Critical Medical Anthropology. Perspectives in and from Latin America

Latin American critical medical anthropology (LA-CMA) is a product of its context. Social histories of inequality, ethnocide, racism and internal and external colonialism, aggravated by a spate of dictatorships interspersed by foreign military interventions, civil war and rebellion, have marked Latin America and its academic production as deeply as its richly diverse cultural and ethnic landscape. When universities took on a central social role during the decades of economic development in the 1940s– 60s, academic voices began generating critical commentary regarding the human fallout of economic, political and social processes. Anthropological and sociological works that documented similar and contrasting social patterns in Central America, Mexico, the southern cone and Andean regions contributed to critical debates drawing on Marxist and Gramscian thought, dependency theories and Soviet-era communism, while Catholic liberation theology and indigenous epistemologies added ideological and ideational perspectives to interpretations of history, development, culture and wellbeing. The editors sought to create a volume that included a significant number of authors whose work has rarely or never been published in English, with an implicit focus on both the ethnographic context and the generation or reinterpretation of Latin American critical theory. The book provides a showcase for cutting-edge ethnographically informed anthropological research focused on and informed by Latin American social and historical contexts, including original theoretical contributions. The collection includes work spanning four regions in Latin America (Mexico,INTRODUCTION 3 Brazil, Guatemala and Peru) as well as the trans-migratory contexts they connect and are defined by. It draws on research that is focused on diverse social practices and contexts pertaining to health, including reproduction, sex work, rare and chronic diseases and the use of pharmaceuticals. In doing so it addresses themes of central relevance to medical anthropology and global health, such as agency, identity, reproductive politics, indigenous health and human rights. Given the wealth of research being undertaken in Latin America and given its specific history of engagement with critical theory, there is an urgent need to provide wider access to this expertise for an English-speaking audience who can engage in dialogue with, and learn from, anthropological work being undertaken in the region. Several of the chapters were co-authored by Latin American and European or North American scholars, providing a double perspective that adds value to this collaborative endeavour. The final product, we hope, explores the hugely valuable contribution that LA-CMA can play in understanding, explaining and potentially addressing some of the most pressing health concerns facing our globalised world today.