Bad Biocitizens?: Latinos and the US "Obesity Epidemic"

Abstract

Abstract:For 15 years now the U.S. has been facing an "obesity epidemic" that, according to the dominant narrative, is harming the nation by worsening the health burden, raising health costs, and undermining productivity. Much of the responsibility is laid at the foot of blacks and Latinos, who have higher levels of obesity. Latinos have provoked particular concern because of their rising numbers. Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Campaign is now targeting Latinos. Like the national anti-obesity campaign, it locates the problem in ignorance and calls on the Latino community to "own" the issue and take personal responsibility for embracing healthier beliefs and behaviors. In this article we argue that this dominant approach to Latino obesity is misguided and even damaging because it ignores both the politicaleconomic sources of minority obesity and the political-moral dynamics of biocitizenship in which the obesity issue is playing out. Drawing on two sets of ethnographic data on Latino immigrants and U.S.-born Latinos in southern California, we show that Latinos already "own" the obesity issue; far from ignorant, as members of a biocitizen society they are fully aware of the importance of a healthy diet, exercise, and normal weight. What prevents them from becoming proper thin, fit biocitizens is structural barriers associated with migration and assimilation into the low-wage sector of the American economy. Failure to create the normative body has led them to internalize the identity of bad citizens, assume personal responsibility for their failure, naturalize the conditions for this failure, and feel that they deserve this fate. We argue that the blaming of minorities for the obesity epidemic constitutes a form of symbolic violence that furthers what Berlant calls the "slow death" of structurally vulnerable populations, even as it deepens their health risks by failing to address the fundamental sources of their higher weights. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:The authors would like to thank UC MEXUS for providing a dissertation research grant to conduct Carney's fieldwork, the participants in both projects, and the Comparative Border Studies Institute at Arizona State University for supporting Carney during the write-up of this article. We are also indebted to the two anonymous reviewers for offering additional valuable insights during the development of this article.

Bodies as evidence: Mapping new terrain for teen pregnancy and parenting

“…The topic of teen pregnancy commonly positions young parents as either redeemable good mothers or irresponsible, bad biocitizens (Greenhalgh & Carney, 2014), without considering whole lives and lived experiences (Barcelos & Gubrium, 2014). The value of a participatory methodology such as body mapping is that rather than being an object to be analysed and mined for data, the research participant becomes a co-creator of knowledge and information.…”

“…decreased numbers of teen pregnancies, babies born to teen mothers, and state dollars spent to support their families), bodies of evidence inform a 'teen pregnancy industrial complex' (Chris Barcelos, 2014, personal communication), rather than supporting human dignity through meaningful engagement. Dominant notions of biocitizenship are hence constituted through a moral economy in which 'to be deemed a worthy, responsible American, each of us must become a virtuous biocitizen' (Greenhalgh & Carney, 2014). In the context of youth sexuality, a good biocitizen will graduate from high school, attend a college or university, earn a good wage and benefits, get married, and then have a child or children.…”

Risk Factors for Overweight and Obesity among Mexican Children in New York

“…Respondents in this study are fully conscious of the current epidemic of overweight and obesity and the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and exercising [16]. This suggests the need to remove the stereotype that migrants, and Mexican migrants in particular, are irresponsible and, as such, are a burden to the social service and health sectors.…”

“…Demographic data predicts rapid growth of the Latino population in the United States; by 2060, one-third of US citizens will be of Hispanic origin, up from just a sixth of the population in 2012 [15]. There is no doubt that increases in Latino obesity rates over time will call for increases in public health expenditures for this growing social problem [16].…”

Moral Biocitizenship: Discursively Managing Food and the Body after Bariatric Surgery

“…They do this implicitly but agentively, by focusing on the importance of taking in protein and water, and avoiding simple carbohydrates and carbonated beverages. A biocitzen is one who takes “personal responsibility for the physical care of oneself” (Halse , 51) including attention to diet and exercise to achieve and maintain “normal” body‐weight (e.g., Greenhalgh and Carney ; Rose and Novas ). By narrating their precise eating habits, the men effectively create themselves as members of a community of moral biocitzens.…”