1 Global health and the new world order
-
Claire Beaudevin
Abstract
The introduction explores the ways in which history and anthropology have approached global health and its origins. It suggests that this new regime of health intervention in countries of the global South, born around 1990, differs from the previous regime of international public health at three levels: the actors involved, the targets prioritized and the tools mobilized. The introduction further identifies two gaps left by historical and anthropological studies of the governance of health outside Europe and North America: (1) a temporal gap between the historiography of international public health through the 1970s and the numerous anthropological studies of global health in the present; (2) a gap originating in problems of scale. Macro-inquiries of institutions and politics abound, as do micro-investigations of local configurations. Pleading for a strong engagement between the two disciplines and the harnessing of common concepts, the introduction explores why and how the four domains of interventions selected in the book (tuberculosis, mental health, medical genetics and traditional (Asian) medicines) can contribute to a better understanding of the new modes of ‘interventions on the life of others’ and how they relate to the more general ‘neoliberal turn’.
Abstract
The introduction explores the ways in which history and anthropology have approached global health and its origins. It suggests that this new regime of health intervention in countries of the global South, born around 1990, differs from the previous regime of international public health at three levels: the actors involved, the targets prioritized and the tools mobilized. The introduction further identifies two gaps left by historical and anthropological studies of the governance of health outside Europe and North America: (1) a temporal gap between the historiography of international public health through the 1970s and the numerous anthropological studies of global health in the present; (2) a gap originating in problems of scale. Macro-inquiries of institutions and politics abound, as do micro-investigations of local configurations. Pleading for a strong engagement between the two disciplines and the harnessing of common concepts, the introduction explores why and how the four domains of interventions selected in the book (tuberculosis, mental health, medical genetics and traditional (Asian) medicines) can contribute to a better understanding of the new modes of ‘interventions on the life of others’ and how they relate to the more general ‘neoliberal turn’.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xi
- List of abbreviations xii
- 1 Global health and the new world order 1
- 2 Standardization and localization in tuberculosis control 29
- 3 The not-so-distant past, tuberculosis and the DOTS challenge 52
- 4 Decolonizing, nationalizing and globalizing the history of psychiatry 81
- 5 ‘Clearing the streets’ 103
- 6 You’ve got the point? 130
- 7 Finding the global in the local 154
- 8 Rare genetic disease, global health and genomics 183
- 9 The World Health Organization’s response to Ebola in historical perspective 207
- 10 Epilogue 230
- Index 247
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xi
- List of abbreviations xii
- 1 Global health and the new world order 1
- 2 Standardization and localization in tuberculosis control 29
- 3 The not-so-distant past, tuberculosis and the DOTS challenge 52
- 4 Decolonizing, nationalizing and globalizing the history of psychiatry 81
- 5 ‘Clearing the streets’ 103
- 6 You’ve got the point? 130
- 7 Finding the global in the local 154
- 8 Rare genetic disease, global health and genomics 183
- 9 The World Health Organization’s response to Ebola in historical perspective 207
- 10 Epilogue 230
- Index 247
