Principal Investigator Amy Moran-Thomas
A book and set of articles develops the concept of “para-communicable” disease, arguing that diabetes is spreading worldwide in ways that do not fit into the bifurcated paradigm of “infectious” versus “non-communicable” conditions as they have historically been defined by biomedicine. The book version additionally focuses on individuals’ sustained stories, giving a window into people’s material experiences living within the global diabetes epidemic as seen from the Central American country of Belize -- including issues of access within local food infrastructures and insulin economies, debates around defining epigenetic exposure, and the uneven presence in homes and clinics of medical technologies such as glucose meters. It examines diabetes’ “problem of maintenance” as an intertwined issue of caring for bodies, technologies, information, infrastructures, and ecosystems.