Preface

This endeavor, to be consistent in its methodologically relationist aspirations, must necessarily admit that no single author was responsible for its product. Moreover, no network-reflexive (as opposed to self-reflexive) pseudomonograph worth its salt can begin without describing the matrix of relationships within which it is embedded.

Accordingly, the EUGENE T. RICHARDSON (ETR) that bedecks the title page is the mere alphabetical representation of a single node in a vast, interconnected net of support, mentoring, toleration, encouragement, inspiration, and generosity. Other nodes could be labeled ANNA RICHARDSON (любимая) or PAUL FARMER or JAMES HOLLAND JONES or WIILIAM H. DURHAM or DONNALEE RICHARDSON or EUGENE T. RICHARDSON III or EUGENE T. RICHARDSON II or EUGENE T. RICHARDSON I or BRIAN P. RICHARDSON or NICOLE K. RICHARDSON or BEVERLY TERRELL or GREG C. MINDEL or ANDREW R. ZOLOPA or JULIE PARSONNET or MICHELE BARRY or KELLEY M. SKEFF or KIM MNUSKIN or IRINA ABRAMSON or PARTNERS IN HEALTH or @UGHE or SHEILA DAVIS or JOEL MUBILIGI or PETER DROBAC or IMANA or MONICA LEE or MATTHEW HORNING or SEAN COLLINS or TANAYA SHREE or CHRISTINE SAVAGE or ANTHONY OGEDEGBE or OLIVER T. FEIN or EVAN WHITFIELD or KEVIN LOCHNER or CHRISTOPHER HURLEY or IAN CROZIER or DENEB PELLETIER or MAMA LUZ or ADIA BENTON or ANGELA GARCIA or TANYA MARIE LUHRMANN or JOÃO BIEHL or NANCY KASS or CATHERINE PANTER-BRICK or KEARSLEY STEWART or NANCY SCHEPER-HUGHES or J. DANIEL KELLY or CASEY BARBARO or GRANT SISLER or RAJAIE BATNIJI or ROBIN WOOD or LINDA-GAIL BEKKER or CHRIS BEYRER or DANIEL BAUSCH or MOSOKA P. FALLAH or RICHARD HORTON or TRAVIS C. PORCO or DANIEL R. KURITZKES or PAUL E. SAX or SIGAL YAWETZ or JOSEPH RHATIGAN or STEPHEN KAHN or ARTHUR KLEINMAN or ANNE BECKER or MEGAN B. MURRAY or SALMAAN KESHAVJEE or MERCEDES BECERRA or SCOTT PODOLSKY or JOE GONE or DAVID S. JONES or SETH HOLMES or BYRON GOOD or MARY-JO DELVECCHIO GOOD or DIDIER FASSIN or WILLIAM A. DARITY, JR. or KIRSTEN MULLEN or MAXINE BURKETT or SIR HILARY BECKLES or GEORGES NZONGOLA-NTALAJA or LIEPOLLO LEBOHANG PHEKO or SUNNEVA GILMORE or CLARA SANDOVAL or SONJA KLINSKY or SUKHADEO THORAT or AMIT THORAT or MAGDA MATACHE or BETSY MCKAY or ICHIRO KAWACHI or JOIA MUKHERJEE or EMMANUEL AKYEAMPONG or @AFRICAHARVARD or SEIJI YAMADA or JULIE AKE or DAVID BRETT-MAJOR or CARROLLWOOD VILLAGE SWIM TEAM or JIM KELLY or ISHAAN DESAI or RAPHAEL FRANKFURTER or LEE WORDEN or TIM MCGINNIS or AMRAPALI MAITRA or JAKE ROSENBERG or JON SHAFFER or AMIR MOHAREB or SAM VIDAL or VINCENT LIN or CAMERON NUTT or ELSIE KARMBOR-BALLAH or ODELL KUMEH or NTOMBIFUTHI DENNIS or MARISE KEREHI STUART or ALUSINE DUMBUYA or MICHAEL DRASHER or MARTA LADO or YUSUPHA DIBBA or BARTHALOMEW WILSON or JAKE MILLER or JASON SILVERSTEIN or JENNIFER PUCCETTI or KATHERINE KRALIEVITS or LIBBY HIGGS or SHEILA JASANOFF or JEAN COMAROFF or MARTHA LINCOLN or JASON HICKEL or @DUKEDECOLONIZE or SEYE ABIMBOLA or SANJOY BHATTACHARYA or MADHU PAI or MARY BASSETT or JOHN NKENGASONG or SMIT CHITRE or ISADORE NABI or JONATHAN ABRAHAM or JONATHAN MORI or MICHAEL M. J. FISCHER or MOMIN MALIK or MATTHEW BROWNE or ANNE-MARIE BONO or MATTHEW ABBATE or MIT PRESS or GEORGE Q. DALEY or AGNES BINAGWAHO or ABEBE BEKELE or JONATHAN LASCHER or MOHAMED B. BARRIE or KIEREN J. RICHARDSON or BENJAMIN LAY (figure 1).

This node (ETR) shares a network ambition to understand how social, political economic, and cultural factors influence disease distribution, with the twin goals of epistemic reconstitution and improvement of human well-being.

Figure 1

Benjamin Lay: an 18th-century Quaker dwarf polemicist and revolutionary abolitionist. (M. Rediker, “You’ll Never Be as Radical as This 18th-Century Quaker Dwarf,” New York Times, August 12, 2017.)

What then is truth? A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms—in short, a sum of human relations which have been enhanced, transposed, and embellished poetically and rhetorically, and which after long use seem firm, canonical, and obligatory to a people: truths are illusions about which one has forgotten that this is what they are; metaphors which are worn out and without sensuous power; coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins.

—Friedrich Nietzsche, On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense (1873)