Obrist, B. (2006). Struggling for health in the city: an anthropological inquiry of health, vulnerability and resilience in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Bern and Oxford, Peter Lang.
This book contributes to debates about community health, vulnerability and resilience. This ethnographic study examines what health means for people living in poverty, focusing on women in Dar es Salaam's inner-city neighbourhood of Ilala Ilala in Tanzania. The anthropological research includes interviews and participant observation and was conducted between 1995 and 1996, with some additional research in 2002. The findings suggest that people view health as 'vulnerability to health risks' rather than as the opposite of illness and disease, based on their daily experiences of exposure to a variety of risks including going without water, food, sanitation or adequate shelter. This actor-centred approach shifts the focus from illness and disease towards local meanings of health and vulnerability. The book argues that women bear a growing burden in daily health practice because of minimal state services and the failure of many men in their role as breadwinners. However, the author is reflexive about her position as a feminist scholar and resists criticizing men who fail to support their families or imposing her view on women who did not reveal unhappiness with their positions.