The Difference of Black ALS Anti-Bodies for Survival
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3292879 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chelsey R Carter (0000-0002-9176-4289, School of Public Health Yale University New Haven Connecticut USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-28 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Anthropologist (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7294 • E-ISSN: 1548-1433 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/aman.70026 |
| OpenAlex | W4414580170 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 12 |
This essay responds to anthropologist Dána-Ain Davis's "Black anti-bodies" call through an examination of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) anti-bodies. I describe how paradoxical perceptions of immunity and susceptibility extend beyond reproduction and into the rare disease ecosystem-a scientific environment ripe with biomedical speculations about etiology, cure, and risk. A brief ethnographic interlude with a physician-scientist reveals a belief that Black ALS patients must be immune to ALS because of Black people's pathological susceptibility to chronic diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes. Through a former caregiver, I demonstrate how, in the face of these perceptions of ALS immunity, Black anti-bodies actively resist erasure. Drawing on Audre Lorde's meditations on survival, readers are invited to reimagine survival outside of the paradigm of life and death and instead witness survival as a form of care, resistance, and remembrance
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| Highly cited | No |
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