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The Resource Health, politics, and revolution in Cuba since 1898, Katherine Hirschfeld

Health, politics, and revolution in Cuba since 1898, Katherine Hirschfeld

Creator
Summary
"Challenging many of the assumptions scholars have made about the Cuban Revolution's impact on healthcare, this volume recounts one anthropologist's quest to discover the truth behind the complicated relationship between Cuba's revolution, politics, and healthcare system. Katherine Hirschfeld became interested in Cuba in the mid-1990s, after reading numerous laudatory books and articles describing the Castro regime's achievements in health and medicine. Cuba's population health indicators seemed to be far superior to those of neighboring countries, the national health costs low, and medical care free at point-of-service to the entire people. Historical records indicated that most of these positive health trends resulted from the changes instituted by Castro in 1959. Few of these authors, however, had actually spent time on the island. Thus, Hirschfeld found that academic writing on Cuba was often long on praise, but short on empirical research about what exactly had changed in Cuban medicine since 1959.After much bureaucratic wrangling, Hirschfeld managed to secure permission to conduct long-term ethnographic research in Cuba, where she lived with families from Havana and Santiago, conducted clinic observations, interviewed doctors and patients, and was treated in a Cuban hospital during an epidemic of dengue fever. The reality of the Cuban healthcare system turned out to be different than the scholarly ideal: it was bureaucratized, authoritarian, and repressive, and most people preferred to seek healthcare in the informal economy rather than endure the material shortages, red tape, and political surveillance of the public sector. Written in the form of a first-person narrative, Health, Politics, and Revolution in Cuba Since 1898 not only critically reevaluates Cuban healthcare after the 1959 revolution; it includes chapters detailing Cuban health trends from the Spanish-American War (1898) through the fall of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and into the"--Provided by publisher
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
1st pbk. print
Extent
1 online resource (viii, 266 pages)
Contents
  • ""Contents""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Introduction Cuba and Medical Anthropology""; ""1 Fieldwork""; ""2 Doing Research, Not Doing Research""; ""3 Dengue Fever: An Abrupt Change of Perspective""; ""4 Fearful Interlude""; ""5 Reframing History""; ""6 Imperialism and Health in the Spanish- Cuban- American War, 1897-1902""; ""7 Caudillismo, Imperialism and Health, 1902-1909""; ""8 Caudillismo, Instability and Health Trends in the Platt Era, 1909-1933""; ""9 Health and Disease in the Gangster State, 1934-1959""; ""10 Revolutionaries in Power, 1959-""; ""11 Conclusions""; ""Bibliography""
Isbn
9781412809191
Instance
Label
Health, politics, and revolution in Cuba since 1898
Title
Health, politics, and revolution in Cuba since 1898
Statement of responsibility
Katherine Hirschfeld
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"Challenging many of the assumptions scholars have made about the Cuban Revolution's impact on healthcare, this volume recounts one anthropologist's quest to discover the truth behind the complicated relationship between Cuba's revolution, politics, and healthcare system. Katherine Hirschfeld became interested in Cuba in the mid-1990s, after reading numerous laudatory books and articles describing the Castro regime's achievements in health and medicine. Cuba's population health indicators seemed to be far superior to those of neighboring countries, the national health costs low, and medical care free at point-of-service to the entire people. Historical records indicated that most of these positive health trends resulted from the changes instituted by Castro in 1959. Few of these authors, however, had actually spent time on the island. Thus, Hirschfeld found that academic writing on Cuba was often long on praise, but short on empirical research about what exactly had changed in Cuban medicine since 1959.After much bureaucratic wrangling, Hirschfeld managed to secure permission to conduct long-term ethnographic research in Cuba, where she lived with families from Havana and Santiago, conducted clinic observations, interviewed doctors and patients, and was treated in a Cuban hospital during an epidemic of dengue fever. The reality of the Cuban healthcare system turned out to be different than the scholarly ideal: it was bureaucratized, authoritarian, and repressive, and most people preferred to seek healthcare in the informal economy rather than endure the material shortages, red tape, and political surveillance of the public sector. Written in the form of a first-person narrative, Health, Politics, and Revolution in Cuba Since 1898 not only critically reevaluates Cuban healthcare after the 1959 revolution; it includes chapters detailing Cuban health trends from the Spanish-American War (1898) through the fall of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and into the"--Provided by publisher
Cataloging source
E7B
Dewey number
362.1097291
Index
index present
LC call number
RA395.C9
LC item number
H57 2008eb
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
Label
Health, politics, and revolution in Cuba since 1898, Katherine Hirschfeld
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
http://library.link/vocab/branchCode
  • net
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
""Contents""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Introduction Cuba and Medical Anthropology""; ""1 Fieldwork""; ""2 Doing Research, Not Doing Research""; ""3 Dengue Fever: An Abrupt Change of Perspective""; ""4 Fearful Interlude""; ""5 Reframing History""; ""6 Imperialism and Health in the Spanish- Cuban- American War, 1897-1902""; ""7 Caudillismo, Imperialism and Health, 1902-1909""; ""8 Caudillismo, Instability and Health Trends in the Platt Era, 1909-1933""; ""9 Health and Disease in the Gangster State, 1934-1959""; ""10 Revolutionaries in Power, 1959-""; ""11 Conclusions""; ""Bibliography""
Control code
ocn647867586
Dimensions
unknown
Edition
1st pbk. print
Extent
1 online resource (viii, 266 pages)
Form of item
online
Isbn
9781412809191
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
c
http://library.link/vocab/ext/overdrive/overdriveId
1027818
http://library.link/vocab/recordID
.b37250619
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
  • (OCoLC)647867586
  • pebc1351516108
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