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Towards Communicative Justice in Health
1a Department of Anthropology , University of California , Berkeley , California , USA.
Medical Anthropology
|March 29, 2017
Summary
Structural power imbalances in knowledge control hindered the identification of a deadly rabies epidemic in Venezuela. Addressing health inequities requires tackling intertwined health and communication disparities.
Area of Science:
- Medical Anthropology
- Public Health
- Linguistic Anthropology
Background:
- Care is influenced by structural power dynamics affecting knowledge circulation.
- An epidemic in a Venezuelan rainforest resulted in 38 child and young adult deaths.
- Health and communication inequities complicated the epidemic investigation and response.
Purpose of the Study:
- To ethnographically examine how power structures influence care and knowledge circulation.
- To investigate the identification and management of a fatal epidemic in a Venezuelan indigenous community.
- To analyze the role of health/communicative inequities in clinical interactions and public health responses.
Main Methods:
- Ethnographic investigation of an epidemic in a Venezuelan rainforest.
- Analysis of clinical interactions, documents, and epidemiological data.
- Examination of news stories and dialogues with traditional healers.
Main Results:
- Health/communicative inequities thwarted the identification of the epidemic, later diagnosed as rabies.
- Professionals dismissed parental contributions and oversimplified linguistic differences into translation issues.
- Government-provided care access was undermined by denigration of local knowledge and communication.
Conclusions:
- Addressing health inequities necessitates confronting entangled health and communicative inequities.
- Challenging subdisciplinary boundaries between medical and linguistic anthropology is crucial for understanding these issues.
- Communicative justice in healthcare requires recognizing and valuing diverse knowledge systems and communication practices.
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