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A Heart for the Work: Journeys through an African Medical School 1st Edition

by Claire L. Wendland (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
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Burnout is common among doctors in the West, so one might assume that a medical career in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, would place far greater strain on the idealism that drives many doctors. But, as A Heart for the Work makes clear, Malawian medical students learn to confront poverty creatively, experiencing fatigue and frustration but also joy and commitment on their way to becoming physicians. The first ethnography of medical training in the global South, Claire L. Wendland’s book is a moving and perceptive look at medicine in a world where the transnational movement of people and ideas creates both devastation and possibility.

Wendland, a physician anthropologist, conducted extensive interviews and worked in wards, clinics, and operating theaters alongside the student doctors whose stories she relates. From the relative calm of Malawi’s College of Medicine to the turbulence of training at hospitals with gravely ill patients and dramatically inadequate supplies, staff, and technology, Wendland’s work reveals the way these young doctors engage the contradictions of their circumstances, shedding new light on debates about the effects of medical training, the impact of traditional healing, and the purposes of medicine.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0226893278
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0226893273
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    University of Chicago Press
  5. Publication date
    October 1, 2010
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
  8. Print length
    352 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Claire L. Wendland is professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. 

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0226893278
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226893273
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

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Claire L. Wendland

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
16 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Samantha Orr
5.0 out of 5 stars For Those Interested in Medical Practices in West Africa.
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2015
Verified Purchase
Claire Wendland provides the reader with an inside account of her journey in West Africa, from her accounts of being a student and to later going back to research how young doctors continue to make it in this unfavorable system. In this work of fiction Wendland offers an insight into the struggles that West African doctors and medical students face due to lack of funds, and a corrupt government. Although one has to persevere through the first chapter or two of the book due to it’s more technical aspect once one gets to the raw core of the book, it’s hard to put it down. This is because of the students eye witness accounts that are introduced. This book offered a glance into the medical world in West Africa, and how it is the complete opposite of what people know of in Northern countries. She let’s readers know the struggles that come with working in a third world country, and how health is put on the back burner. However, she does allow the reader to see that even though funds are low, innovation is not. The doctors that the readers will meet, demonstrate a high level of intelligence as they make up for their lack of supplies with reused goods. She also allows the ignorance surrounding African health systems to be lifted, and shows just how difficult and consuming it is to take the responsibility of a doctor is in this country. She allows the reader to see just how the lack of funds make saving lives an out of the ordinary experience, and how most people still turn to traditional means of health care such as herbs, and home remedies. This happens for one of two reasons. They are untrusting of biomedicine and also the cost is too much for them. Another interesting point of the book is how she talks about the students that come from better equipped countries and how it gives them a bit of shock and tends to push them out of their comfort zone. Speaking of foreign students it also shows the huge difference in the emotional support provided to the patients. Where in Northern countries these students allow themselves to become desensitized, and African students try to give all the love they can offer, seeing as this may be the only remedy they have. Overall, the book let’s the reader in on the culture of Malawi citizens, the huge responsibility that is taken by medical professionals, and how a corrupt government will never allow for a functional healthcare system. If one wanted to educate on West African medical practice, this is definitely the book to read.
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Lori DiPrete Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful Account of Medical Training and Care in Africa
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2010
This intimate and richly contextualized study of medical education in Malawi paints a vivid picture of how western medicine is being taught, internalized, adapted and owned by African medical students and physicians. Wendland begins by describing the role that medicine has played in Malawi's history; the detailed and nuanced picture provides the reader with a deep understanding of a particular African reality, as well a framework for viewing the role of medicine in other African settings and globally. Wendland follows the students from their villages and and preparatory schools, through their academic training, and on to their first days of service in African hospitals. This journey provides insight into how the students experience the promise of medicine, as well as it's shortcomings, and also shows how they bring their own history, culture, and life experience to their medical practice. The work is further enhanced by first person narratives of the medical students recorded during their training and early years of practice, as well as several case studies of patients that illustrate the fullness and power of viewing health and disease through an anthropological lens. Wendland's evocative prose and unflinching self-awareness complement these other elements, making "a heart for the work," an example of medical anthropology at its best.
12 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2018
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This is a really interesting book showing medical anthropology in action.
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M Westby
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece of writing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 19, 2019
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❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
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