Fat and Dirty: Biocultural Studies of Water, Food, and Stigma

My research is about understanding how low social position and resource insecurity interact with disease meanings, experiences, and diagnoses to exacerbate the psychosocial stresses that worsen physical and mental health. Put another way, I test empirically potential social and ecological mechanisms for how low power translates into health disparities.

My approach to doing anthropology embraces collaboration, transdisciplinarity, and rigorous data collection using an array of field methods to understand  how culture shapes physical and mental health.  Currently my work coalesces around three primary problems: obesity/weight gain, water insecurity, and stigma in global health.

Learn more about Dr. Brewis here.