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Wings of Gauze Women of Color and the Experience of Health and Illness Edited by Barbara Bair and Susan E. Cayleff

Wings of Gauze is a mulitdisciplinary anthology of original essays written about the experiences of women of color in the United States—African American, Hispanic American, Native American, and Southeast Asian American. Testimony to the many layers of experience by women of color concerning health and illness, the essays broaden our understanding of the connections that exist between those experiences and the health issues and cultural standpoints that frame them. Literature by health professionals about people of color has focused upon illness and perceived deviance from white-defined norms rather than upon the political economy of health and alternative concepts of well-being. It also has focused on men rather than women, and on African Americans to the exclusion of other peoples of color. This collection—the first of its kind—is a shift away from this standard paradigm and instead makes women of color and their perceptions the central reality.

"Finally, a book in which the lifeworld of women of color emerges to challenge the narrow medical discourse on health. This is a finely nuanced collection that should be read by anyone who wants to understand the meansing so health and illness in American communities." —Susan M. Reberby, Wellesley College

$24.95s paper / ISBN 0-8143-2302-2 394 pages 1993