DOCSLIB.ORG

INVISIBLE WOUNDS: RETHINKING RECOGNITON in DECOLONIAL NARRATIVES of ILLNESS and DISABILITY by CAROLYN MARGARET UREÑA a Dissert

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
INVISIBLE WOUNDS: RETHINKING RECOGNITON in DECOLONIAL NARRATIVES of ILLNESS and DISABILITY by CAROLYN MARGARET UREÑA a Dissert INVISIBLE WOUNDS: RETHINKING RECOGNITON IN DECOLONIAL NARRATIVES OF ILLNESS AND DISABILITY By CAROLYN MARGARET UREÑA A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Comparative Literature Written under the direction of Ann Jurecic And approved by _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May 2017 © 2017 Carolyn Margaret Ureña ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Invisible Wounds: Rethinking Recognition in Decolonial Narratives of Illness and Disability By CAROLYN MARGARET UREÑA Dissertation Director: Ann Jurecic Working at the interface of literary studies, decolonial theory, and disability studies, my dissertation draws on literature and film across a variety of genres, including fiction by Ralph Ellison, Gabriel García Márquez, Toni Morrison, and Junot Díaz, to demonstrate how literary narratives about illness and disability contribute to understanding racial formations and ameliorating colonial wounds. The dissertation develops a critical framework for understanding the ways in which a sustained encounter between critical race studies, disability studies, and the medical humanities can generate new conceptions of health and healing. I accomplish this through a reassessment of the writings of decolonial theorist Frantz Fanon, a physician who used narrative case studies and ethnography to illuminate the imbrication of race, illness, and disability. By introducing a decolonial perspective to the study of narratives of illness and disability, this project not only challenges the medical humanities and disability studies to consider the experience of race and the effects of colonialism, but also foregrounds questions of disability and illness within the fields of race theory and postcolonial studies, where they have until now received minimal scholarly attention. ii Chapter one argues that Fanon’s clinical and philosophical perspective offers the medical humanities critical tools with which to dismantle binaries at the center of Western hegemonic thought and which serve to perpetuate Eurocentrism. As I build a theory of decolonial embodiment in chapter two, I work with Fanon’s and Ralph Ellison’s scathing critiques of Mark Robson’s 1949 Home of the Brave, a Hollywood film that problematically conflates blackness and disability. Read against the grain, the film also illuminates the limits of Eurocentric psychiatry’s understanding of the black subject. In chapter three I perform a comparative reading of Toni Morrison’s iconic neo-slave narrative Beloved and Gabriel García Márquez’s underexplored Of Love and Other Demons to examine the healing power of love in a decolonial context. My final chapter examines ethnographies of illness by medical anthropologists Paul Farmer and Cheryl Mattingly in light of Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, which itself can be understood as a radical form of ethnography, to argue that beyond recognizing the suffering of people of color it is essential to take seriously the need to create a new narrative of the human that is not defined by European standards. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Throughout my time at Rutgers, I have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with scholars who have always encouraged me and helped my project grow in new and unexpected ways. From the very first email I sent my dissertation chair, Ann Jurecic, asking for suggested readings on illness narratives, to re-discovering the work of Frantz Fanon in courses on “Caribbean Theorizing” and “Embodied Cinemas” with committee members Nelson Maldonado-Torres and Susan Martin-Márquez, respectively, I have been privileged to encounter mentors who have wholeheartedly supported my intellectual and personal growth. For this, I am grateful to the Program in Comparative Literature for providing an environment premised on genuine collaboration between colleagues, classmates, and professors that resulted in a collision of ideas that could have only happened at Rutgers. With this in mind, I extend my sincere gratitude to Ann, in particular for her continual guidance and support as I developed my dissertation from its earliest stages through to its completion. Her willingness to read and provide feedback on my work through several revisions has strengthened not only my writing but also my pedagogical commitment to the writing process. My dissertation committee, which I have affectionately referred to as my “intellectual dream team,” has been invaluable in the development of this project. I am immensely grateful to Nelson for his mentorship and advice, and for serving as a model for the kind of researcher and teacher I strive to become. As I have often told my own students, whether at Rutgers or at Prep for Prep, it can make such a tremendous difference to see oneself reflected in not only the faculty but, perhaps more importantly, the texts and theories being taught. My hope is to be able to iv embody such a commitment to decoloniality in both theory and practice at every stage of my career. I appreciate Susan for working with me one-on-one to develop a seminar paper into my first published academic article, and for this, as well as her rigorous attention to detail and insightful questions at various stages of this project, she has my deepest thanks. Thank you to Michelle Stephens for generously serving on my dissertation committee as my external reader as well as for her input and insights. I owe special thanks to those professors and mentors beyond my committee who have gone out of their way to help me develop my ideas through helpful feedback and engaging conversations, in particular Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel and Richard Serrano. I also wish to thank the directors of the Program in Comparative Literature during my time at Rutgers: Elin Diamond, Michael Levine, and Andrew Parker. Thanks especially to Comparative Literature’s recently retired administrative assistant, Marilyn Tankiewicz, to whom countless graduate students are indebted not only for her practical advice regarding which forms to submit and when, but on a personal level, for motivating us at every stage of our graduate careers. Special thanks to Assistant Dean Teresa Delcorso-Ellmann for inviting me to join the GradFund team so that I could continue to develop my skills as a writer, reader, and teacher in my work as a fellowship advisor with graduate students across the disciplines. I am indebted to the Ford Foundation for the crucial financial support provided during my final year at Rutgers as a 2016-2017 Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellow. Summer grants provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation during the summers of 2012 and 2013 allowed me to begin preliminary dissertation research early in my career. Portions of chapter four, “Decolonial Love and Healing: v Loving from Below in Morrison and García Márquez,” have been previously published in Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy under the title “Loving from Below: Of (De)colonial Love and Other Demons.” I thank the publishers of Hypatia for permission to include the material here. I am eternally grateful to my family: my parents, Ruben Ureña and Matilde Bautista Ureña, immigrants to the United States from the Dominican Republic with my brother, Richard, who prioritized education above all else. My mother, especially, made sure that I always had a quiet space to study and instilled in me a sense of honor and integrity that helped me believe I could accomplish every one of my goals. My teachers and mentors at Prep for Prep inspired me to dream big and push myself beyond what I thought I was capable, and I thank the program, along with the sixth graders I taught over the past three summers, for reminding me where I came from so that I can more clearly imagine where I am headed. My most heartfelt thanks go to those within and especially outside of graduate school who helped me maintain a connection to life outside of my own mind. I feel a deep appreciation for my fellow-Comp Lit graduate students Shawn Gonzalez and Enmanuel Martínez for serving as sounding boards, master question- askers, excellent listeners, and for becoming dear friends over the past several years. Beyond Rutgers, I have been incredibly lucky to maintain lasting friendships with a few very special people who have supported my dreams and who have always known when (and when not) to ask about my dissertation. For this cast of characters, especially Antoinette Ortiz, Mateusz Pluciński, Anna Maria Jakubek, and Mackenzie Russell, I am truly grateful. Above all, I wholeheartedly thank my husband, partner, and fellow scholar Stanisław Gabryszewski, who inspires me vi through his hard work as a clinician-scientist, and whose love and support remains a daily source of strength and joy in my life. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ......................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... iv INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE | DECOLONIAL EMBODIMENT: A FANONIAN EPISTEMOLOGY OF THE BODY ........................................................................................................... 13 FANON’S ENGAGEMENT WITH
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Medical-Anthropology-2015.Pdf
    Princeton University Department of Anthropology Spring 2015 MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY ANT 335 M/W 11:00 am- 12:20 pm Lewis Library 120 Instructor: Professor João Biehl ([email protected]) Lecturer: Bridget Purcell ([email protected]) Graduate Student Assistants: Kessie Alexandre ([email protected] Thalia Gigerenzer ([email protected]) Course Description Medical Anthropology is a critical and people-centered investigation of affliction and therapeutics. It draws from approaches in anthropology and the medical humanities to understand the body- environment-medicine interface in a cross-cultural perspective. How do social processes determine disease and health in individuals and collectivities? How does culture surface in the seeking of treatment and the provision of medical care? What role do medical technologies and public interventions play in health outcomes? Which values inform medical theory and practice, and how might the humanities deepen our understanding of the realities of disease and care? In the first half of the course, we will discuss topics such as: the relation of illness, subjectivity, and social experience; the logic of witchcraft; the healing efficacy of symbols and rituals; the art of caregiving and moral sensibility. We will also probe the reach and relevance of concepts such as the normal and the pathological, body techniques, discipline and normalization, medicalization, the nocebo and placebo effects, the mindful body, and the body politic. In the second half of the course, we will explore how scientific
    [Show full text]
  • Paul Farmer Is One of the Most Extraordinary People I Have Ever Met
    “Paul Farmer is one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met. A brilliant doctor and teacher, he tirelessly works for the poorest of the poor, insisting that they deserve the very best care that is available. He not only changes individual lives, but massive systems, proving against overwhelming objections that his methods are not only what Christian compassion demands, but that they bring about effective cures. Jennie Weiss Block will make you fall in love not only with Paul, but with the beloved people to whom he is so passionately committed. This is not a book you can put back on the shelf after reading; it will move you to take the next step in your own commitment to accompany the poorest in our world.” — Barbara Reid, OP Professor of New Testament Studies Catholic Theological Union “It is rare that readers get to explore the lives of legendary people while they are still with us making this book a precious gift. One of the greatest physician-scholar-activist servants in American history, Paul Farmer is a powerful model of service to the poor. The world has much to learn from his life and witness. For anyone with a heart for the vulnerable, the poor, and the underserved, this thoughtful new text about an extraordinary human being is an inspiration and must-read.” — Bryan Stevenson Director of Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy “Some say that the devil is in the details, but in the life of Paul Farmer, there’s grace in those details! Whether he’s living in Haiti, Liberia, Rwanda, or Cambridge, channeling the corporal works into weapons of mass salvation, or running with the preferential option for the poor, Paul’s life exudes the call that’s so tangible in these pages.
    [Show full text]
  • In His Compelling Book, Farmer Captures the Central Dilemma of Our Times—The Increasing Disparities of Health and Well-Being Within and Among Societies
    PRAISE FOR PAUL FARMER’S PATHOLOGIES OF POWER “In his compelling book, Farmer captures the central dilemma of our times—the increasing disparities of health and well-being within and among societies. While all member countries of the United Nations denounce the gross viola- tions of human rights perpetrated by those who torture, murder, or imprison without due process, the insidious violations of human rights due to structural violence involving the denial of economic opportunity, decent housing, or ac- cess to health care and education are commonly ignored. Pathologies of Power makes a powerful case that our very humanity is threatened by our collective failure to end these abuses.” ROBERT S. LAWRENCE, President of Physicians for Human Rights and Professor of Preventive Medicine, Johns Hopkins University “Pathologies of Power is a passionate critique of conventional biomedical ethics by one of the world’s leading physician-anthropologists and public intellectu- als. Farmer’s on-the-ground analysis of the relentless march of the AIDS epi- demic and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis among the imprisoned and the sick- poor of the world illuminates the pathologies of a world economy that has lost its soul.” NANCY SCHEPER-HUGHES, author of Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil “Wedding medicine and anthropology, painstaking clinical and field observation with rigorous conceptual elaboration, Farmer gives us that most rare of books: one that opens both our minds and hearts. Pathologies of Power uses the prism of public health to illuminate the structural forces that decide the ‘right to sur- vive’ on the global stage.
    [Show full text]
  • Bridget Hanna
    BRIDGET HANNA Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute Asia Center Department of Sociology and Anthropology Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Northeastern University Harvard University [email protected] [email protected] EDUCATION Ph.D Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA Social Anthropology, 2014 Dissertation Toxic Relief: Science, Uncertainty, and Medicine after Bhopal Committee: Arthur Kleinman, Ajantha Subramanian, Sheila Jasanoff Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA Courses Environmental Health, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, 2009-10 A.M. Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Social Anthropology, 2008 B.A. Bard College, Annandale, NY Cultural Anthropology, 2004 Thesis The School of the Future: The Social Construction of an Environmental Hazard in the Post-industrial Fringe POSTDOCTORAL AFFILIATIONS & OTHER RESEARCH POSITIONS Postdoctoral Research Associate, Social Science & Environmental Health Research Institute, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Northeastern University, 2014-2015; 2016. Designed survey and research materials for environmental health data privacy project with Silent Spring Institute; developed socio-exposome research project; participated in SSEHRI research group, STS training program, and sociological research training. Visiting Scholar, Asia Center, Harvard University, 2014-2016. Visiting Scholar, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, 2012-2014 Research Assistant to Professor Arthur Kleinman, Harvard Department of Social Medicine 2008;
    [Show full text]
  • Anthropologie Et Santé En Asie Du Sud-Est Dynamiques Et Courants De Recherche
    Anthropologie et santé en Asie du Sud-Est Dynamiques et courants de recherche Anne Yvonne GUILLOU*, Evelyne MICOLLIER** Les premières études anthropologiques 1 de la santé, de la maladie et des soins remontent aux années 1920, si l’on en attribue la paternité, comme il est d’usage, à William H. Rivers dans son ouvrage Medicine, Magic and Religion publié en 1924. On peut sché- matiser l’évolution de ces travaux en plusieurs étapes plus ou moins chronologiques. Jusqu’aux années 1970-1980, les chercheurs se sont concentrés sur ce qu’ils appelaient alors les systèmes étiologico-thérapeutiques, c’est-à-dire les systèmes de pensées, insérés dans une vision globale du monde, que chaque société invente pour expliquer les causes du dysfonctionnement du corps humain et les moyens d’y remédier. Dans les décennies suivantes (1980-1990), les études de terrain ont surtout traité des modes de coexistence de médecines différentes, en particulier de la médecine scientifique d’origine occidentale et des médecines et thérapeutiques locales, c’est-à-dire des formes * Anne Yvonne Guillou est chargée de recherche au CNRS, anthropologue, attachée au Centre Asie du Sud-Est (EHESS-CNRS, Paris). Elle a travaillé pendant de nombreuses années sur des questions liées à la santé et la médecine tant au Cambodge que dans des situations migratoires. Depuis 2007, elle a entamé un nouveau programme de recherche intitulé « Ruptures sociales et construction des mémoires au Cambodge ». ** Evelyne Micollier est chargée de recherche à l’IRD, anthropologue, attachée à l’UMR 145, IRD- université de Montpellier I. Depuis 2006, elle coordonne un programme de recherche franco-chinois à Beijing (IRD-PUMC/CAMS Peking Union Medical College/Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences) intitulé « Réponses sociales, impact du genre et mobilisation de savoirs scientifiques/traditionnels dans le contexte de la recherche et de la prise en charge du VIH/sida en Chine ».
    [Show full text]
  • ANT 764 Seminar in Critical Medical Anthropology Seminar
    ANT 764 Seminar in Critical Medical Anthropology Seminar Description: In the broadest sense, the subject matter of medical anthropology is as old as the discipline of anthropology itself. As long as anthropologists have been engaged in ethnographic fieldwork, they have been collecting data relating to health, including ‘local’ theories of disease causation, the practices and techniques of healers, and the medicinal properties of plants and animals, among other related topics. With the burgeoning interest in international public health after WW II, however, many anthropologists began to focus their research efforts specifically on global public health – especially those ‘cultural barriers” to health as identified by such newly formed international bodies as the World Health Organization. Although medical anthropology today is divided and subdivided into many specialties, the time depth and geographic breadth of its interests remains distinctly anthropological; the study of human health, illness, and healing from the Paleolithic past to the present, and across cultures around the globe. As such, medical anthropology today encompasses interests in the evolution of human health (e.g., paleopathology/ bioarchaeology, Darwinian medicine) and biological adaptability (e.g., medical ecology, the anthropology of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease [DOHaD]), as well as ethnomedical, interpretive, and political- economy oriented approaches to issues associated with health and disease. This seminar will explore a single orienting perspective
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of Anthropological Ideas
    PERSPECTIVES: AN OPEN INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY SECOND EDITION Nina Brown, Thomas McIlwraith, Laura Tubelle de González 2020 American Anthropological Association 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 1301 Arlington, VA 22201 ISBN Print: 978-1-931303-67-5 ISBN Digital: 978-1-931303-66-8 http://perspectives.americananthro.org/ This book is a project of the Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges (SACC) http://sacc.americananthro.org/ and our parent organization, the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Please refer to the website for a complete table of contents and more information about the book. Perspectives: An Open Introduction to Cultural Anthropology by Nina Brown, Thomas McIlwraith, Laura Tubelle de González is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Under this CC BY-NC 4.0 copyright license you are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. 1313 THE HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL IDEAS Laura Nader, The University of California, Berkeley Learning Objectives • Identify the central concepts of cultural anthropology and describe how each of these concepts contributed to the development of the discipline. • Describe the role anthropologists play in examining cultural assumptions and explain how the anthropological perspective differs from both ethnocentrism and American exceptionalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae
    CURRICULUM VITAE Arthur Kleinman Personal Born: March 11, 1941, New York, New York Married: Joan Andrea Kleinman (d. March 6 2011) Children: Peter and Anne Grandchildren: Gabriel, Kendall, Allegra, Clayton Arthur Office Address: 21 Divinity Avenue, Room 414 Tozzer Anthropology Building Cambridge, MA 02138 Office Telephone: 617-496-8336 E-Mail: [email protected] Education 1962 A.B. with highest honors Stanford University 1967 M.D. Stanford University 1974 M.A. in Social Anthropology Harvard University Honorary Degrees 1996 Doctorate of Science, York University (Canada), Honoris Causa Postgraduate Training 1967-1968 Medical Intern, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven 1968-1970 Research Fellow, Geographic Medicine Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Heath 1969-1970 Research Fellow, U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit #2, Taipei, Taiwan 1970-1972 Research Fellow in the Comparative Study of Medicine, Department of History of Science, Harvard University 1972-1975 Resident, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital 1974-1976 Foundations Fund Research in Psychiatry, Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School Faculty Positions (Present) 2011- Harvard College Professor, Harvard University 2008-2016 Victor and William Fung Director, Harvard University Asia Center 2004-2007 Chair, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University 2002- Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts
    [Show full text]
  • 25YEARS of INNOVATION and IMPACT
    CELEBRATING • of INNOVATION 25 YEARS and IMPACT 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 ANNUAL REPORT SAVING LIVES, Twenty-five years ago, Partners In Health was founded to support a tiny health clinic serving a destitute squatter settlement in rural Haiti. Today, the community- REVITALIZING COMMUNITIES, based approach used in Cange has helped to transform global health, and Partners In Health continues to provide high-quality health care to poor people in Haiti and TRANSFORMING GLOBAL HEALTH. nine other countries, including the United States. Cover: A community health worker vaccinates a woman in rural Haiti. Above: Pregnant women stay at a mothers’ waiting house to deliver their babies in a clinic with skilled attendants. Photo by Jon Lascher Photo by Charles Howes EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, In 2012, we celebrated our 25th year In 25 years, we’ve treated millions of patients and proved that at Partners In Health. As we look back complex treatments can be delivered effectively in settings of across the span of a quarter-century, poverty. We’ve developed the infrastructure necessary to deliver Paul Farmer and I are proud of what high-quality care: hospitals and community health facilities and PIH has accomplished in Haiti, Rwanda, the pharmacies, supply chains, and medical technologies to Boston, and beyond, as a beacon of support them. Globally, we’ve insisted that we look more closely what is possible in service to the poor. at the notion of cost, whether for a drug or an intervention, when it We feel lucky to still be doing this work impedes the delivery of lifesaving care.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Use the PIH Engage Curriculum Led By: Community Building Lead
    How to use the PIH Engage Curriculum Led by: Community Building Lead Each of the lessons revolves around a specific theme pulled from research, writing, and experience that is integral to the PIH mission and model of global health care delivery. There is a suggested order; however, each lesson can stand-alone and spark unique discussion pertinent to the movement for the right to health. Choose lessons to curate specific meetings, and play into the interests of your team members. There are two different ways to use these lessons, either through the discussion guide or lesson plan; however, every lesson has an overarching goal. By the end of the lesson, whether you use the discussion guide or the lesson plan, you should accomplish this goal. Goals can be shared with your team, or simply used to guide how your time is spent. It is imperative that the Community Building Lead deeply engages with and has a strong understanding of the readings to properly facilitate these discussions. Reviewing the discussion guide and lesson plan prior to the meeting is also necessary. The Community Building Lead should also make sure team members have copies of the reading, either digital or physical, prior to and during the meeting. Additionally, the Community Building Lead should feel free to use additional resources (e.g. videos, handouts, slides, etc.). It is also helpful to be interactive while conducting lessons –use blackboards/whiteboards, projectors, and any other resources available to you. Discussion Guide Use the discussion guide if your team members will fully engage with the readings and come with a solid understanding of the literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Syndemics Theory and Its Applications to HIV/AIDS Public Health Interventions
    International Scholars Journals International Journal of Medical Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 6 (1), pp. 001-010, January, 2016. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. Review Syndemics theory and its applications to HIV/AIDS public health interventions Matt Douglas-Vail Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. Accepted 29 December, 2015 Medical anthropologists have recently introduced the term “syndemic” to explain the synergistic interaction of two or more diseases and the social situations in which these diseases develop (Singer 2003). The term syndemic is a portmanteau of “synergy” and “epidemic”, “pandemic” and “endemic”. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality globally, lends itself to examination using the syndemics framework. In this paper, the concept of syndemics were defined and the importance of this concept was demonstrated. Next, examples of syndemics were outlined and the application of the concept to studying HIV was highlighted. The advantages and limitations of this theoretical framework were also explored. The integrity of the concept of syndemics was examined as it has been applied to varying HIV syndemics. Finally, the utility and applicability of HIV syndemics theory was examined in the context of HIV prevention programs and public health practices. All of these serve to highlight the importance of syndemics theory as a valuable and underused perspective with which to tackle the global problem of HIV. Key words: Syndemics, HIV, public health, diseases, biological synergism. CURRENT UNDERSTANDINGS OF HIV SYNDEMICS Syndemics theory is a valuable but underused tool in the Within this framework, there is an underlying assumption public health fight against HIV.
    [Show full text]
  • Princeton University Fall 2019 CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES in GLOBAL HEALTH GHP 350 / ANT 380 / WWS 380 Lewis Library 120 M-W 11:00
    Princeton University Fall 2019 CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES IN GLOBAL HEALTH GHP 350 / ANT 380 / WWS 380 Lewis Library 120 M-W 11:00 am – 12:20 pm Instructor: João Biehl | [email protected] Teaching Fellows: Arbel Griner [email protected] Heidi Morefield [email protected] Sebastián Ramírez [email protected] Course Description Global health brings together a vast and diverse array of actors working to address urgent health issues worldwide with unprecedented, if unequally distributed, financial and technological resources. This course is a critical analysis of the cultural, social, political, and economic processes related to this expanding medical and humanitarian field. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the course identifies the main actors, institutions, practices, and forms of knowledge production at work in the ‘global health systems today and explores the multiple factors that shape patterns and variations in disease and health across societies. As we scrutinize the evidence-making practices, agendas, and values that underpin specific paradigms in global health, we will place current interventions in historical perspective, gauging their benefits as well as their sometimes- unintended consequences. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to think critically and creatively about health problems and policies and to envision innovative and effective forms of collaborative research and interventions. We will emphasize the ways in which the field of global health challenges both the social and natural sciences to keep up with changing socio- medical realities and to better understand local worlds and the needs, experiences, and capacities of people—from the subjects of interventions to the health workers and scientists who seek to assist them.
    [Show full text]