Dear Prof. Chase-Dunn, I recently joined the American Sociological Association and enjoyed reading my first copy of PEWS NEWS. I noted the website address and visited it hoping I could send a message out to other members. I came across your email address under a link to a discussion about global praxis and the future of the world-system.. I would be grateful if you would pass on this message to anyone you think might be interested. I am writing a book entitled Health, Globalisation and the World-System and would like to make contact with people interested in this issue. My book proposal has been accepted by Routledge publishers. It arises from my PhD research, Power, Identity and Eurocentrism in Health Promotion: the Case of Trinidad and Tobago (University of Warwick, UK, 1999). My interests include the following topics: * The contribution of long-term, large-scale population movements to the distribution of health conditions on a global scale. For example, the colonisation of the Americas changed the disease environment in that continent irrevocably. The transatlantic slave trade represented a further shift, while enabling the consumption of products in Europe which improved public health. * Recently, tourism and wider access to international travel technologies have increased the pace of movements of people. Disease pathogens spread faster and more widely. Patterns of spread continue to reflect the structure of the world-economy with consumers of tourism products primarily from core countries while peripheral countries provide the products at the lower end of the commodity chain (e.g. sun , sea, sand, sex, kitchen staff and hotel porters rather than package tours and cruise ships). I am exploring links between this (largely, racialised) distribution of power and the distribution of diseases including HIV/AIDS and Western "lifestyle" diseases which are increasingly prevalent in peripheral regions. * Patterns of international migration are the other side of the growing movements of people. Many migrants flee deplorable physical and mental health conditions, to face unsanitary transit or refugee camps and poor housing and discrimination in access to health care in host countries. Conversely, core governments are facing political pressure to close the doors to migrants, partly on the basis of fear of the spread of disease to local people. * Telecommunications technology has opened up new possibilities in terms of health advice and access to therapeutic products including remote treatment (virtual surgery). The tendency of this technology however is further to concentrate access to technology within the core of the world-economy. * The marketing and distribution practices of pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies. The example of access to anti-retroviral treatment for AIDS may be used to illustrate how this relates to the structure of the world-system. * Industrial location, pollution, environmental degradation and their impact on the distribution of health conditions between parts of the world-economy. * Global convergence in systems of health care organisation as a result of the operations of multilateral agencies. Agencies such as the World Bank have played a key role since the 1980s in promoting a model of public sector management rather than direct provision of health care. * Health, fitness, beauty and "global culture". A major strategy of transnational as well as local companies is to market products with an emphasis on their health-enhancing properties, from sneakers to breakfast cereals. How has this impacted on consumption and health in peripheral areas? * Free trade and political governance of health conditions. The dismantling of preferential arrangements and the promotion of free trade have made it increasingly difficult for national governments to manage local health conditions. Industries providing food security and income to small farmers and peasants have been particularly hard hit. Poverty has risen in many countries, while income inequalities have generally grown, contributing to crime and violence. * Global social movements are increasingly campaigning on health issues. Have they or can they make a difference to the distribution of health conditions on a global scale? * The connection of medicine with Western liberal discourse and its historical association with colonial/ neocolonial processes. Many of my examples are drawn from the Caribbean as illustrating conditions in a peripheral area, and Europe as illustrating conditions in a core area of the world-economy. The impact on health of systemic historical links between Europe and the Caribbean are explored. However, I am interested in obtaining information from other parts of the world for purposes of comparison. Comments/ advice/ information sources on any of the above would be very welcome. I look forward to corresponding with you. Regards, Caroline Allen. Caroline Allen, MA, PhD Behavioural Science Advisor Caribbean Epidemiology Centre/ German Technical Cooperation (CAREC/GTZ) AIDS Project Special Programme on Sexually Transmitted Infections (SPSTI) CAREC P.O. Box 164/ 16-18 Jamaica Boulevard Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago Tel: (868) 622 2153/ 622 5593 Fax: (868) 622 2792