Structural vulnerability and new perspectives in social medicine on the health of immigrants: Interview with James Quesada and Seth M. Holmes

Carlos Piñones Rivera; James Quesada; Seth M. Holmes

doi:10.18294/sc.2019.2146

Structural vulnerability and new perspectives in social medicine on the health of immigrants: Interview with James Quesada and Seth M. Holmes

Carlos Piñones Rivera Psychologist. Doctor in Medical Anthropology. Postdoctoral Researcher, Instituto de Estudios Internacionales, Universidad Arturo Prat, Iquique, Chile. , James Quesada Doctor in Medical Anthropology. Professor, César Chavez Institute, Department of Anthropology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, USA. , Seth M. Holmes Medical Doctor. Doctor in Medical Anthropology. Associate Professor, UC Berkeley’s Division of Society and Environment, UCSF-Berkeley’s Joint Program in Medical Anthropology, University of California, California, USA.

Received: 7 February 2019, Accepted: 15 February 2019, Published: 15 August 2019

https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2019.2146 | PMID: 31829398

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Abstract

A decade ago, a number of English-speaking authors focused mainly on the analysis and intervention of processes of social determination of health of migrants developed the concept of structural vulnerability as a way to combat individualism, biologism, the invisibilization of processes of structural determination and the blaming of victims. As part of the historical contributions of social medicine, the current developments of the structural vulnerability approach have been disconnected from the discussions of the collective health movement and Latin American social medicine in general, among other reasons due to linguistic barriers associated with the scarcity of publications in Spanish. The present interview, conducted with two of the primary representatives of the structural vulnerability approach, investigates its historical origins and seeks to explore the specific contributions that are being made today, as a way to bring them closer to Spanish-speaking readers and so enable dialogue with the proposals of Latin American social medicine.

Keywords: Vulnerable Populations, Social Medicine, Human Migration, Medical Anthropology, Social Determinants of Health

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