Product Description

Does the scientific "theory" that HIV came to North America from Haiti stem from underlying attitudes of racism and ethnocentrism in the United States rather than from hard evidence? Award-winning author and anthropologist-physician Paul Farmer answers with this, the first full-length ethnographic study of AIDS in a poor society. First published in 1992 this new edition has been updated and a new preface added.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #156760 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-03
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.11 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 372 pages

From Library Journal
Physician and anthropologist Farmer studied the impact of AIDS on the impoverished people of Haiti, and his portrayal for his doctoral dissertation, of a small rural village--its clinic, religious life, folk healers, and voodoo beliefs--brings Haitian culture powerfully to life. He provides an extensive history of the country, finally exploring the connection between suffering and blame: Americans have blamed Haitians for "causing" AIDS, while Haitians have accused one another of "sending" it through sorcery. Rarely is a book based on a dissertation so engaging. Highly recommended for academic and subject collections.
- Judith Eannarino, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Farmer's sensitive exploration of the lives and deaths of the people at [the village of] Do Kay give his study a distinctly human face and an emotional edge.... The book is at the same time fiercely personal and coldly objective. The result is both moving and illuminating." - Science "Farmer renders a richly layered and nuanced ethnographic portrait." - Harvard Educational Review "This superbly crafted volume is dedicated to explaining and refuting a popular U.S. belief that AIDS came to the United States from Haiti.... Farmer has made an outstanding scholarly contribution to the 'anthropology of suffering,' the assessment of illness as perceived and experienced by a patient embedded in an interlocking fabric of culture and history." - Medical Anthropology Quarterly"

From the Inside Flap
Praise for the first edition:

"Farmer's sensitive exploration of the lives and deaths of the people at [the village of] Do Kay give his study a distinctly human face and an emotional edge.... The book is at the same time fiercely personal and coldly objective. The result is both moving and illuminating."-- Science

"Farmer renders a richly layered and nuanced ethnographic portrait."-- Harvard Educational Review

"This superbly crafted volume is dedicated to explaining and refuting a popular U.S. belief that AIDS came to the United States from Haiti. . . . Farmer has made an outstanding scholarly contribution to the 'anthropology of suffering,' the assessment of illness as perceived and experienced by a patient embedded in an interlocking fabric of culture and history."-- Medical Anthropology Quarterly