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A review by samnopal
Affliction: Health, Disease, Poverty by Veena Das
4.0
Veena Das is able to effectively combine ethnography and statistical anthropology to form a case study of non-traditional healers in India and Pakistan. The book is supposed to be about how individuals in communities deal with affliction and chronic pain, but often side steps to discuss how effective local healers are and their placement in communities.
The standout chapter is her discussion with the amil, or faith healer, and how he became an amil, or inherited the knowledge to become a faith healer. Though Ms. Das is skeptical of the story, she gives it adequate space and uses it as a rumination on the role that healers play, providing both physical and physiological treatment but also mental and holistic support.
I read Affliction to understand how families and individuals cope with others in their life who are afflicted with chronic pain. And I was mostly disappointed at her insights because they were brief. Otherwise good perspective on global health initiatives versus local practical applications.
The standout chapter is her discussion with the amil, or faith healer, and how he became an amil, or inherited the knowledge to become a faith healer. Though Ms. Das is skeptical of the story, she gives it adequate space and uses it as a rumination on the role that healers play, providing both physical and physiological treatment but also mental and holistic support.
I read Affliction to understand how families and individuals cope with others in their life who are afflicted with chronic pain. And I was mostly disappointed at her insights because they were brief. Otherwise good perspective on global health initiatives versus local practical applications.