Contradictions and lessons from thinking about health and vulnerability through feminist political ecology

In this article I reflect on my engagement with Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) when studying health and vulnerability. I highlight the crucial contribution of FPE in bringing the human body into the analysis of socio-environmental systems and conflicts, connecting the scale of personal, embodied experience to broader socio-environmental dynamics. FPE challenges the conventional view of vulnerability as only negative and to be avoided, instead inviting an ‘otherwise’ thinking of it as a common human trait and a potential site for empowerment and resistance. This shift promotes a focus on interdependence and care in socio-ecological transformation.