Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Science and Politics of Obesity in India

博士论文改进补助金：印度肥胖的科学与政治

• 批准号: 0818667
• 负责人: Catherine Lutz
• 金额: $ 0.97万
• 依托单位: Brown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-09-01 至 2009-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0818667&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Science

Graduate student Solomon Harris, under the direction of Dr. Catherine A. Lutz, will undertake research on the social contexts, causes, and consequences of a reported epidemic of obesity developing in India. The primary objective is to better understand how concerns about epidemics relate both to science and to broad social transformations, particularly when the disease in question is chronic and is framed as a matter of "lifestyle." The research will be carried out in Mumbai. The researcher will use ethnographic methods of participant observation, interviews, and critical discourse analysis to delineate the range of issues surrounding obesity and its health consequences. These debates range from concerns about middle-class overconsumption to theories of South Asian genetic predispositions to weight gain. In doing so, the research also will seek out broader social themes that may underlie these debates, such as: how those who are overfed gain visibility over those who are undernourished; how medical ideas about "lifestyle" shade those concerned with hygiene; and how anxieties about scarcity give way to those about excess. Ultimately, the project will create a social map of a national public health dilemma.The research is important because obesity is a spreading world public health problem. This project will contribute to understanding how sociocultural dimensions interact with medical ones. The research also supports the education of a social scientist.

研究生所罗门·哈里斯将在凯瑟琳·A·卢茨博士的指导下，对印度肥胖流行的社会背景、原因和后果进行研究。主要目标是更好地理解对流行病的担忧与科学和广泛的社会变革之间的关系，特别是当所讨论的疾病是慢性疾病并被框定为“生活方式”的问题时。这项研究将在孟买进行。研究人员将使用参与观察、访谈和批判性话语分析的民族志方法来描绘围绕肥胖及其健康后果的一系列问题。这些争论的范围从对中产阶级过度消费的担忧，到南亚人的遗传倾向和体重增加的理论。通过这样做，这项研究还将寻找可能支撑这些辩论的更广泛的社会主题，例如：那些吃得过饱的人如何获得对营养不良者的关注；关于“生活方式”的医学观念如何笼罩着那些关注卫生的人；对短缺的焦虑如何让位于那些对过剩的担忧。最终，该项目将创建一张国家公共卫生困境的社会地图。这项研究很重要，因为肥胖是一个正在蔓延的全球公共卫生问题。这个项目将有助于理解社会文化维度如何与医学维度相互作用。这项研究还支持社会科学家的教育。