Bridging Borders: Religion, Health, and Collective Wellbeing in Nairobi Restricted; Files Only
Corey, Emma (Spring 2023)
Published
Abstract
This dissertation attends to religion, health, and collective wellbeing at Mwana Mwema Program, a network of clinics, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, that care for children and adolescents living with HIV across Nairobi, Kenya. Drawing on ethnographic research and a twelve-year relationship with Mwana Mwema, I highlight a community of people where healing is a collective endeavor. Analyzing everyday practices among practitioners, volunteers, and former clients of Mwana Mwema, I suggest the community demonstrates an ethic of collective wellbeing within a global health system that frequently impedes it. In collective wellbeing, healing, biomedical or otherwise, is not only deeply relational, but also inseparable from other categories. Rather than treating biomedical health as its own bounded entity, members of the Mwana Mwema community situate health alongside social, political, economic, and even spiritual issues. Ultimately, I suggest collective wellbeing provides an opportunity to reframe the way we consider religion and health. The stories of Mwana Mwema capture an expansive framework that help us think about healing not just in Kenya, but across the globe.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Multidisciplinary Team Meeting………………………………………………...page 1
Chapter One
Data Collection: Tools and Trying at Mwana Mwema…………………………page 20
Chapter Two
The Chicken Conundrum: Index Children and Food Distribution………………page 52
Chapter Three
Phillip’s Bicycle and the Economic Empowerment of Hustling………………...page 85
Chapter Four
“Taking Your Drugs Well”: Adherence and Social Healing………………........page 114
Chapter Five
Healing the Inner Wounds: Addressing Affliction at the Yaya Altar…………...page 149
Epilogue
The Certainty of Uncertainty……………………………………………………..page 192
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