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Household reproduction and illness in a highland Peruvian town
Abstract
This research focuses on household reproduction and its interrelationship with illness within the context of a rapidly monetizing semi-rural economy on the Peruvian altiplano. Reproduction, in this case, refers to the kind and quantity of income household members are able to generate through both subsistence agropastoral and cash-generating activities. Income is evaluated relative to the expenditures households must make to provide for their basic necessities and to continue as units of production and reproduction. Illness is approached as not only a symptom expressing the impact of stressors from the biotic and socioeconomic environment, but is also dealt with as a major factor affecting people's life circumstances. Special concern is with the manifestations of the interrelationship between reproduction and illness in households which are undergoing a process of "disintegration" where income is insufficient to meet the basic requirements necessary for household reproduction. The majority of information was drawn from a series of four interviews and short-term recalls carried out with a sample of 61 households representing four socioeconomic groups. Two of these groups were made up of households with moderate and relatively secure incomes. The other two were made up of low-income households who rely to a large degree on "informal", temporary, and low-paying wage labor jobs. At each income level there was a further breakdown between households who participated in agropastoral production and those who did not. The sample included both single female and male/female headed households. Income, consumption patterns, and health status were assessed for each income group, exhibiting significant degrees of differentiation. Overall health indicators showed levels of illness corresponding with income. Those appearing most vulnerable in terms of both their health and their economic circumstances were the low-income households who did not participate in subsistence agropastoral activities. Morbidity and mortality rates were higher and the impact of illness was greater. These households were most likely to be those headed by single women, the elderly, and/or those with chronic health problems. In many instances illness was shown to play a major role in instigating or exacerbating the process of disintegration.
Subject Area
Cultural anthropology|Economics|Individual & family studies|Sociology
Recommended Citation
Luerssen, J. Susan, "Household reproduction and illness in a highland Peruvian town" (1991). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9120911.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9120911