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Healthcare of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front and its Politicization, 1970–1991: Treating the Body Politic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2019

Clarissa Charlotte Hjalmarsson Open the ORCID record for Clarissa Charlotte Hjalmarsson [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract:

This article explores the health service provided by the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) during the Eritrean Liberation War, and its political dimensions and implications. The EPLF used healthcare to define itself politically against its rivals and to penetrate communities. It aimed to incorporate population groups into the struggle, to inculcate EPLF ideology, and to transform the national community. EPLF practitioners were most successful when they cooperated with existing structures of power. The progressive, dynamic, and transformative nature of the healthcare system is inextricable from the coercion sometimes used to achieve the ideals of the EPLF, and the way in which healthcare became an instrument of biopolitical control.

Résumé:

Cet article explore les services de santé fournis par le Front populaire de libération de l’Érythrée (FPLE) pendant la guerre de libération érythréen, ainsi que ses dimensions et ses implications politiques. Le FPLE a utilisé les soins de santé pour se définir politiquement par rapport à ses rivaux et pour pénétrer les communautés. Il visait à intégrer des groupes de population à la lutte, à inculquer l’idéologie FPLE et à transformer la communauté nationale. Les intervenants FLPE ont eu plus de succès lorsqu’ils ont coopéré avec les structures de pouvoir existantes. La nature progressive, dynamique et transformatrice du système de santé se révèle indissociable à la coercition parfois utilisée pour atteindre les idéaux énoncés par le FLPE et à la manière dont la santé est devenue un instrument de contrôle biopolitique.

Resumo:

Este artigo analisa os serviços de saúde providenciados pela Frente de Libertação do Povo Eritreu (sigla inglesa, EPLF) durante a Guerra de Independência da Eritreia, bem como as suas dimensões e consequências políticas. A EPLF utilizou os cuidados de saúde para definir a sua identidade, distinguindo-a dos seus rivais, e para se infiltrar nas comunidades. O seu objetivo era arregimentar alguns setores da população para a luta, disseminar a ideologia da EPLF e transformar a comunidade nacional. Sempre que cooperaram com as estruturas de poder existentes, os médicos da EPLF foram muito bem-sucedidos. A natureza progressista, dinâmica e transformadora do sistema de cuidados de saúde é inextrincável dos métodos coercivos a que por vezes se recorreu para implementar o programa ideológico da EPLF, bem como do modo como os cuidados de saúde se tornaram um instrumento de controlo biopolítico.

Keywords

EritreaEritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF)Eritrean Liberation Warhealthcaremedicinebiopolitics
Type
Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 63 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 146 - 169
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2019 

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