Rural Narratives
Rural Narratives is a podcast about public health, power, and storytelling in North Carolina’s rural communities.
In this series, we explore how trust is built, how narratives take shape, and how communities shape the systems meant to serve them.
Through conversations with organizers, strategists, cultural leaders, and public health thinkers, Rural Narratives examines who gets to define rural communities — and what it means to reclaim those stories from the inside out.
Rural Narratives
Latest Episodes
Beyond the Rankings: Stories from Columbus County
What does health look like in a rural community?In Columbus County, North Carolina, it looks like a long drive to specialized medical care. It looks like a neighbor sleeping outside in freezing weather. It looks like local leaders build...
The Hands Behind Our Food: Farmworker Stories from Rural North Carolina
Agriculture contributes billions of dollars to North Carolina’s economy and helps put food on tables across the country. Yet many of the workers who plant, harvest and process that food face barriers to healthcare, emergency information, langua...
The Stories We Tell About Rural Health
Across this series, we’ve explored the stories told about rural communities. This episode examines how rural health is framed — and what those narratives reveal about who belongs, who gets overlooked, and who gets blamed. Sociolinguist Julie Sw...
How trusted messengers in eastern North Carolina are building faith in public health
Public health depends on science. But science alone doesn’t build trust.In rural eastern North Carolina, trust is shaped by lived experience — by whether systems have shown up, whether care is accessible, and whether people feel heard.
What does it take to strengthen the systems people rely on in southeastern NC?
Health is often talked about as a matter of personal choice. But the truth is, our well-being is shaped by much more than individual decisions — it depends on what resources are nearby, which institutions are supported, and what kinds of help p...