Development and Diabetes
Carolyn Smith-Morris, Ph.D., M.S., LPC
Diabetes among the Pima
The Pima Indians of Southern Arizona have the highest
recorded rates of diabetes in the world. But they are not
alone. Our world contains over 150 million persons with
diabetes, including more than 10 million in the US.
Carolyn Smith-Morris has been working in this community
since 1997 to help document the Pima experience, to give
voice to their perspectives and needs, and to bring this
information to the clinicians who dedicate their lives to
helping stop the epidemic.
This project has employed community member researchers, both undergraduate and graduate level anthropology students, and a battalion of key informants. Research results are shared with the Gila River Indian Community Council and their involvement in data analysis and publication is an integral part of the research methodology.
Publications:
(Please contact Carolyn Smith-Morris for a copies.)
| 2007 | “Autonomous Individuals or Self-Determined Communities: The Changing Ethics of Research in Indian Country”. Human Organization 66(3): 327-336. |
| 2006 |
Diabetes Among the Pima: Stories of Survival.
Tucson: University of Arizona Press. |
| 2006 | “Prenatal Mysteries of Symptomless Diabetes in the Gila River Indian Community”. In Diabetes Around the World: Critical Perspectives, Creative Solutions. Mariana Ferreira and Gretchen Lang (Eds.). Carolina Academic Press: Durham, NC, pp. 187-202. |
| 2006 | ‘Community Participation’ in Tribal Diabetes Programming. American Indian Culture & Research Journal 30(2): 85-110. |
| 2005 | Diagnostic Controversy: Gestational Diabetes and the Meaning of Risk for Pima Indian Women. Medical Anthropology 24(2): 145-177. |
| 2004 | Rudolph Virchow Award Paper: “Reducing Diabetes in Indian Country: Lessons from the Three Domains Influencing Pima Diabetes”. Human Organization 63(1): 34-46. |
| 1999 | Diabetes Education Curricula for the Gila River Health Care Corporation, Department of Public Health Nutrition. Two education modules for community health representatives: (1) Customs and Culture and (2) Psychosocial Impact of Diabetes. Modules are part of a diabetes education curriculum for community health representatives on the Gila River Indian Reservation |