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  • Disease in the History of Modern Latin America: From Malaria to AIDS
  • Steven Palmer
Disease in the History of Modern Latin America: From Malaria to AIDS. Edited by Diego Armus. Durham: Duke University Press. 2003. Pp. viii, 326. Cloth $64.95, paper $21.95.

Was disease different in Latin American history than it was in the history of other countries and continents? The answer, of course, is yes, and not just because the list of diseases is distinct, or because some bugs are unique to the region. The contemporary historian of disease can choose from an exciting spectrum of theoretical and methodological approaches. Most of them, however, propose that culture is crucial to the way disease is apprehended, explained, contained, and treated, and that social and political constellations will necessarily make all disease episodes different. If the pathological agent may look the same under the microscope, the local "framing" and reaction to it will make it quite distinct from its appearance elsewhere. While Armus' robust collection does not advance any grand claims about the specificities of disease in Latin America, it does set out the contemporary scholarly agenda in a [End Page 137] way that makes this book an indispensable starting point—and reference point—for all students of the field in Latin America and elsewhere.

Among the many positive things that could be said about Disease in the History of Modern Latin America, first and foremost would be the fact that it is state of the art. The contributors are a who's who of leading scholars in the field of the history of medicine and public health in Latin America: (in order of appearance) Armus, Nancy Leys Stepan, Gabriela Nouzeilles, Marilia Coutinho, Diana Obregón, Anne-Emanuelle Birn, Katherine Bliss, Ann Blum, Ann Zulawski, Marcos Cueto, and Patrick Larvie. This is an impressive list that raises the expectations of the reader. The collection does not disappoint, delivering on its promise of presenting, for the first time, a representative and high quality sampler of what has become an eclectic field.

By "modern Latin America" the collection means the twentieth century, especially the first half, which is the period covered by all but two chapters (the excellent contribution by Cueto on the Peruvian cholera epidemic of 1991, and Larvie's suggestive evaluation of the Brazilian state's AIDS campaigns emerging at the end of military rule in 1984). The period 1950-1980 is not covered by any of the chapters. This is surprising in that it must be considered the most dynamic era in the history of the region in terms of the development of strong and effective public health regimes, the creation of programs targeting specific endemic diseases, and the spread of biomedical ideas of disease. The diseases considered, essentially one per chapter, are malaria, Chagas disease, hookworm disease, tuberculosis, leprosy, AIDS, cholera, syphilis, hospitalism, mental health, and hysteria. The collection also boasts excellent coverage of Latin America, with chapters on disease in Argentina (2), Brazil (3), Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Mexico (3).

We are treated to discussions of the way disease played itself out in rural and urban settings. The collection is careful to cover "metropolitan" diseases and avoid an equation of the region with tropical diseases. The influence of Foucault is clear, but so is that of the recent Anglo-American empirical historiography of medicine. Sophisticated considerations of gender are very present, though considerations of what North Americans currently mean by "race" are rather muted. (More to the fore are questions of the "national race" central to the pathological anxieties of Latin American state-builders in the early twentieth century.) The collection incorporates popular perceptions of disease, as well as the view and actions of medical and public health professionals, iconic medical scientists, and states.

In sum, the book is a welcome milestone, bringing together a delectable assortment of the fruits of sophisticated new historiography on this subject in Latin America, and announcing that major contributions to the field are likely on their way. Given that the collection is an excellent route into the history of disease in Latin America for prospective students, it would have benefited from a bibliography (it does have a useful...

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