black women with sickle cell disease amid genetic testing and historical research abuses. Other conversations critique knowledge production itself, engaging topics like epistemic injustice in pain assessment, surveillance and privacy, censorship and book bans, and the need to “remake” bioethics as a field through organizing, institutional change, and more politically grounded moral inquiry.