Toxic Exposures: Resisting the Racialization of Latinidad in Precision Environmental Health Science

• In Event: Disrupting Racial Formations in Science and Technology (Co-sponsored by Race and Ethnic Minorities Section)

Abstract

In this paper, I track the technical and philosophical commitments of "Precision Environmental Health" scientists who are committed to understanding the environmental drivers of type 2 diabetes in Latino populations. Through in-depth interviews, as well as close analysis of their research outputs (including research proposals, conference presentations, and publications to date), I examine how they are actively resisting older tropes of biological determination that social scientists previously detected in genomic research on the etiology of type 2 diabetes, as well as the challenges they face in doing so. In querying what ontology of Latinidad emerges in Precision Environmental Health Science for type 2 diabetes prevention, I also engage with previous STS literature on epigenomics and race to consider how this new science of environmental exposure and complex disease expands definitions of the “environment” itself.

Author

• Emily Vasquez, Wesleyan University