UCSF

In this dissertation, I explore chronic pain experiences among Filipino-American U.S. military veterans. Chronic pain remains the most diagnosed medical condition in the U.S., with veterans experiencing chronic pain at disproportionately higher rates (40%) compared to the civilian general population (25%). Among veterans, chronic pain is a condition overwhelmingly tied to U.S. military service. More conceptually, I explore how histories of colonization and war come to reside and persist in peoples’ bodies as felt pain. I examine these topics as they relate to Filipinos, the multiple colonialisms of the Philippines, and how the afterlife of American colonization and militarization of the Philippines informs health outcomes among Filipino-Americans today.

I used ethnographic methods to carry out this anthropological research. First, I conducted semi-structured interviews with a wide range of stakeholder groups. I also volunteered and conducted in-person participant observation in community-based settings. In addition, I wrote up field notes for interviews and in-person events. Finally, I conducted historical and archival research.

I make a case for how, among socially marginalized people, expressions of pain—bodily, psychic, and emotional—often point to deeper dynamics of ongoing harm, both historically and in the present. Given this, I propose an expanded framework for examining chronic pain as a bio-psycho-social-structural-historical condition, and argue for the importance of attending to the specificities of individual histories in pain care.