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The Kidney and the Cane

Planetary Health and Plantation Labor in Nicaragua
  • Alex M. Nading
  • Funded by: Cornell University
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2025
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Critical Global Health: Evidence, Efficacy, Ethnography

About this book

Alex M. Nading argues that the epidemic of chronic kidney disease of non-traditional causes among those living near and working in Nicaragua’s sugarcane plantations is not a result of climate change, it is climate change.

Author / Editor information

Alex M. Nading is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Cornell University and author of Mosquito Trails: Ecology, Health, and the Politics of Entanglement.

Reviews

“Offering compelling storytelling, fresh insights, and stunning connections, Alex M. Nading outlines the futility of isolating the cause of chronic kidney disease of nontraditional causes (CKDnt) while also showing the limits of fixes based in liberal structures of contestation. He shows how the work involved in keeping bodies and production alive in Nicaragua’s sugarcane zone is tantamount to life support; bodies cannot be cured, although their repair remains essential. In this way, CKDnt serves as a bellwether of planetary health.”
-- Julie Guthman, author of The Problem with Solutions: Why Silicon Valley Can’t Hack the Future of Food

“The Kidney and the Cane is an evocative ethnography of life in and around Nicaraguan sugar plantations that also serves as an incisive portrait of planetary health. The examination of contemporary plantation labor allows Alex M. Nading to weave together questions of human and environmental health in entirely novel and often harrowing ways. A fantastic book for anyone interested in labor, agriculture, health care, or the environment.”
-- Kregg Hetherington, author of The Government of Beans: Regulating Life in the Age of Monocrops

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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
May 6, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9781478094302
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
239
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478094302
eBook ISBN: 9781478094302
Audience(s) for this book
Professional and scholarly;
Creative Commons
BY-NC-ND 4.0
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