As medical geography reinvents itself as health geography, the linkages bet
ween social theory and the deconstruction of central categories organizing
its medical orientation are being explored. This paper discusses the contri
bution of qualitative research to this process. In providing access to alte
rnative ways of understanding health concerns, and emphasizing issues of po
wer in the production of knowledge, qualitative methodology carries the pot
ential for reconceptualizing key issues framing investigation of the relati
onships between place, people, and their health. In pursuing current issues
in social theory, qualitative research also contributes to the blurring of
the subdiscipline's boundaries and revitalizes its agenda.