AIDS and Accusation: Haiti and the Geography of Blame by Paul Farmer

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Synopsis

Does the scientific "theory" that HIV came to North America from Haiti stem from underlying attitudes of racism and ethnocentrism in the United States rather than from hard evidence? Anthropologist-physician Paul Farmer answers in the affirmative with this, the first full-length ethnographic study of AIDS in a poor society.

Library Journal

Physician and anthropologist Farmer studied the impact of AIDS on the impoverished people of Haiti, and his portrayal for his doctoral dissertation, of a small rural village--its clinic, religious life, folk healers, and voodoo beliefs--brings Haitian culture powerfully to life. He provides an extensive history of the country, finally exploring the connection between suffering and blame: Americans have blamed Haitians for ``causing'' AIDS, while Haitians have accused one another of ``sending'' it through sorcery. Rarely is a book based on a dissertation so engaging. Highly recommended for academic and subject collections.-- Judith Eannarino, Washington, D.C.

Biography

Paul Farmer is an instructor in Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and a research resident in internal medicine at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. With doctorates in both medicine and social anthropology, he conducts his research and medical practice in Haiti.