Main description:

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.

Contents:

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I: GWS EXPLANATORY MODELS

Chapter 1. "Desert Rats, Not Lab Rats"

Introduction

Biomedical Position on GWS

A Veteran's View

Discussion of GWS Causes

Risk

Conclusions

Chapter 2. Chains of Causation, Chains of Knowledge

Introduction

Contested Knowledge

Claims to Truth and Knowledge

Levels of Causation

Meta-narrative

Conclusions

PART II: BODIES AND BOUNDARIES

Chapter 3. Leaky Bodies

Introduction

Body Substances

Body Substances as Commodity

Visibility

Shifting Boundaries

Extended Boundaries

Leaky Bodies

Internal Risks

Conclusions

Chapter 4. "We are the Enemy"

Boundaries and Borders

Theories of Causation and the Immune System

Military Metaphors

Conclusions

PART III GWS AS UNIQUE ILLNESS

Chapter 5. Veterans' Associations

The Construction of GWS Narratives

The Role of Women

"You Aren't Mad - It's Chemical"

Conclusions

Chapter 6. The Disappearing Man: Narratives of Lost Masculinity

Semen

The Soldier's Body: The Embodiment of Masculinity

GWS Bodies: The Disappearance of Masculinity

"Old Women's Diseases"

Women

Conclusions

Chapter 7. Impotent Warriors: The Context of Narratives of Lost Masculinity

Military Masculinity

Masculinity under Threat

Gender Anxiety

Leaving the Military

The Military Context

Conclusions: Embodying Male Lack

Conclusion: GWS and World Trade Centre Syndrome

GWS: An Illness of Our Time?

Risk and Vulnerability

The medicalisation of Life

The Approach of Anthropology

Ethical Issues and Dilemmas

Conclusions

Appendices

Bibliography

Index