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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?

Participants complete a 30 minute in person or telephone interview. They offer information about their mental health and physical health (the questions they are asked can be found here: http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/911health/downloads/pdf/wtc/wtc-questionnair….) Information is also gathered about where they were during the attacks, as well as their level of exposure to rubble and smoke etc. After this initial interview, there are waves 2-4 of interviews. These consisted of follow up questions as well as more in depth questions about hospitalization, health conditions, and symptoms. 

The main focus of this article is the unfair treatment and deplorable conditions in which those who are incarcerated at Rikers deal with daily. The article discusses how Rikers is often cast aside, for example the mayor did not develop and evacuation route for Rikers, but the rest of the city got one. There are needs for renovation and money, yet nothing has been done. There have been cases where inmates did not have basic access to medical needs and ended up dying as a truly. There are also cases in which it was documented that inmates developed illnesses while in custody of the jail and medical episodes were triggered by temperature, poor conditions and pollution. This is all discussed and exemplified in the article by way of examples from inmates and what they have dealt with along with documented statistics and facts. 

This article has been referenced in dozens of other papers on the topic of Katrina recovery and the effects the disaster had on its survivors. One of which is cited below: 

Adams, Vincanne et al. “Aging Disaster: Mortality, Vulnerability, and Long-Term Recovery Among Katrina Survivors.” Medical anthropology 30.3 (2011): 247–270. PMC. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.

There are far more articles that have cited this specific work, many of them having to do with Katrina disaster recovery specifically, as well as preventative measures or vulnerabilities that the area had pre hurricane. It is also important to note that the article is also discussed by numerous governmental agencies as well. 

The correlations between mental health disorders and EMS is discussed since those in emergency response are more open to suffer form mental disorders in the midst of disasters. Aside form that the focus was more on how to better study vulnerable populations who have experienced trauma, such as EMS.

This is a 180 page document that has hundreds of components in terms of what information, as well as measures and advice that the report includes and recommends. The report contains information on the radioactive release amounts and deposition in the urban, environmental, agricultural and aquatic areas surrounding the plant. Recommendations for future monitoring and research are also provided. Countermeasures are also widely discussed and ways in which people can combat and help reverse effects of the radiation and evacuations. The effects the disaster had on plants and animals is also analyzed and supported by facts and figures. The amount of human exposure and recommendations are also discussed. Future trends are analyzed as well as very detailed reports of the weather during the time of the incident, how that effected things, how specific types of animals were effected, the differences between external and internal doses.  A break down of the impact on air, shelter, surface water, groundwater etc. is also provided. Needless to say, pretty much any single detail that could possibly be known about the condition during the event and after the event were researched and documented in this report. 

This study was written by Kota Katanoda et al and recently published in 2016. The article is published by JJCO (Japanese journal of Clinical Oncology.) This journal publishes many works involving cancer studies and epidemiological studies analyzing the distribution of cancers. This journal focuses on oncology and the medical aspects of causes and effects based off radiation exposure, surgeries mainly focused on effects seen on Asian countries and citizens. The journal focuses on all types of cancers and publishes meta-analyses, as well as systematic reviews of risks that patients face post or pre surgery in terms of cancer, as well as possible reactions to disasters or radiation exposure. This journal has numerous publications as well as has ties to the Oxford Journals, it is regarded as a dependable and noteworthy journal for clinical oncology by peers. It is edited by Tadao Kakizoe and was established in 1971.

The argument is supported through the use of other work by professionals in this field and on this topic, which corroborate the author's own findings and provide material support for his arguments. Secondly, case studies along with statistics and data are provided along with stories of patients and their experiences in Ankara. Along with interviews and statistics, an in depth background is also provided by the author in which he analyzes the meaning of narrative and explains its connection with culture. 

American Red Cross is comprised of volunteers. According to their website, 90% of all their humanitarian work is done by volunteers. People of all backgrounds and abilities volunteer and respond to emergencies- from ordinary people to veterans to doctors. These volunteers help overseas, locally through blood drives, fundraising and in areas of crisis.