Vita: Life in a Zone of Social AbandonmentZones of social abandonment are emerging everywhere in Brazil’s big cities—places like Vita, where the unwanted, the mentally ill, the sick, and the homeless are left to die. This haunting, unforgettable story centers on a young woman named Catarina, increasingly paralyzed and said to be mad, living out her time at Vita. Anthropologist Joćo Biehl leads a detective-like journey to know Catarina; to unravel the cryptic, poetic words that are part of the "dictionary" she is compiling; and to trace the complex network of family, medicine, state, and economy in which her abandonment and pathology took form. An instant classic, Vita has been widely acclaimed for its bold fieldwork, theoretical innovation, and literary force. Reflecting on how Catarina’s life story continues, this updated edition offers the reader a powerful new afterword and gripping new photographs following Biehl and Eskerod’s return to Vita. Anthropology at its finest, Vita is essential reading for anyone who is grappling with how to understand the conditions of life, thought, and ethics in the contemporary world. |
Contents
| 1 | |
PART ONE VITA | 33 |
PART TWO CATARINA AND THE ALPHABET | 69 |
PART THREE THE MEDICAL ARCHIVE | 121 |
PART FOUR THE FAMILY | 207 |
PART FIVE BIOLOGY AND ETHICS | 269 |
PART SIX THE DICTIONARY | 311 |
A way to the words | 353 |
I am part of the origins not just of language but of people | 359 |
AFTERWORD | 361 |
Acknowledgments | 399 |
Notes | 403 |
| 413 | |
| 431 | |
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Common terms and phrases
abandonment Ademar Adriana Adriana Petryna Alemćo Alessandra Altamir Anderson antipsychotic asked ataxia began biperiden body Brazil brothers Caridade Cata Catarina Catieki clinical Clóvis condition death diagnosis dictionary disease divorce doctor drug economic ethnographic ex-husband family members father haloperidol happened health post House of Mental human rights husband infirmary institutions Jardim Kunz legs levomepromazine live mental health mentally ill Moraes moral mother Nilson Novo Hamburgo nurse Ondina Oscar overmedicated patients Paulo person pharmaceutical pharmakos political Porto Alegre problem Psychiatric Hospital psychiatrist psychosis psychotic reality recalled referred rheumatism rina Sćo Paulo schizophrenia sense social spasm stay story subjectivity suffering symptoms talk Tamara things thought tion told took Torben treated treatment universal health care Urbano Vania Veena Das Vita Vita's voice volunteers walk woman words worker writing wrote