TY - JOUR KW - Hansen's disease KW - Stigma KW - Medical anthropology KW - Brazil KW - Social suffering KW - Phenomenology KW - Colonial Hauntology AU - AU - Beldi de Alcantara MDL AU - Corbett CE AU - AU - Xavier MB AU - AB - 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. BT - Journal of Medical and Clinical Nursing Studies DO - 10.61440/jmcns.2025.v3.87 LA - ENG M3 - Article N2 - 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. PB - OASK Publishers PY - 2025 SP - 1 EP - 8 T2 - Journal of Medical and Clinical Nursing Studies TI - Haunted by Stigma: Living with Hansen’s Disease in the Brazilian Amazon UR - https://app.oaskpublishers.com/assets/article-pdf/haunted-by-stigma-living-with-hansens-disease-in-the-brazilian-amazon.pdf ER -