Living and Dying in the Contemporary World: A Compendium

891 Pages·2015·9.5 MB·English

by  Veena Das

LIVING AND DYING IN
THE CONTEMPORARY
WORLD
A Compendium
Veena Das and Clara Han, editors
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
LIVING AND DYING IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
the publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous
support of the general endowment fund of the university
of california press foundation.
LIVING AND DYING IN
THE CONTEMPORARY
WORLD
A Compendium
Veena Das and Clara Han, editors
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing
scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its
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visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2016 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Living and dying in the contemporary world : a compendium / Veena Das
and Clara Han, editors.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-520-27841-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-520-96106-7
(ebook)
1. Social history—21st century. 2. Life—Cross-cultural studies.
3. Death—Cross-cultural studies. I. Das, Veena, editor. II. Han, Clara,
1975– editor.
hn18.3.l59 2016
306—dc23 2015022484
Manufactured in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r 2002) (Permanence of Paper).
For Harry Marks

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments • xiii
Introduction: A Concept Note • 1
Clara Han and Veena Das
SECTION 1. NATALITY, SEXUALITY, REPRODUCTION • 39
1 . Maternal Mortality, Technological Innovations, and
Therapeutic Strategies • 47
Stanford–ISERDD Study Collective
2 . Conceiving Life and Death: Stem Cell Technologies and
Assisted Conception in India and the Middle East • 67
Aditya Bharadwaj and Marcia C. Inhorn
3 . The Pregnant Hijra: Laughter, Dead Babies, and
Invaluable Love • 83
Vaibhav Saria
4 . New Lives for Children: Adoption Documents and the Law in
Central Mexico • 100
Anaid Citlalli Reyes Kipp
5 . Transnational Adoption and (Im)possible Lives • 114
Eleana Kim
6 . “Forced Pregnancy,” Humanitarian Access to Reproductive
Rights, and Locating “Life” within the Powers of “Death” • 130
Nayanika Mookherjee
7 . Bleeding Dreams: Miscarriage and the Bindings of the
Unborn in the Palestinian Refugee Community of Tyre,
South Lebanon • 143
Sylvain Perdigon
SECTION 2. MEDICAL, LEGAL, AND PHARMACEUTICAL SPACES • 159
8 . Waiting and the Architecture of Care • 167
Sophie Day
9 . The Social Phenomenology of the Next Epidemic: Pain and the
Politics of Relief in Botswana’s Cancer Ward • 185
Julie Livingston
10. Living and Dying in Mental Health: Guns, Race, and the History of
Schizophrenic Violence • 205
Jonathan M. Metzl
11. The Wealth of Populations: Poverty and HIV/AIDS in Rural
Central China • 217
Shao Jing
12. Living and Dying with Mycobacteria: Tuberculosis and the
Regulation of Anti-tuberculous Drugs in Nepal • 232
Ian Harper and Nabin Rawal
13. The Juridical Hospital • 251
João Biehl
14. The Right of Recovery • 270
Adriana Petryna
15. Just Living: Law, Life, Livelihood, and Sexual Assault • 289
Sameena Mulla
16. “If You Remember, You Can’t Live”: Trauma, Insecurity, and
the F/utility of “PTSD” in Haiti • 301
Erica Caple James
17. Death as a Resource for Life • 316
Angela Garcia
SECTION 3. HEALING: RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR BODIES • 329
18. Thinking about the Secular Body, Pain, and Liberal Politics • 337
Talal Asad
19. Nonself Help: How Immunology Might Reframe the
Enlightenment • 354
A. David Napier
20. Secular Histories, Saintly Returns: Death and Devotion in
Modern Turkey • 367
Christopher Dole
21. The Good and the Bad Breast: Cosmetic Surgery and
Breast Cancer • 382
Bernadette Wegenstein
22. Attachments of Life: Intimacy, Genital Injury, and the Flesh of the
U.S. Soldier Body • 399
Zoë H. Wool
23. Key Acts: Organ Transplantation and Subjectivities in the
Public Sphere • 418
Aslıhan Sanal
24. Life, Death, and Reverie: Method in a Congolese Medical
History • 431
Nancy Rose Hunt
SECTION 4. PRECARIOUS LIVES • 441
25. Life and Concept • 449
Michael D. Jackson
26. Never Quite Given: Calling into Question the Relation between
Person and World in Postinvastion Iraq • 463
Hayder Al-Mohammad
27. Mourning, Grief, and the Loss of Politics in Palestine:
The Unvoiced Eff ects of Military Occupation in the
West Bank • 475
Lotte Buch Segal
28. Echoes of a Death: Violence, Endurance, and the Experiences
of Loss • 493
Clara Han