Introduction

This collection of essays brings to light important themes in medical anthropology that have been eclipsed in recent years by theoretical turns toward problems of suffering, experience, and ontology (among others). Namely, they remind us of the importance of what was once popularly called the study of ‘ethnomedicine’

What is critical global health?

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Markets of sorrow, labors of faith

pre-printThe United States Constitution was written with the expectation that our government officials serve with integrity. Normative theory of public administration is grounded through the oath of office to uphold the Constitution. When people in the U. S. become victims of catastrophic events, they expect a unity of purpose in the governance process that involves nothing short of the highest standard of ethical behavior

It Takes More than a Village: Building a Network of Safety in Nepal's Mountain Communities.

Purpose This report from the field details the ways that one small maternal child health NGO, which began its work in Tibet and now works in the mountain communities of Nepal, has established a model for integrated healthcare delivery and support it calls the "network of safety." Description It discusses some of the challenges faced both by the NGO and by the rural mountain communities with whom it partners, as well as with the government of Nepal. Conclusion This report describes and analyzes successful efforts to reduce maternal and infant mortality in a culturally astute, durable, and integrated way, as well as examples of innovation and success experienced by enacting the network of safety model

The work of evidence in critical global health

This special section critically examines the paradigms and values that undergird the ever-expanding field of global health. The richly textured ethnographic think pieces presented here tackle problems of evidence and efficacy as complex forms of ethical and theoretical engagement in contexts of neoliberalism, war, technological innovation, inequality, and structural violence. These works seek to contribute to a people-centered and politically relevant social theory for the twenty-first century

Pandemics of Metrics

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted critical attention to the performative power of metrics. We suggest that the existential capacities of metrics as a means of pandemic living warrants further consideration. We describe how the COVD-19 pandemic that came into existence as a public health and political event could only have occurred because of the anticipatory metrical practices that were used to transform SARS-COV-2 into a matter of global health concern. By exploring the affective potencies of COVID-19 metrics we show their abilities to engage the public in ways that cannot be contained; in detailing the narrative arcs created through metrics we show their opportunities, misdirections and erasures. A pandemic way of life persists: a pandemic of metrics