Barrio Professors: Tales of Naturalistic Research

by Lloyd H Rogler

Overview

Prize-winning sociologist Lloyd H. Rogler, a founder of cultural psychiatry, gives us an intimately revealing, brilliantly narrated account of fieldwork from San Juan, Puerto Rico to inner-city New Haven. Using his decades of field experience and creative fiction he explores the daily reality of his "informants"—the Barrio Professors—and uncovers the clash between scientific models and local experience over schizophrenia, the political workings of community, and the power of serendipity. Rogler's multi-layered exploration of the relationship between researcher and community, as well as his candid assessment of field strategies, make the book useful also for methods courses. Barrio Professors is engrossing enough for the general public and an excellent text for courses in ethnic studies, sociology, qualitative methods, psychiatry, public health, anthropology, and social work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598741155
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/15/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	175
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lloyd H. Rogler Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Lloyd H. Rogler began his research career studying how families living in the economically impoverished neighborhoods of San Juan coped with schizophrenia. Since then, his research and theoretical formulations have helped to achieve legitimacy for the field of cultural psychiatry. He started his career in 1957 after receiving a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Iowa, and has had academic appointments at the University of Puerto Rico, Yale University, and Case Western Reserve University. He has also taught at Columbia University and at the New York/Bellevue Center, and has lectured at Harvard and at the Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University. He has served on national and local public service organizations, such as the National Advisory Mental Health Council of the National Institute of Mental Health (1972–76), and in New York City’s Mayor’s Commission on Science and Technology (1984–86). In 1974, he was selected to be Fordham University’s Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities, a Chair founded and endowed by the Regents of the State of New York. After appointment to the same Chair as Professor Emeritus in 2002, he continued a busy schedule of writing, teaching, lecturing, and consulting.Rogler’s work has earned him major awards in each of the disciplines in which he has published—sociology, psychiatry, and psychology. Among his numerous awards are the University of Iowa’s Distinguished Alumni Award given to him in 1981; the John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, conferred upon him in 1990; the American Psychiatric Association’s Simon Bolivar Award in 1996; and the American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology awarded to him in 2002. Columbia University health economists in 2006 designated him a “Superstar” in medical research because of the numerous citations to his publications

Table of Contents

Part 1 San Juan, Puerto Rico 1957–1960; Chapter 1 Don Paco’s Challenge to Experimental Sociology; Chapter 2 Getting Started; Chapter 3 The Schizophrenic Reversal; Chapter 4 Coping with Madness; Chapter 5 Spirits Everywhere; Chapter 6 Spiritualism Earns Academic Credentials; Part 2 New Haven, Connecticut 1960; Chapter 7 Intrigues of the Political Boss; Chapter 8 Charismatic Leadership; Chapter 9 Doña Maria and My Antonio; epilo Epilogue;

Editorial Reviews

“These enchanting tales of colorful and gritty characters in the barrios of Puerto Rico and New Haven are an engrossing read. Lloyd Rogler is a distinguished, prize-winning sociologist, himself half Puerto Rican and half American, whose research has explored the cultural connections and disconnections that mark Anglo-Latin encounters and the strategies through which the poor and the migrant triumph over adversity. Reading the book is like sitting in a bar next to the author, who is saying, ‘This is what it was really like…’” —Gilbert W. Merkx, Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Duke University


“This is essential reading for all students of the social sciences, and for anyone interested in the human condition.” —Kal Wagenheim, journalist and author of The Puerto Ricans, Babe Ruth, and Clemente!


“Rogler’s tales of his early research on Puerto Ricans on the island and the mainland chronicles the development of a distinguished sociologist through a collection of characters, incidents and encounters as vivid and engaging as one would hope to find in a well-crafted novel. Seamlessly combining detailed recollections and imaginative reconstructions of his pioneering work among persons living in poverty, Rogler demonstrates a rare blend of scientific curiosity and humanistic understanding. The tales are wise, entertaining and deeply felt.” —Philip Sicker, Fordham University; Co-editor, Joyce Studies Annual


“An inspiring life journey, described with tender elegance, compassion, humor and wisdom, Barrio Professors is Lloyd Rogler’s compelling message of humanism, culture and science embraced by nostalgia, courage and authenticity. The parade of unforgettable characters and places like San Juan, New Haven and Iowa City are, in this book, memorable stations of an eternal querencia, that of a world we know imperfect, but always dream better.” —Renato D. Alarcon, Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Director, Mood Disorders Unit, Mayo Psychiatry and Psychology Treatment Center


“I have always found Professor Rogler’s work illuminating. This book adds a new dimension to his work and to the research literature. I highly recommend it to everyone who is interest in mental illness, cultural diversity, or social research.” —Michael B. Friedman, Columbia University and Director of the Center for Policy and Advocacy of Mental Health Associations of New York City and Westchester

"Barrio Professors would fit nicely as a supplementary text and springboard to class discussion in both undergraduate and graduate courses. A brisk and engaging read, Barrio Professors gives three-dimensional life to important issues in a nonacademic life to important issues in a nonacademic literary format...the questions with which Rogler wrestled then, and upon which he reflects in this volume, are hardy perennials meriting our continuing consideration. For both seasoned researchers and newcomers to the field, there is much to value and savor here."

- David Glenwick, Fordham University for The Community Psychologist

"Rogler's tales recreate his own querencia: they return to the place that gives him strength, security, to a metaphoric home, to a desired place of reflection. Also, these re-storyed narratives humanize an academic endeavor and provide students, researchers, academics, and the general public with an invaluable gaze into the power of the sociological imagination within an ethnocultural context. But they also provide an opportunity to move fast forward from a critique of positivist social science that traverses through the strengths and limitations of naturalistic research and is re-situated in the confluences of critical theoretical perspectives."  -Iris Zavala Martinez, The City University of New York, Center for Puerto Rican Studies

"Written as a novel, the book is very enjoyable to read, especially for those experienced in ethnographic fieldwork. Rogler shares humorous accounts of gastrointestinal ailments, existential questioning, and social faux pas while conducting fieldwork, allowing for one’s own reminiscence of similar incidents. The book would be a welcome addition to qualitative methodology courses in the social sciences, as it puts a ‘‘human face’’ on what may otherwise seem like rather dry concepts." -Karine Vanthuyne, Transcultural Psychiatry

From the Publisher