Political Ecologies of Global Health: Pesticide Exposure in Southwestern Ecuador's Banana Industry |
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| Authors: | Ben Wesley Brisbois Leila Harris Jerry M Spiegel |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada;2. Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada;3. Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | Pesticide exposure in Ecuador's banana industry reflects political economic and ecological processes that interact across scales to affect human health. We use this case study to illustrate opportunities for applying political ecology of health scholarship in the burgeoning field of global health. Drawing on an historical literature review and ethnographic data collected in Ecuador's El Oro province, we present three main areas where a political ecological approach can enrich global health scholarship: perceptive characterization of multi‐scalar and ecologically entangled pathways to health outcomes; critical analysis of discursive dynamics such as competing scalar narratives; and appreciation of the environment‐linked subjectivities and emotions of people experiencing globalized health impacts. Rapprochement between these fields may also provide political ecologists with access to valuable empirical data on health outcomes, venues for engaged scholarship, and opportunities to synthesize numerous insightful case studies and discern broader patterns. |
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| Keywords: | global health political ecology engaged scholarship occupational health ecosystem health salud global ecologí a polí tica praxis salud ocupacional salud del ecosistema |
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