social theory/methods
Judy (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
Sun, 31 Dec 1995 10:23:25 -0500
I made the mistake of glancing through my mail - I will have more to say
when I sit down to DO e-mail, but for now I want to mention one approach
to research that I think does justice to macro AND micro concerns -
exemplified for me by Paul Farmer (_AIDS and Accusation..._),
who practices a form of medical anthropology. He uses "experience-near"
accounts of those whose lives he writes about, produced through
wonderfully ethical - long-term, consistent relationships -
ethnographic work and contextualizes them in historical account
based in part on meta-analyses of empirical studies (epidemiological
reports) that are themselves recontextualized in his
sociocultural analysis and critique. It's the "experience-near" accounts
that get at a dimension deliberately rejected by both EM, CA, and macro
structural accounts, which I find compelling (in the context of careful,
thorough sociohistorical critique).
Does anyone read Farmer or other medical anthropology? I would like to
hear someone else's perspective on it.
- Judy
Judy Diamondstone
diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
Rutgers University