Biological citizenship: The science and politics of Chernobyl-exposed populations

En la transición del socialismo al capitalismo de mercado, los cuerpos, las poblaciones y las categorías de ciudadanía han sido reordenados. La gestión racional y técnica de los grupos afectados por el desastre de Chernóbil en Ucrania es una ventana a este controvertido proceso. Chernóbil ejemplifica un momento en el que el conocimiento científico se colapsó y emergieron nuevos mapas y categorías. Los modelos antiguos de bienestar dependen de definiciones precisas que sitúan a los ciudadanos y sus atributos en un embrollo cruzado de categorías conocidas en las que se basan las reclamaciones de derechos. En ello se observa cómo las ambigüedades relacionadas con la categorización del sufrimiento crearon un campo político en el que un estado, formas de ciudadanía y economías informales fueron reconstruidosIn the transition out of socialism to market capitalism, bodies, populations, and categories of citizenship have been reordered. The rational-technical management of groups affected by the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine is a window into this contested process. Chernobyl exemplifies a moment when scientific knowability collapsed and new maps and categories of entitlement emerged. Older models of welfare rely on precise definitions situating citizens and their attributes on a cross-mesh of known categories upon which claims rights are based. Here one observes how ambiguities related to categorizing suffering created a political field in which a state, forms of citizenship, and informal economies were remad

Biological Citizenship: The Science and Politics of Chernobyl-Exposed Populations

In the transition out of socialism to market capitalism, bodies, populations, and categories of citizenship have been reordered. The rational-technical management of groups affected by the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine is a window into this contested process. Chernobyl exemplifies a moment when scientific knowability collapsed and new maps and categories of entitlement emerged. Older models of welfare rely on precise definitions situating citizens and their attributes on a cross-mesh of known categories upon which claims rights are based. Here one observes how ambiguities related to categorizing suffering created a political field in which a state, forms of citizenship, and informal economies were remade

Ciudadanía biológica: la ciencia y la política de las poblaciones expuestas a Chernóbil

En la transición del socialismo al capitalismo de mercado, los cuerpos, las poblaciones y las categorías de ciudadanía han sido reordenados. La gestión racional y técnica de los grupos afectados por el desastre de Chernóbil en Ucrania es una ventana a este controvertido proceso. Chernóbil ejemplifica un momento en el que el conocimiento científico se colapsó y emergieron nuevos mapas y categorías. Los modelos antiguos de bienestar dependen de definiciones precisas que sitúan a los ciudadanos y sus atributos en un embrollo cruzado de categorías conocidas en las que se basan las reclamaciones de derechos. En ello se observa cómo las ambigüedades relacionadas con la categorización del sufrimiento crearon un campo político en el que un estado, formas de ciudadanía y economías informales fueron reconstruidos

Peopling Global Health

The field of Global Health brings together a vastly diverse array of actors working to address pressing health issues worldwide with unprecedented financial and technological resources and informed by various agendas. While Global Health initiatives are booming and displacing earlier framings of the field (such as tropical medicine or international health), critical analyses of the social, political, and economic processes associated with this expanding field — an “open source anarchy” on the ground — are still few and far between. In this essay, we contend that, among the powerful players of Global Health, the supposed beneficiaries of interventions are generally lost from view and appear as having little to say or nothing to contribute. We make the case for a more comprehensive and people-centered approach and demonstrate the crucial role of ethnography as an empirical lantern in Global Health. By shifting the emphasis from diseases to people and environments, and from trickle-down access to equality, we have the opportunity to set a humane agenda that both realistically confronts challenges and expands our vision of the future of global communities

A Saúde Global centrada nas pessoas

The field of Global Health brings together a vastly diverse array of actors working to address pressing health issues worldwide with unprecedented financial and technological resources and informed by various agendas. While Global Health initiatives are booming and displacing earlier framings of the field (such as tropical medicine or international health), critical analyses of the social, political, and economic processes associated with this expanding field — an “open source anarchy” on the ground — are still few and far between. In this essay, we contend that, among the powerful players of Global Health, the supposed beneficiaries of interventions are generally lost from view and appear as having little to say or nothing to contribute. We make the case for a more comprehensive and people-centered approach and demonstrate the crucial role of ethnography as an empirical lantern in Global Health. By shifting the emphasis from diseases to people and environments, and from trickle-down access to equality, we have the opportunity to set a humane agenda that both realistically confronts challenges and expands our vision of the future of global communities.O campo da saúde global articula um diversificado leque de atores que trabalham para resolver problemas prementes de saúde em todo o mundo, com recursos financeiros e tecnológicos sem precedentes e munidos de agendas das mais variadas. Apesar das iniciativas em saúde global estarem crescendo de forma expressiva e deslocando enquadramentos anteriores do campo (como a medicina tropical ou saúde internacional), as análises críticas dos processos sociais, políticos e econômicos associados a essa expansão ainda são escassas. Neste artigo sustentamos, a partir de uma perspectiva que leva em conta os sujeitos, que o campo da saúde global é uma “anarquia de código aberto”. Em geral, perdem-se de vista os supostos beneficiários das intervenções, que aparecem como tendo pouco a dizer e nada a contribuir. Argumentamos por uma abordagem mais abrangente e centrada nas pessoas, demonstrando o papel crucial da etnografia como lanterna empírica na saúde global. Ao mudar a ênfase das doenças às pessoas e seus contextos e do acesso de cima para baixo para a equidade, temos a oportunidade de definir uma agenda humana que simultaneamente confronta realisticamente os desafios que enfrentamos e expande nossa visão sobre o futuro das comunidades globais

Experimentalidade: ciência, capital e poder no mundo dos ensaios clínicos

A terceirização e expatriação de ensaios clínicos abriram um campo de atividade experimental sem precedentes. Este ensaio discute os mecanismos científicos e regulatórios através dos quais um campo global de experimentalidade se configura. Ele mapeia a indústria de ensaios clínicos e seu deslocamento para países de média e baixa renda (especialmente o Leste Europeu e o Brasil). Enquanto o empreendimento de ensaios clínicos se adapta a normas regulatórias nacionais e internacionais, o reconhecimento de riscos prejudiciais a pacientes e populações é frequentemente adiado ou evitado. Este texto explora as brechas legais em relação a como os benefícios e riscos desse empreendimento são calculados, bem como as práticas emergentes de responsabilidade.The outsourcing and offshoring of clinical trials have sparked an unprecedented field of experimental activity. This essay addresses the scientific and regulatory mechanisms by which a global field of experimentality takes form. It charts a clinical trials industry and its move to low- and middle-income countries (particularly in Eastern Europe and Brazil). As the clinical trials enterprise adapts itself to international and national regulatory norms, the acknowledgement of adverse risks to patients and populations is often deferred or engineered out. The essay explores policy gaps with respect to how benefits and liabilities of this enterprise are weighed as well as emergent practices of accountability