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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?

Researchers use this system extensively in order to find correlations between 9/11 and different repercussions as well as to collect and gather data about those who were exposed during 9/11. A unique aspect of this registry is that it contains more participants than any other registry of its kind, making it a great tool for researchers. The public also utilizes this information to study their own forms of various research as well as to gain knowledge on possible afflictions related to the event. The registry also follows up with participants with interviews and matches with other health registries. The website also offers resources to researchers to learn more about the research at hand and where to find other published reports about 9/11.

They do not seem to be very unique in any way, just the fact that they respond quickly, with plenty of resources, and the desire to do good with the resources they have, makes them a good organization. Their nurses and workers are highly trained but also have compassion, so they do not come off as trying to take over, but rather as trying to help the community from the bottom up.

The arguments are supported by many citations of other research and work that has been done on the various topics that are discussed. This involves looking at hard data that has been conclused, as well as qualitative data like risk factors and examples of disasters.

This book and its themes have been referenced in some of the authors other works. Yet based off my research, I was not abel to find it referenced in other papers or books. 

The platform has posts that are tagged with varios topics, and each is under one of the following categories: identifing and diagnosing, mananging the dead, caring for the sick, research/clinical trials, preparedness, comminication and engagement. There are field notes, briefings and guides, and background types of posts. These filters allow someone to quickly search for a topic and a type of post so that they can find what they need and read up on a topic before they may be faced with a similar situation. If you have information you want to post, you can email in and they will post it.

This article finds that the people living in the area of the Chernobyl disaster are still experiencing the aftermath of the situation. Due to the health and financial results of the disaster, they have become dependent on the infrastructures that can help them, such as the healthcare system. This prevents them from making independent decisions, or moving anywhere that would reduce their ability to recieve help.

By the public, it is regarded as a prestigious academic program that enables and creates an environment in which students can become leaders in their respective DRL careers. DRLA is also mentioned in the news alongside headlines including the USAID office of Foreign Disaster Assistance as well as Rwanda assistance and in high regards with the FEMA Chief of staff. It is clear that this program is intermingled with many governmental agencies and is regarded highly by them, as well as the public for its humanitarian efforts and abilities to produce excellent leaders in the DRL fields. It is very clear that this program is highly regarded academically, professionally and socially by the public as well. 

Historical examples of emergency repsonse were given, showing how times have changed. In the theater fire years ago that was described, people sat around waiting for "fire-proof" mechanisms to kick in. This mindset has changed over the years and we have learned our lessons.

Laura Garro is a professor of anthropology at UCLA, so this shows her extensive background in athropology, and indicates that she writes this article with that sort of background, rather than a medical one.