Disease and the modern self: becoming autoimmune. This will be the first historical analysis of concepts of autoimmunity. A conceptual history of a disease category, the book will also incorporate patient experience, scientific ideas about the immunological 'self', and an examination of the connections and articulations of research laboratories and hospital clinics in the twentieth century.
The Cold War Obesity Crisis: Fatness, Public Health, and Medical Science in the United States, 1940-1970. In 1951 the US Public Health Service declared obesity, newly reinterpreted as an addictive disorder, to be the nation’s leading health problem. This project will be the first to study the course of this early obesity crisis, analysing the interaction between popular perception, biomedical science and health policy, all in the political and cultural context of postwar America. Research will e ....The Cold War Obesity Crisis: Fatness, Public Health, and Medical Science in the United States, 1940-1970. In 1951 the US Public Health Service declared obesity, newly reinterpreted as an addictive disorder, to be the nation’s leading health problem. This project will be the first to study the course of this early obesity crisis, analysing the interaction between popular perception, biomedical science and health policy, all in the political and cultural context of postwar America. Research will especially focus on the competing efforts of several biomedical disciplines and their scientific leaders to define the problem and shape responses to it. The goal is to understand the ways science and medicine related to social forces in the episode, and to derive lessons for today’s global obesity crisis.Read moreRead less
Tuberculosis in Southern Africa: the history of a pandemic. South Africa and the states which supply workers to the gold mines of Johannesburg today have the highest rates of pulmonary tuberculosis in the world. This project will explore the role of the gold mines in creating a pandemic of a disease which was not so long ago considered to be in permanent retreat.
Climate change and the history of environmental determinism. In previous centuries, most scientists presumed that environment and climate determined human health, capacities and difference. By tracing this longstanding idea through the twentieth century, this project will identify implications for current climate science.
A methodological analysis of the application of evolutionary medicine to non-communicable diseases. This project draws on recent work in philosophy of science to understand how evolutionary thinking can inform medical research. It will analyse how evolutionary thinking contributed to recent advances in understanding diseases such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and facilitate extending this approach to new areas of health and disease.
Culture-bound syndromes, koro, and the emergence of 'cosmopolitan' psychiatry. This historical study examines the concepts of ethnicity used by psychiatrists by focusing on the ways in which one culture-bound syndrome, koro, moved from being exclusively South-East Asian to being found in a number of cultures. It will develop significant understandings of psychiatric conceptions of cultural difference.
Occupational health and social justice in South Africa. This project aims to study South African asbestos and gold miners’ political and legal struggles for social justice. It will explain how their class actions for occupational injury against employers have been possible, and explore the wider significance of the legal cases. The research will examine how disabled miners re-captured science from corporate influence and used the law in pursuing their claims. The resultant book and articles are ....Occupational health and social justice in South Africa. This project aims to study South African asbestos and gold miners’ political and legal struggles for social justice. It will explain how their class actions for occupational injury against employers have been possible, and explore the wider significance of the legal cases. The research will examine how disabled miners re-captured science from corporate influence and used the law in pursuing their claims. The resultant book and articles are expected to illuminate aspects of a regional occupational health crisis and provide evidence to improve working conditions and action for legal redress.Read moreRead less
Transitions and translations in scientific practice. This project focuses on how life sciences are developing new research practices and new ways of transferring knowledge across disciplines and into society. These transformations will be investigated through collaborations between biologists and philosophers of science, with the aim of better insight into science and its social implications.