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Luísa Reis-Castro: mosquitoes, race, and class

LuisaReisCastro

As a researcher, I’m interested in the political, ecological, and cultural debates around mosquito-borne diseases and the solutions proposed to mitigate them.

When we received the task, my first impulse was to investigate about the contemporary effects of anthropogenic climate change in mosquito-borne diseases in New Orleans. But I was afraid to make the same mistake that I did in my PhD research. I wrote my PhD proposal while based in the US, more specifically in New England, during the Zika epidemic, and proposed to understand how scientists were studying ecological climate change and mosquitoes in Brazil. However, once I arrived in the country the political climate was a much more pressing issue, with the dismantling of health and scientific institutions.

Thus, after our meeting yesterday, and Jason Ludwig’s reminder that the theme of our Field Campus is the plantation, I decided to focus on how it related to mosquitoes in New Orleans.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito and the yellow fever virus it can transmit are imbricated in the violent histories of settler-colonialism and slavery that define the plantation economy. The mosquito and the virus arrived in the Americas in the same ships that brought enslaved peoples from Africa. The city of New Orleans had its first yellow fever epidemic in 1796, with frequent epidemics happening between 1817 and 1905. What caused New Orleans to be the “City of the Dead,” as Kristin Gupta has indicated, was yellow fever. However, as historian Urmi Engineer Willoughby points out, the slave trade cannot explain alone the spread and persistance of the disease in the region: "Alterations to the landscape, combined with demographic changes resulting from the rise of sugar production, slavery, and urban growth all contributed to the region’s development as a yellow fever zone." For example, sugar cultivation created ideal conditions for mosquito proliferation because of the extensive landscape alteration and ecological instabilities, including heavy deforestation and the construction of drainage ditches and canals.

Historian Kathryn Olivarius examines how for whites "acclimatization" to the disease played a role in hierarchies with “acclimated” (immune) people at the top and a great mass of “unacclimated” (non-immune) people and how for black enslaved people "who were embodied capital, immunity enhanced the value and safety of that capital for their white owners, strengthening the set of racialized assumptions about the black body bolstering racial slavery."

As I continue to think through these topics, I wonder how both the historical materialities of the plantation and the contemporary anthropogenic changes might be influencing mosquito-borne diseases in New Orleans nowadays? And more, how the regions’ histories of race and class might still be shaping the effects of these diseases and how debates about them are framed?

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tamar.rogoszinski
  1. The Burning of the Capitol Building in 1814 is discussed. Knowles talks about how the burning was investigated by one of the key engineers of the building, Latrobe. He was allowed to investigate without any issues and was ultimately allowed to rebuild. Most Americans, however, viewed the burning as a failure of the military, not the engineer. 
  2. The Hague Street Explosion of 1850, which was caused by an exploding boiler and resulted in mass casualties. Investigation and determination of responsibility was carried out by the Coroner's office and police. Media and news reporters also assisted in providing information to the public and attributed the explosion to an overheated boiler, as opposed to an engineering flaw. Jurors listened to expert witnesses in order to determine where the blame could be placed, which ultimately led to the disaster being blamed on all involved in the boiler and factory. 
  3. The Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago that happened in 1903 provides information regarding disaster investigation as well. The fire curtains, shields, and other technology meant to protect the theater from the spread of a fire did not work. Building inspectors came into the city after the disaster to investigate along with architects and other commissioners. It was found that the theater (along with many others in the city) had many building code violations, which called into question the integrity of the entire building code system in Chicago. One of the nation's foremost authorities on fireproof construction, Ripley Freeman, conducted an extensive investigation with financial support from an elite man in Chicago. This marked a new era in history of disaster investigation in the US. 

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a_chen

The convention can be applying to a State that is possibly involving in nuclear activities or might  have any nuclear effects to the surroundings. Or the state that can notify the accidents that in  the other states.   Due to 22 September 2014, there are 119 parties (states) subject to entry into force with 69  states signed the convention (Convention – Latest Status). 

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tamar.rogoszinski

The Compassion Protocol discusses current French laws and how they affect immigration and healthcare. In France, immigrants in need of healthcare that are unable to receive that healthcare in their native country would be given temporary residence permits and access to healthcare. The social factors, public health concerns, and human rights implications are discussed as well.  

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a_chen
Annotation of

The translation for the system is managed by Transifex (not Ushahidi owned) with monthly plans for localised translation. In the case that the user not comfortable with English might be an issue to work with the system. Especially the reporters from the hard-reach areas with fewer educations. (They might deal with the problem of using technologies.)   

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tamar.rogoszinski

The authors all work at University of California San Francisco. Their names are Vicanne Adams, Taslim Van Hattum, and Diana English. Adams works at USCF and was the former director and vice-chair in the department of anthropology, history, and social medicine. She focuses her research in Global Health, Asian Medical Systems, Social Theory, Critical Medical Anthropology, Sexuality and Gender, Safe Motherhood, Disaster Recovery, Tibet, Nepal, China and the US. She has been involved in various publications and has received numerous grants from the NIH. Van Hattum and English are also within the department for Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine. 

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tamar.rogoszinski

This article investigates the current state of disaster mental health research. They look at the presentation, burden, correlates, and treatment of mental disorders following disasters and look at the challenges surrounding those aspects of research. 

The article discusses major psychopathology that is found in populations affected by disasters. They investigate disorders such as PTSD and MDD and pre-disaster risk factors associated with them. They discuss vulnerable groups, such as women and children. They also look at during and post-disaster factors and how they correlate to an increase in mental health disorders. 

This report then discusses current interventions utilized and their effects on the prevalence of mental health issues. An issue they address is that many victims or those suffering do not seek help, making accurate research difficult.

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a_chen

Funded by Federal Government. e.g.

“ETA (Employment and Training Administration) invested approximately $13 million to turn Job Corps into a program where students gain industry-recognized credentials to meet the demands of the 21st century employer.” (Educational Program) [https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/agencies/osec/stratpl…]

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tamar.rogoszinski

On the iTunes App Store, there is another app called Medical Management of Radiological Casualties that appears to be similar, but costs $7.99 to download, while REMM's app is free. This app appears to serve a similar function with providing support for healthcare providers, but also includes psychological support information, which REMM does not provide. This app also appears geared toward EMS responders, while the other is primarily made for physicians.