ISBN:
9781785336591
Language:
English
Pages:
1 Online-Ressource (xiv, 266 Seiten)
Edition:
Open Access ebook edition
Abstract:
"From September 1990 to June 1991, the UK deployed 53,462 military personnel in the Gulf War. After the end of the conflict anecdotal reports of various disorders affecting troops who fought in the Gulf began to surface. This mysterious illness was given the name "Gulf War Syndrome" (GWS). This book is an investigation into this recently emergent illness, particularly relevant given ongoing UK deployments to Iraq, describing how the illness became a potent symbol for a plethora of issues, anxieties, and concerns. At present, the debate about GWS is polarized along two lines: there are those who think it is a unique, organic condition caused by Gulf War toxins and those who argue that it is probably a psychological condition that can be seen as part of a larger group of illnesses. Using the methods and perspective of anthropology, with its focus on nuances and subtleties, the author provides a new approach to understanding GWS, one that makes sense of the cultural circumstances, specific and general, which gave rise to the illness
Abstract:
Title page-Impotent warriors -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Part I-GWS Explanatory Models -- CH 1-'Desert rats, not lab rats' -- CH 2-Chains of causation, chains of knowledge -- Part II-Bodies and Boundaries -- CH 3-Leaky bodies -- CH 4-'We are the enemy' -- Part III-Gulf War Syndrome as Unique Illness -- CH 5-Veteran's associations -- CH 6-The disappearing man: narratives of lost masculinity -- CH 7-Impotent warriors: the context of narratives of lost masculinity -- CH 8-GWS and World Trade Centre syndrome -- Appendix I -- Appendix II -- Appendix III -- Bibliography -- Index
URL:
View this content on Open Research Library
