Illness Is a Weapon

Eirik Saethre

Description

Illness Is a Weapon presents an engaging portrayal of the everyday experience of disease in a remote Australian Aboriginal community. While chronic Aboriginal ill health has become an important national issue in Australia, Saethre breaks new ground by locating sickness within the daily lives of Indigenous people. Drawing on more than a decade of ethnographic research in the Northern Territory, Saethre explores the factors structuring ill health, the tactics individuals use to negotiate these realities, and the ways in which disease and medical narratives are employed to construct, manage, and challenge social relations. Reframing current debates, this book argues that disease and suffering have become powerful expressions of Indigenous identity. Through dialogues and interactions, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people engage in a reciprocal discussion about the past, present, and future of indigeneity.

Rarely is disease and suffering understood as a form of protest, and in Illness Is a Weapon, Saethre confronts the stark reality of the current contest between all parties in this struggle. As Saethre explains, "Cursing at nurses, refusing to take medication, and accepting acute illness as unremarkable is simultaneously an act of defiance and a rejection of vulnerability."

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Santé du quotidien
• Human Rights
• Diseases
• CAB Direct (database)
• Sociology
• Health
• Fitness

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 15 juin 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780826519221
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

ILLNESS IS A WEAPON Indigenous Identity and Enduring Afflictions

E I R I K S A E T H R E

ILLNESS IS A WEAPON

ILLNESS IS A WEAPON Indigenous Identity and Enduring Afflictions

Eirik Saethre

Vanderbilt University Press

Nashville

© 2013 by Vanderbît Unîversîty Press Nasvîe, Tennessee 37235 A rîgts reserved Fîrst prîntîng 2013

hîs book îs prînted on acîd-ree paper. Manuactured în te Unîted States o Amerîca

îbrary o Congress Cataogîng-în-Pubîcatîon Data on Ie C contro number 2012033912 C cassîIcatîon number RA553.S236 2012 Dewey cass number 362.1089’99—dc23

ïSBN 978-0-8265-1920-7 (cot) ïSBN 978-0-8265-1922-1 (e-book)

In memory of Ladislav Holy and D. J. Japanangka

Contents

Acknowledgments ix















Everyday Illness 1

Food, Meaning, and Economy 32

Contemporary Cosmologies 59

Medical Systems and Illness Experience 82

Noncompliance 100

Imposed Empowerment

Closing the Gap 149

Glossary 177

Notes 179

References 185

Index 205

120

Acknowledgments

îs book woud not ave been possîbe wîtout te support and guîdance o a number o îndîvîduas. Foremost, ï woud îke to teî T r amîîes, taugt me ow to unt, took me to ceremony, and aways tank te Warpîrî peope o ajamanu wo brougt me înto ooked ater me. ï must aso recognîze te învauabe assîstance o te medîca staf o te ajamanu Communîty Heat Centre. Wîe tere are many names ï coud îst, ï wî reraîn rom doîng so to protect te prîvacy o îndîvîduas wo appear în tîs book.  For assîstîng wît te creatîon and competîon o tîs project as a PD tesîs at te Austraîan Natîona Unîversîty, ï woud îke to tank Nîcoas Peterson, Margot yon, Francesca Meran, Yasmîne Musarbas, Katîe Gaskîn, Derek Eîas, Goran Sevo, and Roberta James. ï must aso acknow- edge te Inancîa support o te Austraîan Natîona Unîversîty and te Austraîan ïnstîtute o Aborîgîna and Torres Straît ïsander Studîes.  For provîdîng unerrîng guîdance as ï transormed te tesîs înto a book, ï must tank ïsak Nîeaus, Jon Sarp, Geofrey Wîte, Crîstîne Yano, and Crîstîne Beaue.

ix