Anthropologist Amy McLennan on Redefining Lifestyle Diseases on the Pacific Island of Nauru
Description
In this fascinating episode about Nauru, an island country in the central Pacific, anthropologist Dr. Amy McLennan discusses what it means to redefine the medical notion of "lifestyle" in a locally-contextualized way. In her own words: “In the world of medicine, lifestyle is often distilled into what you eat, what exercise you do, whether you sleep or not, if you smoke, and if you drink alcohol. [But] when you work with people on the ground in communities, “lifestyle” means something very different. It means who you’re related to and who you spend time with, what you like to do, where you learn, the habits you have, and the habits and social practices you have in your community. It’s the political leadership, it’s the economy, it’s the geography and the place that you live, and it’s your history. And all of these things really matter…” Listen to learn more about Nauru, its people, and their food.
Dr. McLennan is a Research Fellow at the Australian National University's 3A Institute (3Ai), where she works at the intersections of technology, society and wellbeing.
You can also listen to Dr. McLennan talk about the meat industry during the Covid-19 global lock down in our first series, Lock Down Food.
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