Tropicality and abjection: What do we really mean by “Neglected Tropical Diseases”?

Developing World Bioethics 19 (4):224-234 (2019)
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Abstract

Neglected tropical diseases are defined operationally as diseases that prevail in “tropical” regions and are under‐researched, under‐funded, and under‐treated compared with their disease burden. By analysing the adjectives “tropical” and “neglected,” I expose and interrogate the discourses within which the term “neglected tropical disease” derives its meaning. First, I argue that the term “tropical” conjures the notion of “tropicality,” a form of Othering which erroneously explains the disease‐prevalence of “tropical” regions by reference to environmental determinism, rather than colonialism and neocolonialism. Second, I examine the way in which this Othering enables the abjection of tropical regions and their peoples, leading to neglect. I recommend that the term “neglected tropical diseases” be more carefully contextualised within health scholarship, education, and policy.

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Arianne Shahvisi
Brighton And Sussex Medical School

Citations of this work

Feminist bioethics.Anne Donchin - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

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References found in this work

Orientalism.Edward W. Said - 1978 - Vintage.
Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection.Julia Kristeva - 1984 - Columbia University Press.
Discourse on Colonialism.Aimé Césaire & Joan Pinkham - 2000 - Monthly Review Press.
Explaining and responding to the Ebola epidemic.Solomon Benatar - 2015 - Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 10:5.

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