The complex, highly problematic, often thorny dynamics of trust and authority are central to the anthropological study of legitimacy. In this book, this sine qua non runs across the in-depth examination of the ways in which healthcare and public health are managed by the authorities and experienced by the people on the ground in urban Europe, the USA, India, Africa, Latin America and the Far and Middle East. This book brings comparatively together anthropological studies on healthcare and public health rigorously based on in-depth empirical knowledge. Inspired by the current debate on legitimacy, legitimation and de-legitimation, the contributions do not refrain from taking into account the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the health systems under study, but carefully avoid letting this issue monopolise the discussion. This book raises key challenges to our understanding of healthcare practices and the governance of public health. With a keen eye on urban life, its inequalities and the ever-expanding gap between rulers and the ruled, the findings address important questions on the complex ways in which authorities gain, keep, or lose the public’s trust.
Author(s): Italo Pardo, Giuliana B. Prato
Series: Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 317
City: Cham
Contents
Notes on Contributors
Chapter 1: Introduction: On Legitimacy, Healthcare and Public Safety
References
Chapter 2: Health Inequalities and Ethics of Responsibility: A Comparative Ethnography
Italy: A National or Regional Health Service?
Regional Disparities and “Health Migration”: A Vicious Circle
Variations of Professional Responsibility
The UK: A National Health System Across National Regions
NHS Trust, Charities and Patient Groups: A Symbiotic Relationship
A “Labour of Love”: The Role of Nurses
Pandemic Ruptures and “Broken” Public Health Systems
Conclusion: Resilience as a (Misleadingly) Legitimating Argument
References
Chapter 3: Misgovernance Kills: Italian Evidence
A Triple Whammy to the Ordinary Italian
Misgovernance Kills 1: Public Health Care from Right to Commodity to Privilege
Misgovernance Kills 2: Public Health Hazards
Misgovernance Kills 3: Ideologically Misguided Policies
A Blunt Note
References
Video Evidence — Examples
Chapter 4: The Fragility of Legitimacy: Access to Health Care in Manantali, Mali
Legitimacy in Health Care
Mali’s Health Care System
Legitimacy in the Early Years of Independence
Structural Adjustment and Innovation in Health Care
Health Care in Manantali
The Situation and Context
New Health Care Institutions
The Legitimacy of Manantali’s Health Institutions
Normative Legitimacy
Performance Legitimacy
Process Legitimacy
Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: “I Chose This ‘Other Way’”: An Ethnographic Approach to Medical Pluralism Within the Context of Greek Cancer Care
Introduction
Cancer and Medical Pluralism in Greece
The Construction of the Biomedical Subject
The Right to (the Right) Choice
The “Otherness” Within and During Medical Pluralism
The Dangerous “Other” and the Right of Choice
Medical Realities Revisited
References
Chapter 6: Covid-19 Pandemic, Hydroxychloroquine, and Healthcare System in Turkey
Introduction
A Miraculous Drug
A Bag of Pills
Drugs as Legal Rights
Legitimacy and Pills
Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: Negotiating Power over Human Bodies: Populism, People and the Politics of Health in Delhi
Introduction
Legitimacy of the Ruler
Populism and the BJP Regime
The Pandemic and Its Aftermath
To Conclude: How Legitimate Is the Present Regime? And for Whom?
References
Chapter 8: The Poverty of Opportunity: Where Are We Going; Where Have We Been
History Repeats Itself
The American Health Care System
Covid-19 and Poverty
The Long Hauler Search for Diagnosis and Treatment
Being Sick and Poor
Economics and the Search for Legitimate Treatment
Conclusion
References
Chapter 9: The Views of Selected Tennesseans on Universal Health Care as a Right
I Had a Dream
Story 1. House and Home
Story 2. So Sue Me
Story 3. Bad Teeth
Story 4. Brain Tumor
Story 5. Dying Little Girl
A Legitimate Right?
It Ain’t Necessarily So
Déjà Vu All Over Again: The Status Quo
Conclusions
References
Chapter 10: The Biopolitics of Complementary Spiritual Healing in South Korea and Israel
Healing Through Lived Religion: The Cosmological Perspective
The Healing Potential of Deceased Tsaddikim in Israel
The Healing Potential of Spirits and Gods in Korea
Healing Through Interaction with Healers: The Performative Aspect
The Healing Potential of Tsaddik Veneration in Israel
The Healing Potential of Spirit Possession Practices in Korea
Healing with and Without Doctors: The Interaction with Modern Medicine
Complementing Modern Medicine with Tsaddik Veneration in Israel
Complementing Modern Medicine with Shamanic Interventions in Korea
Conclusion
References
Chapter 11: Health Sovereignty in West-Central Mexico: Legitimacy from the Grassroots
Introduction
Food/Health Sovereignty
Top-Down Legitimacy in Mexico
Legitimacy and Grassroots Organizing
The Research Site
Field Methods
Talleres Verdes, Green Workshops
People
Community
Purpose
The Writing on the Wall
Discussion
Conclusion
References
Chapter 12: Disabled People and Access to the Labour Market: The Case of Greece
Introduction
Limited Citizenship
Methodology
People with Disabilities and the Labour Market
Unemployed People with Disabilities
People with Disabilities Employed in the Public Sector
People with Disabilities Employed in the Private Sector
Self-Employed People with Disabilities
Conclusions
References
Electronic Sources
Chapter 13: Managing Public Health in a Fragile Consociation: Lebanon Between Wars, Explosions and the Covid-19 Pandemic
Prologue
Introduction
Theorizing Consociational Legitimacy
Traversing the Risks of the Consociational (un)Order
Epilogue
References
Chapter 14: Interrogating the Public Health Approach: Lessons from the Field of Urban Violence
Introduction
Legitimacy and the Public Health Approach
Settings and Methods
Diagnosing Urban Violence
Treating Urban Violence
Recovery from Urban Violence
Conclusion
References
Chapter 15: Maintaining the Health of the Public: Containing the Threat of Terrorist Resurgence in Contemporary Peru
Sustaining the Recovery, Surveilling the Public
Antecedents
Coda
References
Newspapers
Index
