Description
Book Synopsis Caring for small children and the family in Burkina Faso is hard work. Although the health infrastructure in Burkina Faso is weak and many citizens feel neglected by the state, Fragile Futures shows that the state continues to play an important role in people’s engagements and hopes for a better future. Based on more than twenty years of research engagement with Burkina Faso, it is an ethnography of how rural citizens address ambiguities of sickness and care and try to secure a decent future for themselves and their families.
Trade Review “This is a theoretically solid book presenting unique data and perspectives on survival strategies in a broad meaning. The focus is on the most marginalized populations of the world, outlining local, long-term trajectories of their dealing with challenges and uncertainties.” • Jónína Einarsdóttir, University of Iceland
“The book is coherent and well-written and presents a clearly delimited field of study that is a relevant contribution to the literature on global public health, medical anthropology, as well as a broader field of African studies, and the anthropology of state-citizen relationships.” • Jesper Bjarnesen, The Nordic Africa Institute
Table of Contents List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1. A Family Narrative
Chapter 2. Ambiguities of Child Care
Chapter 3. Mobilities and Immobilities
Chapter 4. Technologies and Cosmologies
Chapter 5. Treatment Seeking and the Work of Hope
Chapter 6. The Availability LOGIC
Chapter 7. Moments of State Presence
Conclusion
References
Index
