01787nas a2200265   4500000000100000008004100001260002000042653002100062653001100083653002500094653001100119653002100130653001800151653002400169100000600193700002700199700001500226700000600241700001400247700000600261245007800267856012800345300000800473520104000481       2025                            d  bOASK Publishers10aHansen's disease10aStigma10aMedical anthropology10aBrazil10aSocial suffering10aPhenomenology10aColonial Hauntology1 a 1 aBeldi de Alcantara MDL1 aCorbett CE1 a 1 aXavier MB1 a 00aHaunted by Stigma: Living with Hansen’s Disease in the Brazilian Amazon  uhttps://app.oaskpublishers.com/assets/article-pdf/haunted-by-stigma-living-with-hansens-disease-in-the-brazilian-amazon.pdf  a1-83 a<jats:p>Hansen’s disease (HD), historically labeled “leprosy,” persists as a public-health and social-justice concern despite the availability of curative multidrug
therapy (MDT). Drawing on 55 semi-structured interviews and extensive participant observation in Vila Santo Antônio do Prata, Pará (2017-2023), this
article interrogates how stigma continues to shape the biographies, spatial practices, and mental well-being of individuals who have experienced HD.
Anchored in medical anthropology, critical phenomenology, and social-suffering frameworks, the analysis reveals three interlocking domains of harm:
(1) ontological insecurity generated by enduring the label of “cursed”; (2) social death mediated through forced spatial marginalization; and (3) embodied
hauntologies that reproduce colonial and religious imaginaries. The findings underscore the necessity of integrated interventions that combine biomedical
cure with culturally grounded psychosocial support and community-level stigma reduction.</jats:p>