“Syndemic Suffering is an admirably dense, robustly argued work of medical anthropology. Mendenhall’s volume reflects the strengths of ethnography for addressing sensitive subjects and reaching isolated populations; she also reveals the capacity of a mixed-methods anthropology for speaking across disciplinary divides in medicine, public health, and psychology. At the same time, the volume is a fast read and genuinely engaging for the powerful. narratives of difficulty faced by these resilient survivors.” - Carolyn Smith-Morris, Journal of Anthropological Research
“Mendenhall argues that diabetes can not be fully separated from the structural, interpersonal and psychological factors that both lead to and flow from it. […] The writing, while sophisticated, is accessible, and complex concepts such as structural violence and syndemics are described clearly enough for the non-specialist to understand.” - Jason DeCaro, American Journal of Human Biology
In a major contribution to the study of diabetes, this book is the first to analyze the disease through a syndemic framework. An innovative, mixed-methods study, Emily Mendenhall shows how adverse social conditions, such as poverty and oppressive relationships, disproportionately stress certain populations and expose them to disease clusters. She goes beyond epidemiological research that has linked diabetes and depression, revealing how broad structural inequalities play out in the life histories of individuals, families, and communities, and lead to higher rates of mortality and morbidity. This intimate portrait of syndemic suffering is a model study of chronic disease disparity among the poor in high income countries and will be widely read in public health, medical anthropology, and related fields.