About:
My research focuses on the (dis)locations of tropicality in relation to the material dimensions of 1) the emerging infectious diseases and 2) the neglected tropical diseases discourses in Global Health. What happens when historically local diseases are framed as essentially foreign threats? How is neglect crafted and what does it do to preserve or challenge ecological and social configurations? I am particularly interested in Chagas disease, a parasitic disease transmitted by an insect vector (triatomine), that has gained its epidemiological relevance in the US through its association with human migration from Latin America despite growing evidence that local transmission cycles have continuously been part of American landscapes. How are these landscapes produced as sites where encounters between species help redraw the boundaries of nation and place?