Caroline Meier Zu Biesen
Biographic Data
| ID | 226142 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Caroline Meier Zu Biesen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Caroline Meier Zu |
| FAMILY NAME | Biesen |
| SIGNATURE | ZU BIESEN C M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leipzig University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3666-7969 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Planetary health
The concept of ‘planetary health’ asks how human health and disease relate to the environment and to other species on a planetary scale. Cutting across scales, it allows us to think of human health and healthcare beyond the individual and beyond specific populations, asking how they relate to more-than-human others and to the planet at large. This broad approach to health responds to multiple crises of the Anthropocene, including climate change, …
Who Cares? Therapeutic Practices and the Making of Noncommunicable Diseases in Zanzibar
This article is an ethnographic study of emergent discourses and therapeutic practices that target rising rates of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Zanzibar. It interrogates in what ways and by whom diseases such as diabetes and hypertension are made visible and produced as objects of investigation, expertise, and attention in political-economic contexts where chronic care infrastructure is only slowly emerging. It outlines the relevant care ne…
Uterine Vulnerability: A Lived Experience Response to Endometriosis
In this article, I examine the uterus as an object in relation to endometriosis and the epistemological struggle of sufferers to have their pain taken seriously. Defined by endometrial- like tissue outside the uterus, endometriosis affects multiple organs, causes severe pain, and is often undiagnosed for years. While outsiders frequently describe the condition, patient voices remain marginal. Using illness autoethnography and my experience in Ger…
Lifestyle as cause and market: NCDs and Ayurveda care in Africa
In this paper I explore how the Indian Ocean is (re-)emerging as a region in the medical practice I have been tracing—new flows of Ayurvedic medicines from India to East Africa—not only as a trade route on the transoceanic axis between India and Africa, but also as a “shared world in turmoil” in which the Indian diaspora, the Indian pharmaceutical industry, and Ayurvedic practitioners are creating new “lifestyle disease markets”. India-based phar…
Douleur muette, menaces invisibles et injustices systémiques: La vie chronique avec l’endométriose
Cet article traite de l’endométriose, maladie courante mais marginalisée, mal comprise et terriblement sous-étudiée. Touchant au moins une fille ou une femme sur dix, l’endométriose se définit par la présence de tissu ressemblant à l’endomètre dans l’environnement extra-utérin, affectant divers organes. Non diagnostiquée pendant des années, elle se caractérise par des douleurs intenses. La maladie est souvent décrite par des personnes extérieures…
Activism Was a Survival Strategy: Chronic Illness and the Power of Endometriosis Activism as Work
This article is part of the special issue "Laboring from Ex-Centric Sites: Disability, Chronicity and Work", Anthropology of Work Review 46(1), July 2025, edited by Giorgio Brocco and Stefanie Mauksch. In this article, we take the example of endometriosis activism to explore the interrelationship between chronic illness, activism, and work. Endometriosis is a life-limiting condition affecting at least one in ten girls and women, and unmeasured nu…
Digital technologies and the future of health: Aspirations, Care and Data
As projects seeking to provide digitized tools in health care and medicine are gaining ground at an accelerating pace, imaginations and incipient formations of digital health have acquired a new political urgency. These projects promise to revolutionize health care and medicine. However, efforts to institutionalize digital technologies in health are often fraught with difficulties that cause them to stall during implementation. We explore digital…
Globesity
Nina Mackert und Caroline Meier zu Biesen beschäftigen sich in dem Beitrag mit den stigmatisierenden Konsequenzen von »Globesity«-Narrativen für dicke Menschen.
From coastal to global: The transnational flow of Ayurveda and its relevance for Indo-African linkages
Driven by long-standing ties with India, and intertwined with global market interests, a growing influx of materia medica from South Asia is currently emerging in East Africa. To compete at a global level and framed within the language of 'South-South cooperation for mutual benefit', India presents itself as an appropriate exporter of medical products suitable for African clientele. The expansion of India's medical sector into Africa is particula…
The rise to prominence of Artemisia annual the transformation of a Chinese plant to a global pharmaceutical
This paper focuses on the transformation of a recently promoted medicinal plant namedArtemisia annua L. For over 2000 years, the Chinese have used A. annua as a herbal tea preparation against malaria. Pharmacological studies led to the isolation of artemisinin as the principal anti-malarial compound. Since 2001, the World health Organisation (WhO) has recommended artemisinin-based combined therapies (‘ACTs’) for the treatment of malaria – novarti…
From coastal to global: The transnational flow of Ayurveda and its relevance for Indo-African linkages
Driven by long-standing ties with India, and intertwined with global market interests, a growing influx of materia medica from South Asia is currently emerging in East Africa. To compete at a global level and framed within the language of 'South-South cooperation for mutual benefit', India presents itself as an appropriate exporter of medical products suitable for African clientele. The expansion of India's medical sector into Africa is particula…
Activism Was a Survival Strategy: Chronic Illness and the Power of Endometriosis Activism as Work
This article is part of the special issue "Laboring from Ex-Centric Sites: Disability, Chronicity and Work", Anthropology of Work Review 46(1), July 2025, edited by Giorgio Brocco and Stefanie Mauksch. In this article, we take the example of endometriosis activism to explore the interrelationship between chronic illness, activism, and work. Endometriosis is a life-limiting condition affecting at least one in ten girls and women, and unmeasured nu…
The rise to prominence of Artemisia annual the transformation of a Chinese plant to a global pharmaceutical
This paper focuses on the transformation of a recently promoted medicinal plant namedArtemisia annua L. For over 2000 years, the Chinese have used A. annua as a herbal tea preparation against malaria. Pharmacological studies led to the isolation of artemisinin as the principal anti-malarial compound. Since 2001, the World health Organisation (WhO) has recommended artemisinin-based combined therapies (‘ACTs’) for the treatment of malaria – novarti…
From coastal to global: The transnational flow of Ayurveda and its relevance for Indo-African linkages
Driven by long-standing ties with India, and intertwined with global market interests, a growing influx of materia medica from South Asia is currently emerging in East Africa. To compete at a global level and framed within the language of 'South-South cooperation for mutual benefit', India presents itself as an appropriate exporter of medical products suitable for African clientele. The expansion of India's medical sector into Africa is particula…
Globesity
Nina Mackert und Caroline Meier zu Biesen beschäftigen sich in dem Beitrag mit den stigmatisierenden Konsequenzen von »Globesity«-Narrativen für dicke Menschen.
Digital technologies and the future of health: Aspirations, Care and Data
As projects seeking to provide digitized tools in health care and medicine are gaining ground at an accelerating pace, imaginations and incipient formations of digital health have acquired a new political urgency. These projects promise to revolutionize health care and medicine. However, efforts to institutionalize digital technologies in health are often fraught with difficulties that cause them to stall during implementation. We explore digital…
Lifestyle as cause and market: NCDs and Ayurveda care in Africa
In this paper I explore how the Indian Ocean is (re-)emerging as a region in the medical practice I have been tracing—new flows of Ayurvedic medicines from India to East Africa—not only as a trade route on the transoceanic axis between India and Africa, but also as a “shared world in turmoil” in which the Indian diaspora, the Indian pharmaceutical industry, and Ayurvedic practitioners are creating new “lifestyle disease markets”. India-based phar…
Douleur muette, menaces invisibles et injustices systémiques: La vie chronique avec l’endométriose
Cet article traite de l’endométriose, maladie courante mais marginalisée, mal comprise et terriblement sous-étudiée. Touchant au moins une fille ou une femme sur dix, l’endométriose se définit par la présence de tissu ressemblant à l’endomètre dans l’environnement extra-utérin, affectant divers organes. Non diagnostiquée pendant des années, elle se caractérise par des douleurs intenses. La maladie est souvent décrite par des personnes extérieures…
Activism Was a Survival Strategy: Chronic Illness and the Power of Endometriosis Activism as Work
This article is part of the special issue "Laboring from Ex-Centric Sites: Disability, Chronicity and Work", Anthropology of Work Review 46(1), July 2025, edited by Giorgio Brocco and Stefanie Mauksch. In this article, we take the example of endometriosis activism to explore the interrelationship between chronic illness, activism, and work. Endometriosis is a life-limiting condition affecting at least one in ten girls and women, and unmeasured nu…
Planetary health
The concept of ‘planetary health’ asks how human health and disease relate to the environment and to other species on a planetary scale. Cutting across scales, it allows us to think of human health and healthcare beyond the individual and beyond specific populations, asking how they relate to more-than-human others and to the planet at large. This broad approach to health responds to multiple crises of the Anthropocene, including climate change, …
Who Cares? Therapeutic Practices and the Making of Noncommunicable Diseases in Zanzibar
This article is an ethnographic study of emergent discourses and therapeutic practices that target rising rates of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Zanzibar. It interrogates in what ways and by whom diseases such as diabetes and hypertension are made visible and produced as objects of investigation, expertise, and attention in political-economic contexts where chronic care infrastructure is only slowly emerging. It outlines the relevant care ne…
Uterine Vulnerability: A Lived Experience Response to Endometriosis
In this article, I examine the uterus as an object in relation to endometriosis and the epistemological struggle of sufferers to have their pain taken seriously. Defined by endometrial- like tissue outside the uterus, endometriosis affects multiple organs, causes severe pain, and is often undiagnosed for years. While outsiders frequently describe the condition, patient voices remain marginal. Using illness autoethnography and my experience in Ger…
Medicine (6 works) · Political science (4 works) · Politics (3 works) · Sociology (3 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (2 works) · China (2 works) · Computer Science (2 works) · Development economics (2 works) · Economics (2 works) · Endometriosis (2 works)