Diabetes of Democracy in South Phoenix: Performance, Place and the Cultural Politics of Food

Awarded the 2011 Arts and Humanities Seed Grant funded jointly by the Institute for Humanities Research  and the Herberger Institute Research Center in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

Diabetes for Democracy in South Phoenix examines the efficacy of the arts—specifically theatrical performance—in changing the dietary attitudes and behaviors of young people at higher risk for chronic diseases like diabetes. It considers the growing trend toward obesity among young Latinos in the southwest—whose dietary choices are influenced both by their ancestral culture and by pressures to assimilate to a more mainstream US-American diet—in light of recent studies in cultural and social anthropology relating food preferences to cultural location. Performance artist Robert Karimi, “El Mero Cocinero,” has developed a live, interactive cooking show as part of a larger “Diabetes for Democracy” project designed to intervene precisely at these intersections. This show forms part of a multi-pronged, site-specific program in South Phoenix, involving community youth in raising awareness among their peers about the links between cuisine, cultural location, and health.

This project was sponsered by the Institute for Humanities Research.