Disease and Health in Latin America

 

 

 

Disease and Health in Latin America

“Disease and Health in Modern Latin America”

HIST 386/ Spring 2009/MWF 11am-11:50am/Friends 303

Office Hours: T, 1-3pm, F 1-2:30pm and by appointment

 

Jonathan D. Ablard

Muller 403

jablard@ithaca.edu

607-274-3558 9

In the last decade, there has been a tremendous growth in historical scholarship on topics relating to disease and health in Latin America. Influenced by the growing field of the social history of medicine, many of these works challenge assumptions about the motives, design and implementation of public health initiatives since the period of early independence. Scholars have demonstrated that popular and professional notions of health and illness were not static but changed over time in response to an array of social, political and economic forces. By the late nineteenth-century, health and disease had transcended biological categories, and were frequently discussed within broader discussions about racial degeneration, gender norms, sexuality, immigration, and political disorder.

This course has five major goals that are inspired by this new and dynamic body of literature. First, students will develop an historical awareness of the political and social dimensions of disease and health in Latin America. Second, students will gain insight into how the disease and health reflect broader political and economic developments in Latin America. Third, we will examine how interactions between medical practitioners and their clients have shaped public health policy in Latin America, perceptions of what constitutes “ill-health,” and notions of race, class and gender. Fourth, we will consider the ways in which civil society, both women and men, have shaped health and welfare policy. Finally, students will develop a global perspective not just on issues of health and disease, but also economic, racial, and social inequality (at the local, national and international levels).

While much is not covered in this class because of the limitations of time, I expect students to take the initiative to explore geographic areas and health issues that are not covered by the readings. In both presentations and in your final research paper, you will have the opportunity to do this.

In broader terms, this course seeks to foster improvement in the following areas of students’ academic life: 1) ability to integrate history with other disciplines, including biology, epidemiology, public health, sociology 2) improvement in written and oral communication 3) ability to conceptualize research questions and to find the relevant source materials 4) willingness to take ownership in how the class is taught and what we learn.

To the extent that students take ownership of the class and the learning process, I will gladly modify assignments. In this respect, you should think of this class as one that has the potential to take on the characteristics of an anarchist collective where responsibilities and rights are evenly distributed. See Murray Bookchin’s essay on Francisco Ferrer

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/scw/ferrer.htm

 

A final warning: This is a history class and the workload includes a great deal of reading, writing, and research.  

 

Required Books

 

Jonathan Ablard, Madness in Buenos Aires: Patients, Psychiatrists, and the Argentine State, 1880-1983 (Ohio) ISBN 9780896802599

 

John Charles Chasteen, Born in Blood and Fire

 

Tracy Kidder, Mountains beyond Mountains (Random House) ISBN 0-8129-7301-1

Cristina Rivera-Garza, No One Will See Me Cry (Curbstone) ISBN 1-880684-91-8

Shawn Smallman, The AIDS Pandemic in Latin America (North Carolina) ISBN 978-0-8078-5796-0

 

Films of Interest:

Motorcycle Diaries (life of Che Guevara, social medicine, health conditions)

Carandiru (AIDS, sexuality, prison populations, social medicine)

Man Facing Southeast (psychiatry, mental illness, political context of health care)

Pixote (child welfare, crime, social conditions)

 

Websites of Interest

American Journal of Public Health

http://www.ajph.org/

Harvard World Health News

http://www.worldhealthnews.harvard.edu/

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

http://ocw.jhsph.edu/

Pan-American Health Organization

http://www.paho.org/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

http://www.cdc.gov/

Ithaca Health Alliance

http://www.ithacahealth.org/

Department of Human Ecology, Cornell U.

http://www.human.cornell.edu/

Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health

http://www.jhsph.edu/

Columbia University School of Public Health

http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/

Steve Volk, Oberlin College, Latin American History Website

http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/svolk/latinam.htm

 

 

 

Assignments

 

Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains (10%)  (3 pages)

According to Kidder’s account of the life and work of Dr. Paul Farmer what are the principle causes, consequences, and possible solutions to global health inequalities? This essay should be concise and devoid of unnecessary retelling of Farmer’s story. Write as if you are providing essential notes to a future international public health worker. Three pages.

 

Traffic in Women and Children Essay (10%) (3 pages)

Answer the following questions: What is the League of Nations’ primary concern in conducting the study of trafficking? What does the information in the document reveal about the history of prostitution? Does the document seem to be a fairly reliable account of prostitution and trafficking? What are the biases of the authors? Is there anything that is left out of the report? What questions remain unanswered?

 

Rivera-Garza, No One Will See Me Cry  (15%) (4 pages)

Your essay on this book will ask you to consider how Rivera-Garza addresses the major themes covered in the course to date. I will distribute the question no later than the beginning of Week Six.   

 

 

Cold War and Health Essay (2 pages) (10%)

In what ways did the ideological ferment and conflicts of the Cold War era shape public health? Did these ideological conflicts have a deeper impact on health care than earlier political and social positions? Why?

 

Research Project (30%)           

The capstone assignment of the course is a ten page research paper. I will base your grade upon the strength of your thesis, the clarity of your writing and the depth and breadth of the sources that you use. (Effort, time expended, and frequent meetings with me will not have any impact on your grade). As a general rule, the only acceptable internet sources are those that are accessed via Ithaca College Library’s website. These include such sites as The New York Times, J-Stor, Project MUSE, Current History, etc. There are also useful internet sources that are connected with major research libraries. Two most important of these are the Handbook on Latin American Studies which is housed at the Library of Congress and the Hispanic American Periodical Index.I absolutely forbid students in this class to use Wikipedia or any other encyclopedia or web-based resource (including blogs, personal web-pages, etc.) which is not connected to a certifiable university or government agency (including the governments of Latin America, the United States, etc.). If you are not clear about an electronic source (and I would err on the side of caution), speak with me first. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in a failing grade on the final paper.

             

The final product must include the following:

Title, author, date at top of the 1^st page (No title pages or covers)

Paper Abstract: one paragraph synopsis of your argument.

Footnotes (Chicago or Turabian)

Bibliography (Chicago or Turabian)

Numbered pages (8-10 pages)

Six scholarly secondary sources

 

Students will submit a proposal and bibliography on March 16th. This document should frame the scope and direction of your project. Failure to hand this in, and to receive my comments on your project, will make it difficult to receive a passing grade on the final project.

 

FINAL ESSAY (Take Home) (15%)

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Participation: This is not an explicit part of the grade as I assume that you are in this class because it interests you. Moreover, I have generally found that those students who do not actively participate in class do not perform well on written assignments. If you consistently come to class unprepared please expect to be asked to explain yourself to the class as a whole as your non-participation has a negative impact on the ability of everyone to teach and learn. I also ask that you not come to class if you have not done the day’s readings.

 

CLASSROOM POLICIES

1. Students who miss more than two weeks of class will be dropped from the roll unless you have a valid excuse in writing from a doctors, judge, or academic adviser.
2. Papers must be handed in during class on the date indicated.
3. This course follows the Ithaca College policy on Academic Honesty. Students found to be in violation of this policy will be expelled from the class, will receive a failing grade and will have their name reported to the appropriate college authorities. The policy reads as follows: “Academic honesty is a cornerstone of the mission of the College. Unless it is otherwise stipulated, students may submit for evaluation only that work that is their own and that is submitted originally for a specific course. According to traditions of higher education, forms of conduct that will be considered evidence of academic misconduct include but are not limited to the following: conversations between students during an examination; reviewing, without authorization, material during an examination (e.g., personal notes, another student's exam); unauthorized collaboration; submission of a paper also submitted for credit in another course; reference to written material related to the course brought into an examination room during a closed-book, written examination; and submission without proper acknowledgment of work that is based partially or entirely on the ideas or writings of others. Only when a faculty member gives prior approval for such actions can they be acceptable.”

-Article 7.1.4. Ithaca College Policy Manual

4. Students and faculty will treat each with respect and collegiality in the classroom. Cell phones and any other electronic devices must be put away before coming to class. Do not bring food to class unless you have enough for everyone. I reserve the right to confiscate and redistribute any foodstuffs that come into my classroom.

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

 

Week One

1/21     Course Introduction

1/23     How and why historians study disease and health?

            Ablard, Madness, Chapter 1

 

Recommended: Gert H. Brieger, “Bodies and Borders: a new cultural history,” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 47:3 (Summer 2004): 402-21. (Project MUSE)

 

Week Two: Contemporary Issues

1/26     Contemporary Health Issues in Latin America (Lecture)

            Recommended: Planting a Seed: Autonomous health in Chiapas (film)

1/28     Tracey Kidder, Mountain over Mountain

1/30     Tracey Kidder, Mountain over Mountain

            Kidder Essay Due in Class

 

Week Three: Colonial Latin America

2/2       Conquests and Pandemics (Lecture)

           

2/4       Medicine to the Dawn of Bacteriology (Lecture)

 

2/6       Health and welfare in the Colonial Era (Lecture and Discussion)

Carlos Viesca Treviño, “Curandismo in Mexico and Guatemala: Its Historical Evolution from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century” in Mesoamerican Healers (In Reader)

 

Recommended: Silvia Marina Arrom, Containing the Poor: The Mexico City Poorhouse; Sherry Fields, Pestilence and Head Colds: Encountering Illness in Colonial Mexico @ http://www.gutenberg-e.org/fields/chapter1.html and William Taylor “Drinking” in Homicide and Rebellion in Colonial Mexican Villages (In reader);Karol Kovalovich Weaver, “The Enslaved Healers of Eighteenth-Century Saint Domingue,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine (2002) (Project MUSE)

             

Week Four

 

2/9       Independence and the Early Republics (Lecture)

 

2/11     Joao Jose Reis, “Death to the Cemetery: Funerary Reform and Rebellion in Salvador, Brazil, 1836,” in Arrom and Ortoll, Riots in the Cities: Popular Politics and the Urban Poor in Latin America, 1765-1910 (SR Books, 1996) and

Louis Perez, To Die in Cuba: Suicide and Society (In reader)

 

Recommended: Martina Will, Death and Dying in New Mexico (University of New Mexico Press)

 

2/13     Sandra Lauderdale Graham, “Contagion and Control,” in House and Street: The Domestic World of Servants and Masters in Nineteenth Century Rio de Janiero (Texas) (In Reader)

 

Recommended: Sidney Chalhoub, “The Politics of Disease Control: Yellow Fever and Race in Nineteenth Century Rio de Janeiro,” JLAS (1993). (JSTOR); Greg Grandin, “A Pestilent Nationalism: The 1837 Cholera Epidemic Reconsidered” in The Blood of Guatemala (Duke, 2000); Donald B. Cooper, “The New ‘Black Death’: Cholera in Brazil, 1855-1856,” Social Science History 10:4 (Winter 1986): 467-88. (J-Stor)

 

 

Week Five:

2/16     Research Methods: Finding and Evaluating Sources

 

2/18     Age of Exports and Reform

     

 

2/20     A brief History of Psychiatry: Methodological, Archival, and Ethical Challenges

            Titicut Follies (Films)

Horacio Quiroga, “The Decapitated Chicken” and Da Cunha, Rebellion in the Backlands (In Reader)

 

 

Week Six:

 

2/23     Ablard, Madness, Chapter 2  

            Man Facing Southwest (Film)

 

2/25     Ablard, Chapters 3-5

Recommended: Dain Borges, “’Puffy, Ugly, Slothful and Inert’: Degeneration in Brazilian Social Thought, 1880-1940,” JLAS (1993) (JSTOR) and Eduardo Zimmermann, “Racial Ideas and Social Reform: Argentina, 1890-1916,” Hispanic American Historical Review 72:1 (1992): 23-46 (JSTOR) Ana Maria G. Raimundo Oda, Claudio Eduardo M. Banzato, and Paulo Dalgalorrondo, “Some origins of cross-cultural psychiatry,” History of Psychiatry 16:2 (2005): 155-69; Ann Zulawski, “Mental Illness and Democracy in Bolivia: The Manicomio Pacheco, 1935-1950,” in Diego Armus, editor Disease in the History of Latin America (on reserve); Rivera-Garza in The Confinement of the Insane (In Reader) See also:Case Histories from the History of Psychiatry

http://bms.brown.edu/HistoryofPsychiatry/hop.html

 

2/27     Prostitution, Syphilis, and Public Health

           

Recommended: Katherine Bliss, “The Science of Redemption: Syphilis, Sexual Promiscuity, and Reformism in Revolutionary Mexico City,” Hispanic American Historical Review 79:1 (February 1999) (JSTOR); David McCreery, “’This life of misery and shame:’ female prostitution in Guatemala City, 1880-1920,” JLAS (November 1986) (JSTOR); Donna Guy, “White Slavery, Public Health, and the Socialist Position on Legalized Prostitution in Argentina, 1913-1936,” Latin American Research Review 23:3 (1988): 60-80. (JSTOR); Jorge Salessi, “The Argentine Dissemination of Homosexuality, 1890-1914,” Journal of the History of Sexuality (1994) (JSTOR); Donna Guy, “Medical Imperialism Gone Awry: The Campaign Against Legalized Prostitution in Latin America,” in Meade and Walker, editors. Science, Medicine and Cultural Imperialism (St. Martin’s Press).  

 

Week Seven:  

3/1       Rivera-Garza, No One Will See Me Cry

 

3/3       Rivera-Garza, No One Will See Me Cry

             Rivera-Garza Essay Due in Class

 

3/5        Research Discussion Day           

Week Eight

 3/7-15  SPRING BREAK

 

 

Week Nine:  International Health

 

3/16     Discussion of Research Project

            Paper Proposal and Bibliography is Due

 

3/18     Pan-American Sanitary Bureau and the Rockefeller Foundation

              Recommended: Ann Zulawski, Unequal Cures: Public Health and Political Change in Bolivia, 1900-1950 (Duke); Marcos Cueto, The Return of Epidemics: Health and Society in Peru during the Twentieth Century (Ashgate); Glen David Kuecher, "Public Health, Yellow Fever, and the Making of Modern Tampico," Urban History Review 36:2 (Spring 2008)

 

3/20     League ofNations: Report of the Special Body of Experts on Traffic in Women and Children (Reader)

            League Essay Due in Class

 

Recommended: Alexandra Minna Stern, “Buildings, Boundaries, and Blood: Medicalization and Nation-Building on the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1910-1930,” Hispanic American Historical Review 79:1 (February 1999). (JSTOR)

 

 

Week Ten:

3/23     The Great Depression in Latin America: Dictatorship, Populism, and Reform

 

3/25      

 3/27                  GUY/ABLARD ESSAY DUE

Recommended: Pixote (film); Anne-Emanuelle Birn, “Child health in Latin America: historiographic perspectives and challenges,” História, Ciencias, Saúde-Manguinhos 14:3 (July-September 2007): 677-708. (On-line)

 

 

 

Week Eleven:  Social Medicine

 

3/30     Motorcycle Diaries (film)

 

4/1       Marcos Cueto, “Social Medicine and ‘Leprosy’ in the Peruvian Amazon,” The Americas 61:1 (July 2004): 55-80. (Project MUSE)

 

4/3       Salvador Allende, “Chile’s Medical-Social Reality” (1939) (In Reader)

 

 

 

Week Twelve: Cold War-Reform

4/6       Latin America, 1945-73

 

4/8       James McGuire and Laura B. Frankel, “Mortality Decline in Cuba, 1900-1959: Patterns, Comparisons, and Causes,” Latin American Research Review (2005) (Project MUSE)

4/10     Howard Waitzkin, “Health Policy and Social Change: A Comparative History of Chile and Cuba,” Social Problems 31:2 (December 1983) (JStor)  

Recommended: Candace Johnson, “Health as Culture and Nationalism in Cuba,” Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 31:61 (2006): 91-113

  

 

Week Thirteen: Cold War: Reaction

4/13     Latin America, 1973-1989

4/15     Vicente Navarro, “What Does Chile Mean: An Analysis of Events in the Health Sector Before, During, and After Allende’s Administration,” Millbank Memorial Fund 52:2 (1974): 93-130. (J-Stor)

4/17     Ablard, Ch. 6, 7

           

 

Week Fourteen

4/20     Marcos Cueto, “Local Responses” in Cold War, Deadly Fevers: Malaria Eradication in Mexico, 1955-1975 (To be distributed)

            Cold War and Health Essay

 

4/22     Marcos Cueto, “Stigma and Blame during an Epidemic: Cholera in Peru, 1991” in From Malaria to AIDS (in reader)

Recommended: Charles Briggs and Clara Mantini-Briggs, Stories in the Time of Cholera: Racial Profiling during a Medical Nightmare (University of California Press, 2003)

 

 

4/24       Smallman, The AIDS Pandemic in Latin America, Intro & Chapter 1           

 

 

Week Fifteen

4/27       Smallman, The AIDS Pandemic in Latin America, Chapters 2-3

4/29       Carandiru           

5/1        Informal Presentation and Discussion of Projects            

Week Sixteen

5/4       Informal Presentation and Discussion of Projects 

 

5/6       Final Essay Due by Noon

 

Research Paper Due on May 11^th (Monday) by Noon  

 

 

              

 

Final Essay:

 

 

Shawn Smallman’s The AIDS Pandemic in Latin America argues that the response to HIV/AIDS has been robust and effective in containing the epidemic’s spread. 

 

Based on the readings from this course, explain how and why the response to AIDS in Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico reflect trends in the philosophy, development, and practice of public health in Latin America since the 1930s. In developing a thesis, I encourage you to consider the following questions: How have approaches and attitudes toward public health changed since the 1930s? Were there essays or experiments in earlier periods that somehow may have laid the intellectual or practical foundation for some of the work done on AIDS? How have attitudes towards those who are ill changed? How has the patient-doctor dynamic changed? (NOTE: Ask your own questions in order to generate ideas).

 

Note: The readings in the course are widespread in terms of themes and geographic focus. I expect you to take liberties with the sources and to generalize for Latin America. An essay from Chile can be used to explain what happens in Brazil, etc. Part of the logic of this is that by the 1930s Latin American doctors read from publications from across the hemisphere.

 

Details of the Paper: The essay can be no longer than five pages in length. Please demonstrate a mastery of all of the readings and films since March 30^th. You can use any citation format that you wish but you must make it very clear what your sources are. You may use sources from your research paper.  I will not answer any questions about the essay. It is forbidden for you to discuss this paper with anyone. That would constitute plagiarism and would be grounds for referral to the Judicial Affairs board.

 

DUE DATE: 5/6 (by 4pm)-I will mark a full grade off for each 12 hour period that the essay is late.