Dr. Heller’s proposal Making Toxic Bodies Legible: Lead Contamination in Sub-Saharan Africa has been selected for an award in the Tier 1 Winter 2018 Competition by the Division of Research at University of Maryland. Congratulations, Dr. Heller!

“Making Toxic Bodies Legible: Lead Contamination in Sub-Saharan Africa
Alison Heller, BSOS/Anthropology

This mixed-methods anthropological research explores lead (Pb) contamination as embedded within historical and neoliberal systems of oppression among pregnant women and their children in Accra, Ghana; Kabwe, Zambia; and Baltimore, MD. This proposal is a pivot from my previous research and would enable timely and theoretically robust work at the nexus of medical and environmental anthropology in three new field sites. By following lead transnationally as an ethnographic object, this project explores links between lead and luxury, colonization and cognition, and contamination and consensus. With the support of this seed grant, I will establish research sites, solidify local partnerships, and conduct pilot studies during the summers and winters of 2018/2019 in order to prepare a competitive application for the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program.”

Visit the Division of Research’s website for more information about the competition: https://research.umd.edu/faculty-incentive/2018#heller