Weigel Jonathan - To repair the world: Paul Farmer speaks to the next generation

Paul Farmers deserved fame as global health expert, medical anthropologist, and advocate for the poor and the marginal centers on his moral commitment to doing good in the world and on the extraordinary influence of his personal call to a generation of young men and women to make the same remarkable commitment. Here are the words, the stories, the passion, the humor, the humanityvulnerable and powerfulthat constitute Pauls magic. Here is Paul at those special moments when we want and need a moral exemplar, calling us to do what good we can for those who have nothing, who are broken, who are left behind, who are sick and disabled, who need to be accompanied, and whose betterment betters us. Against the selfishness of the market model and the deadening cynicism of the media, here is straight talk about why, as the song goes, youve got to serve somebody, why caregiving and doing good really do matter to the world and to each of us.

Arthur Kleinman , Esther and Sidney Rabb
Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University

Paul Farmer has a knack for persuading an audience to participate in his lectures, whether aloud or in silence. In other words, he never bores his audience. The liveliness of his talks comes in part from his delivery, but also from the qualities of the lectures themselves: the freshness of their ideas, their wit, and their passion. And these, thankfully, are qualities which this collection preserves.

Tracy Kidder , Pulitzer Prizewinning author
of The Soul of a New Machine , Among Schoolchildren ,
Mountains Beyond Mountains , and other titles.

Paul Farmer is the most compelling voice for justice in a generation. In this volume are the stories and insights that have helped thousands of students imagineand fight fora better world. Read this to be inspired. Read this to learn. Most importantly, when youre done, give this book to a friend and join the movement for health equity.

Jonny Dorsey , cofounder of FACE AIDS
and Global Health Corps

This collection of speeches brings us close to Paul Farmer in a way that scholarly publications cant. In these pages, I hear Pauls voice clearly: his tenderness, his anger, his passion for justice, the incendiary sense of humor that has regularly doubled me over with laughter for twenty-five yearsand often made me worry for Pauls safety, as he aimed his barbs at the uncaring power holders of this world. Paul speaks directly to young people grappling with big decisions: about the values they will live by, the work they will choose, where their responsibility for other people begins and ends. But these questions concern all of us. And, for anyone struggling with these issues, I cant imagine a more challenging yet inspiring guide than Paul Farmer.

Jim Yong Kim , President of the World Bank Group, former President of Dartmouth College, cofounder of Partners In Health.

The fingerprints of Dr. Paul Farmer are everywhere in the world. I have seen them firsthand in Haiti, Rwanda, and right here in the United States. Whenever there is a need, Paul is the first guy out the door. After all, curing or repairing the world is ambitious and tough work, but one cant help feeling more optimistic about our fate knowing Dr. Farmer is on the job. In his new book, you get more of an insight into this modern life herowhat makes him tick, his frailties, and what he worries about at night, long after most of the world is asleep. We also learn what inspires him, and the answer may surprise you.

Paul is my friend, and I have long wondered about the answers to some of these questions, yet never had the opportunity to ask. I also know that Paul will be mad at me for calling him a hero. His humility is legendary and one hundred percent genuine. Medical students all over the world have told me they entered our shared profession because of Dr. Paul Farmer. Now, it is time for the rest of the planet to be inspired, and in these pages they learn what it takes To Repair the World.

Sanjay Gupta , Chief Medical Correspondent
at CNN and Professor of Neurosurgery at
Emory University School of Medicine

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support
of the Anne G. Lipow Endowment Fund for Social Justice and
Human Rights of the University of California Press Foundation,
which was established by Stephen M. Silberstein

To Repair the World

Paul Farmer
Speaks to the Next Generation

Edited by Jonathan Weigel

With a foreword by President Bill Clinton

University of California Press

BerkeleyLos AngelesLondon

University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

University of California Press

Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

University of California Press, Ltd.

London, England

2013 by The Regents of the University of California

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Farmer, Paul, 1959

[Speeches. Selections]

To repair the world : Paul Farmer speaks to the next generation / edited by

Jonathan Weigel ; foreword by President Bill Clinton.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-520-27597-3 (original hardback)

ISBN 978-0-520-95543-1 (ePub edition)

1. Public healthSocial aspects. 2. Public welfare. 3. Public health administration. 4. Public healthCitizen participation. 5. Public healthAddresses I. Weigel, Jonathan, 1986 II. Title.

RA418.F36 2013

362.1dc232013002004

Manufactured in the United States

21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Natures Natural, a fiber that contains 30% post-consumer waste and meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z 39.48 1992 ( r 1997) ( Permanence of Paper ).

To Jennie Block, with deep gratitude
for her accompaniment over the years

P.F.

CALIFORNIA SERIES IN PUBLIC ANTHROPOLOGY

The California Series in Public Anthropology emphasizes the anthropologists role as an engaged intellectual. It continues anthropologys commitment to being an ethnographic witness, to describing, in human terms, how life is lived beyond the borders of many readers experiences. But it also adds a commitment, through ethnography, to reframing the terms of public debatetransforming received, accepted understandings of social issues with new insights, new framings.

Series Editor: Robert Borofsky (Hawaii Pacific University)

Contributing Editors: Philippe Bourgois (University of Pennsylvania), Paul Farmer (Partners In Health), Alex Hinton (Rutgers University), Carolyn Nordstrom (University of Notre Dame), and Nancy Scheper-Hughes (UC Berkeley)

University of California Press Editor: Naomi Schneider

Volume 29. To Repair the World: Paul Farmer Speaks to the Next Generation

Contents

Part I
Reimagining Equity

General Anesthesia for the (Young Doctors) Soul?
Brown Medical School, Commencement 2001

Epiphany, Metanoia, Praxis: Turning Road Angst into Hopeand Action