The Power of Parasites: Malaria as (Un)Conscious Strategy - Paperback

by Dalia Iskander (Author)

This book describes how malaria both frustrates and facilitates life for Indigenous Pälawan communities living in the forested foothills of the municipality of Bataraza on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. Tracing the arc of malaria on the archipelago from colonial encounters to the present day, it examines the ways in which malaria parasites have become entangled in contemporary lives. It uniquely explores the experiences of local government leaders working towards sustainably developing this last ecological frontier, health workers trying to meet international targets to eliminate malaria, and Pälawan people trying to keep their bodies, social relations and the cosmos in careful balance. In exquisite detail, Dr Dalia Iskander shows how malaria emerged from, and was intrinsic to, a whole host of strategically-orientated social practices that were enacted in as well as around the disease's name, as people worked day-to-day to gain power in different guises in different arenas.

Back Jacket

'This beautifully written account deftly moves between scales and registers to dive into specifics of practices that shape what malaria is, and how this has come to be. Iskander's impressive contribution with this book is to explicate malaria as a particular bio-social phenomenon: how the non-human world affects change, such that human-defined interventions to target parasites in turn target human relations. The book will be of interest to all scholars of global health as well as medical anthropologists.'--Clare Chandler, Professor in Medical Anthropology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 'This book illustrates how malaria is intertwined into Philippine history and the lives of people afflicted by the disease even into this second millennium. Malaria agencies need to listen to the experiences of people described in this book. It is an important read for anthropology and public health students and professionals, and for anyone who wishes to understand local disease practices.'--Dr Effie Espino, Medical Specialist IV, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Department of Health, Philippines This book describes how malaria both frustrates and facilitates life for Indigenous Pälawan communities living in the forested foothills of the municipality of Bataraza on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. Tracing the arc of malaria on the archipelago from colonial encounters to the present day, it examines the ways in which malaria parasites have become entangled in contemporary lives. It uniquely explores the experiences of local government leaders working towards sustainably developing this last ecological frontier, health workers trying to meet international targets to eliminate malaria, and Pälawan people trying to keep their bodies, social relations and the cosmos in careful balance. In exquisite detail, Dr Dalia Iskander shows how malaria emerged from, and was intrinsic to, a whole host of strategically-orientated social practices that were enacted in as well as around the disease's name, as people worked day-to-day to gain power in different guises in different arenas.

Author Biography

Dr Dalia Iskander is Lecturer in Medical Anthropology at University College London, UK.