Paper short abstract:

Theories of epidemiological, metabolic and demographic transition often figure non communicable diseases including diabetes, heart disease and respiratory disease as the "dark side" of economic growth. Local understandings of "new diseases" in Dakar disrupt and extend this simplistic narrative.

Paper long abstract:

Theories of epidemiological, metabolic and demographic transition often figure non communicable diseases including diabetes, heart disease and respiratory disease as the "dark side" of economic growth. As pathologies associated with accelerated growth, urbanisation, overconsumption, and environmental exposure, these diseases are colloquially associated with growth, expansion and rapid social change. This paper examines how unruly and sick bodies are interpreted in Dakar and the complex impact of what are often called "new diseases" on the city. Dakarois critically assess qualities and quantities of food relying on taste to navigate diseases that appear to strike at the heart of family life and threaten to disrupt communal rhythms of cooking and sharing food. Ethnographic research on everyday urban eating opens up perspectives on local imaginaries of growth and moral contentions about appropriate and fitting consumption.

I argue that local responses to "new diseases" and beliefs about their origins illuminate the current context as a complex crisis of interlocking scarcity and surfeit.