Introduction: the powers of association
Healthy sicklers with "mild" disease: local illness affects and population-level effects
The biosocial politics of plants and people
Attitudes of care
Localized biologies: mapping race and sickle cell difference in French West Africa
Ordering illness: heterozygous "trait" suffering in the land of the mild disease
The work of patient advocacy
Conclusion: economic and health futures amid hope and despair.