Leprosy in South India: The Paradox of Disablement as Enablement
Main Article Content
Keywords
social anthropology, leprosy, South India
Abstract
Rooted in ethnographic fieldwork with people affected by leprosy in India, this article argues that certain impairments, in certain social contexts, are simultaneously disabling and enabling. This paradox poses difficult challenges, not only for those working with individuals affected with leprosy, but for disability activists and policy-makers.
References
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Akattiyar. (1976). Kanmakantam 300. Madras.
Barnes, C., Mercer, G., & Shakespeare, T. (1999). Exploring disability: A sociological introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Barnes, C. (1990). Cabbage Syndrome. The social construction of dependence. Lewes: Falmer Press.
Bogdan, R. (1988). Freak show: Presenting human oddities for amusement and profit. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bogdan, R. (1996). The social construction of freaks. In R. G. Thomson (Ed.), Freakery: Cultural spectacles of the extraordinary body (pp. 23-37). New York: New York University Press.
Nice, R. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nice, R. (1990). The logic of practice. Cambridge: Polity.
Brody, N. S. (1974). The disease of the soul: Leprosy in medieval literature. Ithaca: Cornell.
Buckingham, J. M. (1997). “The morbid mark”: The place of the leprosy sufferer in nineteenth century Hindu law. South Asia, 20(1), 57-80.
Burnell, A. C., & Hopkins, E. W. (Eds.). (1971). The ordinances of Manu. New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation.
Busby, C. (1997). Permeable and partible persons: A comparative analysis of gender and body in South India and Melanesia. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.), 3, 261-78.
Campbell, J., & Oliver, M. (1996). Disability politics: Understanding our past, changing our future. London: Routledge.
Caplan, L. (1999). Gifting and receiving. In V. Das, D. Gupta, & P. Uberoi (Eds.), Tradition, pluralism and identity: In honour of T. N. Madan (pp. 283-305). New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Cochrane, R. G. (1927). Leprosy in India: A survey. London: World Dominion Press.
Farnell, B. M. (1994). Ethno-graphics and the moving body. Man (N.S.), 29(4), 929-974.
Finkelstein, V. (1993). Disability: A social challenge or an administrative responsibility. In J. Swain, V. Finkelstein, S. French, & M. Oliver (Eds.), Disabling barriers—Enabling environments (pp. 34-43). London: Sage.
Gardner, K., & Lewis, D. (1996). Anthropology, development and the post-modern challenge. London: Pluto Press.
Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. London: Penguin.
Gopal, P. K. (1999). Introduction. In P. Nicholls, J. Nash, & M. Tamplin (Eds.), Guidelines for the social and economic rehabilitation of people affected by Leprosy (p. xi.). London: International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations.
Halantine, F., & Berge, G. (1990). Perceptions of disabilities among Kel Tamasheq of Northern Mali. In F. J. Bruun & B. Ingstad (Eds.), Disability in a cross-cultural perspective (Working Paper No. 4). Oslo: Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo.
Ingstad, B., & Reynolds-Whyte, S. (Eds.). (1995). Disability and culture. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Kandaswamy-Pillai, N. (1979). History of Siddha medicine. Madras.
Kurzman, S. (2003a). Theorizing disability: Experience and context. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, IL.
Kurzman, S. (2003b). Performing able-bodiedness: Amputees and prosthetics in America. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Marriott, M. (1989). Constructing an Indian Ethnosociology. Contributions to Indian Sociology (N.S.), 23, 1-39.
Moore, H. (1994). Understanding sex and gender. In T. Ingold (Ed.), Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology. London: Routledge.
Nicholls, P., Nash, J., & Tamplin, M. (Eds). (1999). Guidelines for the social and economic rehabilitation of people affected by Leprosy. London: International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations.
Oliver, M. (1990). The politics of disablement. London: Macmillan.
Oliver, M. (1996). Understanding disability: From theory to practice. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Scott, J. (1990). Domination and the arts of resistance: Hidden transcripts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Scott, J. (1990). Weapons of the weak. Everyday forms of peasant resistance. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Selections from the Records of the Government of India Home Department, No CCCXXXI, Papers Relating to the treatment of Leprosy in India from 1887-95. (1896). Calcutta.
Shakespeare, T. (1996). Disability, identity and difference. In G. Barnes & G. Mercer (Eds.), Exploring the divide: Illness and disability (pp. 94-113). Leeds: Disability Press.
Shilling, C. (1993). The body and social theory. London: Sage.
Shuttleworth, R., & Kasnitz, D. (in press). Stigma, community, ethnography: Joan Ablon’s contribution to the anthropology of impairment-disability. Medical Anthropology Quarterly.
Skinsnes, O. K., & Elvove, R. M. (1970). Leprosy in society v. ‘Leprosy’ in Occidental literature. International Journal of Leprosy, 38(3), 294-307.
Staples, J. (2003a). “Peculiar people, amazing lives.” A study of social exclusion and community-making among Leprosy affected people in South India. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Staples, J. (2003b). Disguise, revelation and copyright: Disassembling the South Indian Leper. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.), 9, 291-309.
Staples, J. (2004). Delineating disease: Self-management of Leprosy identities in South India. Medical Anthropology, 23(1), 66-89.
Staples, J. (2005). Becoming a man: Personhood and masculinity in a South Indian leprosy colony. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 39(2).
Stephen, R. (1986). Leprosy and social class in the Middle Ages. International Journal of Leprosy, 54(2), 300-305.
Strange, T. (1859). Hindu law: Principally with reference to such portions of it as concern the Administration of Justice, in the King’s courts in India (3rd ed.). Madras.
Tremain, S. (2002). On the subject of impairment. In M. Corker & T. Shakespeare (Eds.), Disability/post modernity: Embodying disability theory (pp. 32-47). London: Continuum.
Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation. (1976). Fundamental principles of disability. London: Author.
Watson, N. (2002). Well, I know this is going to sound strange to you, but I don’t see myself as a disabled person: Identity and disability. Disability & Society, 17(5), 509-527.
Wise, T. A. (1845). Commentary of the Hindu system of medicine. Calcutta.
Young, I. (2002). Foreword. In M. Corker & T. Shakespeare (Eds.), Disability/post modernity: Embodying disability theory (pp. xii-xiv). London: Continuum.
Akattiyar. (1976). Kanmakantam 300. Madras.
Barnes, C., Mercer, G., & Shakespeare, T. (1999). Exploring disability: A sociological introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Barnes, C. (1990). Cabbage Syndrome. The social construction of dependence. Lewes: Falmer Press.
Bogdan, R. (1988). Freak show: Presenting human oddities for amusement and profit. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bogdan, R. (1996). The social construction of freaks. In R. G. Thomson (Ed.), Freakery: Cultural spectacles of the extraordinary body (pp. 23-37). New York: New York University Press.
Nice, R. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nice, R. (1990). The logic of practice. Cambridge: Polity.
Brody, N. S. (1974). The disease of the soul: Leprosy in medieval literature. Ithaca: Cornell.
Buckingham, J. M. (1997). “The morbid mark”: The place of the leprosy sufferer in nineteenth century Hindu law. South Asia, 20(1), 57-80.
Burnell, A. C., & Hopkins, E. W. (Eds.). (1971). The ordinances of Manu. New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation.
Busby, C. (1997). Permeable and partible persons: A comparative analysis of gender and body in South India and Melanesia. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.), 3, 261-78.
Campbell, J., & Oliver, M. (1996). Disability politics: Understanding our past, changing our future. London: Routledge.
Caplan, L. (1999). Gifting and receiving. In V. Das, D. Gupta, & P. Uberoi (Eds.), Tradition, pluralism and identity: In honour of T. N. Madan (pp. 283-305). New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Cochrane, R. G. (1927). Leprosy in India: A survey. London: World Dominion Press.
Farnell, B. M. (1994). Ethno-graphics and the moving body. Man (N.S.), 29(4), 929-974.
Finkelstein, V. (1993). Disability: A social challenge or an administrative responsibility. In J. Swain, V. Finkelstein, S. French, & M. Oliver (Eds.), Disabling barriers—Enabling environments (pp. 34-43). London: Sage.
Gardner, K., & Lewis, D. (1996). Anthropology, development and the post-modern challenge. London: Pluto Press.
Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. London: Penguin.
Gopal, P. K. (1999). Introduction. In P. Nicholls, J. Nash, & M. Tamplin (Eds.), Guidelines for the social and economic rehabilitation of people affected by Leprosy (p. xi.). London: International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations.
Halantine, F., & Berge, G. (1990). Perceptions of disabilities among Kel Tamasheq of Northern Mali. In F. J. Bruun & B. Ingstad (Eds.), Disability in a cross-cultural perspective (Working Paper No. 4). Oslo: Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo.
Ingstad, B., & Reynolds-Whyte, S. (Eds.). (1995). Disability and culture. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Kandaswamy-Pillai, N. (1979). History of Siddha medicine. Madras.
Kurzman, S. (2003a). Theorizing disability: Experience and context. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, IL.
Kurzman, S. (2003b). Performing able-bodiedness: Amputees and prosthetics in America. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Marriott, M. (1989). Constructing an Indian Ethnosociology. Contributions to Indian Sociology (N.S.), 23, 1-39.
Moore, H. (1994). Understanding sex and gender. In T. Ingold (Ed.), Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology. London: Routledge.
Nicholls, P., Nash, J., & Tamplin, M. (Eds). (1999). Guidelines for the social and economic rehabilitation of people affected by Leprosy. London: International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations.
Oliver, M. (1990). The politics of disablement. London: Macmillan.
Oliver, M. (1996). Understanding disability: From theory to practice. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Scott, J. (1990). Domination and the arts of resistance: Hidden transcripts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Scott, J. (1990). Weapons of the weak. Everyday forms of peasant resistance. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Selections from the Records of the Government of India Home Department, No CCCXXXI, Papers Relating to the treatment of Leprosy in India from 1887-95. (1896). Calcutta.
Shakespeare, T. (1996). Disability, identity and difference. In G. Barnes & G. Mercer (Eds.), Exploring the divide: Illness and disability (pp. 94-113). Leeds: Disability Press.
Shilling, C. (1993). The body and social theory. London: Sage.
Shuttleworth, R., & Kasnitz, D. (in press). Stigma, community, ethnography: Joan Ablon’s contribution to the anthropology of impairment-disability. Medical Anthropology Quarterly.
Skinsnes, O. K., & Elvove, R. M. (1970). Leprosy in society v. ‘Leprosy’ in Occidental literature. International Journal of Leprosy, 38(3), 294-307.
Staples, J. (2003a). “Peculiar people, amazing lives.” A study of social exclusion and community-making among Leprosy affected people in South India. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Staples, J. (2003b). Disguise, revelation and copyright: Disassembling the South Indian Leper. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.), 9, 291-309.
Staples, J. (2004). Delineating disease: Self-management of Leprosy identities in South India. Medical Anthropology, 23(1), 66-89.
Staples, J. (2005). Becoming a man: Personhood and masculinity in a South Indian leprosy colony. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 39(2).
Stephen, R. (1986). Leprosy and social class in the Middle Ages. International Journal of Leprosy, 54(2), 300-305.
Strange, T. (1859). Hindu law: Principally with reference to such portions of it as concern the Administration of Justice, in the King’s courts in India (3rd ed.). Madras.
Tremain, S. (2002). On the subject of impairment. In M. Corker & T. Shakespeare (Eds.), Disability/post modernity: Embodying disability theory (pp. 32-47). London: Continuum.
Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation. (1976). Fundamental principles of disability. London: Author.
Watson, N. (2002). Well, I know this is going to sound strange to you, but I don’t see myself as a disabled person: Identity and disability. Disability & Society, 17(5), 509-527.
Wise, T. A. (1845). Commentary of the Hindu system of medicine. Calcutta.
Young, I. (2002). Foreword. In M. Corker & T. Shakespeare (Eds.), Disability/post modernity: Embodying disability theory (pp. xii-xiv). London: Continuum.
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Published
Dec 29, 2014
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Author Biography
James Staples, British Academy post-doctoral fellow, Social Anthropology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
James Staples, Ph.D., is a British Academy post-doctoral fellow in Social Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. His research interests include socio-cultural aspects of leprosy; the body and personhood; the anthropology of disability; and marginal livelihoods. His forthcoming monograph, Odd Bodies. Leprosy, Social Exclusion and Community-Making in South India, is being published by Orient Longman (2006). He may be contacted at: [email protected]