Suffering caused by historically given and economically driven processes and forces that constrain human agency

Suffering caused by historically given and economically driven processes and forces that constrain human agency

• Suffering caused by historically given and economically driven processes and forces that constrain human agency

• (poverty, racism, sexism, extreme inequalities, political oppression)

Structural violence prevents development, as defined by Amartya Sen

• Structural violence prevents development, as defined by Amartya Sen

• Development as freedom: not only income, but also political and civil liberties, and social and economic arrangements

The world’s poor are the chief victims of structural violence.

• The world’s poor are the chief victims of structural violence.

• Paul Farmer: In order to understand suffering, we should analyze individual biographies in the larger matrix of culture, history and political economy

• Haiti: the poorest country in the western hemisphere

• HIV/AIDS and political violence are the leading causes of death among adults

• Haiti was ruled by a dictatorship until the 1990s, and since then, military coups have interrupted democratic rule

Population: 8.7 million

• Population: 8.7 million

• Per capita income: USD 1,800

• Ratio of population living under poverty line: 80 percent

• Life expectancy at birth: 57 years

• Infant mortality rate: 64 per thousand

• HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate: 5.6 percent (280,000 people living with HIV/AIDS)

Acephie: a young woman who dies of AIDS

• Acephie: a young woman who dies of AIDS

• Chouchou: a young man who dies because of political violence

• Similarities: both were poor and rural, both of their lives were “touched” by the military

Both Acephie and Chouchou endured extreme suffering

• Both Acephie and Chouchou endured extreme suffering

• But their stories are not atypical in Haiti

• Why?

Axis of gender

• Axis of gender

• Axis of race and ethnicity

• Refugee or immigrant status

• etc…

Notice the parallels between Paul Farmer’s treatment of structural violence and Amartya Sen’s discussion on poverty as capability deprivation

• Notice the parallels between Paul Farmer’s treatment of structural violence and Amartya Sen’s discussion on poverty as capability deprivation

A closer look at HIV/AIDS and other diseases

• A closer look at HIV/AIDS and other diseases

• See:

• http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/aids.shtml

** Poverty causes HIV to spread

• ** Poverty causes HIV to spread

• How?

• Malnutrition, unequal income distribution decrease resistance to disease

• But also,

• Practices of poor people for “coping” with poverty make them vulnerable to HIV infection

** In turn, HIV/AIDS causes poverty

• ** In turn, HIV/AIDS causes poverty

• How?

• Reduction in income as a result of disease and death

• Reduction in household resources (labor, financial, food, etc.)

• Dissolution of households; loss of productive assets

• Reduction of the community’s ability to assist the ill

Vicious cyle between HIV/AIDS and poverty

• Vicious cyle between HIV/AIDS and poverty

• “AIDS has reversed progress towards international development goals. It is one of the most profound development challenges faced in modern human history.”