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Harris Solomon: Studying Obesity in India

Cultural anthropologist explores the human side of medical problems

Part of the Eat What You Learn Series
For cultural anthropologist Harris Solomon, food is a means by which to better understand changes in Indian culture.  Photo by Megan Morr
For cultural anthropologist Harris Solomon, food is a means by which to better understand changes in Indian culture. Photo by Megan Morr

It's
not only Michelle Obama and other Americans who are sounding the alarm about
obesity. The problem is also growing in places such as India, and new Duke
faculty member Harris Solomon seeks to understand why.

The medical anthropologist spent the
past several years watching snack food sellers in Mumbai, hanging out with
Indian mothers as they cook for their families and interviewing Indian companies
that have begun using healthier ingredients to promote their foods to consumers
worried about their waistlines.

"Obesity is so interesting to
me, since food is morally charged," says Solomon, who argues that consumerism
and modernization alone cannot explain India's problems with obesity and related
illnesses such as diabetes. "Some people have blamed over-indulgent
parents or the growing number of people with sedentary jobs, but the issue is
more complicated. We need to ask who puts food in circulation. How is it
priced? Who has access? You can't just frame obesity in terms of personal
indulgence or a society becoming wealthier."

Solomon joins Duke as an assistant
professor in both the cultural anthropology department and the global health
institute.
"To be in such an interdisciplinary environment with a joint
appointment was especially appealing," he says, describing Duke's approach
as "forward thinking." He is teaching one undergraduate medical
anthropology course in the fall and another on anthropology and global health in
the spring. Even before his classes started, however, he was "astounded"
by the number of Duke students who sent him messages about their global health
experiences with DukeEngage and other programs.

In his own research, Solomon
focused recently on street vendors who sell a Mumbai specialty called vada pav,
a spicy snack that looks like an Indian hamburger. The "desi burger,"
as some describe it, is important not only economically and nutritionally, but
also for the insights it offers about how people think about food and politics.

Much like India's growing number of
neighborhood diet clinics or its advertisements featuring women who have become
trimmer in recent years, a humble snack food can illustrate why "biomedicine
is not the only way to talk about health and illness," according to
Solomon, who says "public health debates offer a lens into Indian society."

He moved to Durham a few weeks ago
from Providence, where he received his doctorate in anthropology from Brown
University. He also pursued graduate study in global health at Emory University,
earned his bachelor's degree from Northwestern and spent several years working on
HIV policy in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

A Florida native, Solomon can now walk to his East Campus office from his nearby home. He has begun to explore the Durham scene, notably including the Triangle's numerous Indian restaurants and shops. Solomon doubts he'll find vada pav stalls like those he came to love in Mumbai but confesses to also having some American indulgences, saying, "I like to eat barbeque, too."