Managerial relations in Kenyan health care: Empathy and the limits of governmentality

Brown, Hannah

doi:10.1111/1467-9655.12448

Managerial relations in Kenyan health care: Empathy and the limits of governmentality

Brown, Hannah

Authors

Professor Hannah Brown hannah.brown@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

This article describes relationships between a team of mid-level government health managers working in a rural Kenyan district and those whom they managed: health workers based at rural health facilities. In this context, managerial expertise was heavily informed by personal biography and a moral obligation to empathize with the difficult working conditions and familial responsibilities of junior staff. Management should be studied seriously in anthropology, as a powerful social and bureaucratic form. This focus must extend beyond a concern with tactics and technologies of governance to consider how modalities of managerial expertise are also shaped by biography, intersubjectivity, and professional identity.

Citation

Brown, H. (2016). Managerial relations in Kenyan health care: Empathy and the limits of governmentality. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 22(3), 591-609. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12448

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 13, 2016
Online Publication Date	Jul 25, 2016
Publication Date	Sep 1, 2016
Deposit Date	May 16, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Jul 25, 2018
Journal	Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Print ISSN	1359-0987
Electronic ISSN	1467-9655
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	22
Issue	3
Pages	591-609
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12448

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Brown, H. (2016), Managerial relations in Kenyan health care: empathy and the limits of governmentality. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 22(3): 591-609, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12448. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.