Chris Hartmann - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Peer Reviewed Articles by Chris Hartmann
The modernization (i.e. mechanization, formalization, and capital intensification) and enclosure ... more The modernization (i.e. mechanization, formalization, and capital intensification) and enclosure of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems threaten waste picker livelihoods. From 2009 to 2013, a major development project, embodying traditional neoliberal policies with inclusive social policies , transformed the Managua, Nicaragua, municipal solid waste site from an open-air dump where as many as 2,000 informal waste pickers toiled to a sanitary landfill. To investigate waste pickers' social and economic condition, including labor characteristics, household income, and poverty incidence, after the project's completion, 146 semi-structured survey questionnaires were administered to four communities adjacent to the landfill and 45 semi-structured interviews were completed with key stakeholders. Findings indicate that hundreds of waste pickers were displaced by the project, employment benefits from the project were unevenly distributed by neighborhood, and informal waste picking endures due to persistent impoverishment, thereby contributing to continued social and economic marginalization and environmental degradation. The findings highlight the limitations of inclusive neoliberal development efforts to transform MSWM in a low-income country.
There is a growing debate among genetic researchers, social scientists and public health official... more There is a growing debate among genetic researchers, social scientists and public health officials about the relevance of genetic information for assessing and addressing health disparities. 1-3 Whereas some scholars believe that genetic information can help to elucidate differences in health outcomes between populations, others fear that placing too much emphasis on genetics will result in a disregard for social and environmental determinants of health. Unfortunately, the voices of underserved and ethnically diverse communities experiencing health disparities are often left out of these discussions. 4 Because of these concerns, a community-engaged study was undertaken to gain an understanding of the perceptions of genetics and health disparities within underserved communities. 5,6 A key aim of this study was not only to create community partnerships to help recruit and engage study participants through interviews and focus groups, but also to use innovative methods to disseminate the findings back to the community and continue the engagement process. A method of photo-documentation 7 involving photography and reflective writing was used. Two different underserved population groups in the greater Cleveland area participated in this project: Latino youths who attended programmes at the organization Esperanza, Inc., and African-American seniors who frequented the Helen S. Brown Senior Centre.
Several Latin American countries are implementing a suite of so-called “postneoliberal” social an... more Several Latin American countries are implementing a suite of so-called “postneoliberal” social and political economic policies to counter neoliberal models that emerged in the 1980s. This article considers the influence of postneoliberalism on public health discourses, policies, institutions, and practices in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
Social medicine and neoliberal public health models are antecedents of postneoliberal public health care models. Postneoliberal public health governance models neither fully incorporate social medicine nor completely reject neoliberal models.
Postneoliberal reforms may provide an alternative means of reducing health inequalities and improving population health.
Post/neo/liberalism in Relational Perspective, Political Geography 48 (2015): 37-48
pdf available on request - email: ettlinger.1@osu.edu Within a decade of the new millennium n... more pdf available on request - email: ettlinger.1@osu.edu
Within a decade of the new millennium new left governments in many countries across Latin America developed new constitutions that bespeak a new, postneoliberal era, supplanting neoliberal hegemony. Debates about postneoliberalism-as-governance or as a discourse lack resolution. Drawing from Foucault’s lecture series The Birth of Biopolitics, which engages the relation between neoliberalism and liberalism, as well as from his general analytic approach, we cast postneoliberalism, neoliberalism, and liberalism in relational terms relative to principles not time periods, and offer precision on how different discourses co-exist and become mutually entangled and politicized in the context of neoliberal practices. We reference points in our argument with empirical research in various Latin American contexts, and in the penultimate section we thread the argument through current dynamics in one context, Nicaragua. Although overall we concur with the critical literature about the neoliberal character of pink-tide governments in practice, in the final section we depart from the prevailing approach that focuses on formal government as the bellwether of change and conclude by drawing attention to prospects for postneoliberal practices in the microspaces of daily life. Drawing from Foucault’s late scholarship on ethics and mindful of the longstanding role of informality in Latin American political economy, we clarify how postneoliberal values can materialize in everyday life while formal governmental actions and policies persist as neoliberal amid liberal, postneoliberal, as well as socialist discourses.
Family health history tools rarely incorporate environmental and neighborhood factors, although t... more Family health history tools rarely incorporate environmental and neighborhood factors, although the social and physical environments in which people live are recognized as major contributors to chronic diseases. This paper discusses beliefs about neighborhood influences on chronic disease risk among racially and ethnically diverse individuals in low-income communities in Cleveland, Ohio. We report findings from a qualitative study consisting of 121 interviews with White, African American, and Hispanic participants. Results are organized into four major themes: (1) social and economic environment, (2) physical environment, (3) barriers to healthy behaviors, and (4) participants' views on integrating genetic and non-genetic determinants of health to understand and address disease prevention and management. Findings suggest that integrating environmental factors into family health history assessments would better reflect lay perceptions of disease causation. Results have implications for improving patient-clinician communication and the development of strategies to prevent and manage chronic diseases.
This article examines the beliefs and experiences of individuals living in underserved ethnically... more This article examines the beliefs and experiences of individuals living in underserved ethnically diverse communities in Cleveland, Ohio, regarding the influence of genetic, social, and environmental factors on health and health inequalities. Using a community-engaged methodological approach, 13 focus groups were conducted with African American, Hispanic, and White individuals residing in the Cleveland area to explore attitudes and beliefs about genetics, genetic research, and health disparities and inequalities. Results of this study highlight the range of meanings that individuals attach to genetic variation, genomic research, and gene-environment interactions, and their implications for addressing health inequalities. The majority of participants in all focus groups reported that social and environmental factors were more important than genetics in contributing to health inequalities. Most participants were unfamiliar with genetic research. These data have implications for how genetic information and research might be applied in conjunction with addressing social determinants of health to improve prevention strategies in underserved communities and ultimately reduce health inequalities.
Informal waste recovery is a vital occupation for urban dwellers without formal economic opportun... more Informal waste recovery is a vital occupation for urban dwellers without formal
economic opportunities. Despite the prevalence of informal waste pickers in urban areas,
little is known about tension and conflict associated with pickers’ ability to access trash
at municipal waste sites. In this article, ethnographic field data are analyzed to explore
themes of tension and conflict as experienced by informal waste pickers at the Managua,
Nicaragua, municipal waste site. Special attention is paid to two recent events in the
waste site: the announcement of a large-scale development project that will radically
change municipal solid waste management practices at the site and a month-long strike
carried out by waste pickers. Importantly, findings suggest that municipal waste sites
should be situated in terms of historical and present-day processes, that waste must be
conceptualized as a finite resource to be fought for, and that waste pickers experience
tension and conflict on account of internal and external spatially-defined factors.
Papers by Chris Hartmann
COVID-19-related restrictions, including full or partial lockdowns, have impacted an estimated fi... more COVID-19-related restrictions, including full or partial lockdowns, have impacted an estimated five billion people globally (International Labour Organization 2020). These restrictions have been necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, but have also dramatically increased the vulnerability of 1.6 billion informal workers, such as waste pickers. Waste pickers—also referred to as informal recyclers, recolectores or recicladores (in Colombia), catadoras (in Brazil), reclaimers (in South Africa) and other local terms—are especially vulnerable because of the nature of their work: they retrieve, sort and sell discarded materials from the waste stream for meager remuneration with little to no support from public authorities. To examine the impact of the pandemic on waste pickers’ earnings, occupational health and support from public entities, we draw on data from the WIEGO-led COVID-19 Crisis and the Informal Economy Study. The study surveyed 499 waste pickers across nine cities in Africa...
American Journal of Public Health, 2016
Several Latin American countries are implementing a suite of so-called “postneoliberal” social an... more Several Latin American countries are implementing a suite of so-called “postneoliberal” social and political economic policies to counter neoliberal models that emerged in the 1980s. This article considers the influence of postneoliberalism on public health discourses, policies, institutions, and practices in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Social medicine and neoliberal public health models are antecedents of postneoliberal public health care models. Postneoliberal public health governance models neither fully incorporate social medicine nor completely reject neoliberal models. Postneoliberal reforms may provide an alternative means of reducing health inequalities and improving population health.
COVID-19 Cases and the Built Environment: Initial Evidence from New York City
The Professional Geographer
Social distancing (e.g., maintaining two-meter distance between people, restricting group gatheri... more Social distancing (e.g., maintaining two-meter distance between people, restricting group gatherings) is recommended to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Social distancing guidelines might not broadly consider the varying built environment contexts in which people live, however. Controlling for key covariates, we examined the association of several built environment characteristics with COVID-19 cases in New York City. This cross-sectional ecological study used ZIP code tabulation area (ZCTA) data from New York City. We found positive, significant adjusted associations between the COVID-19 case rate and average people per household, percentage of Black or African American population, percentage of Hispanic population, and percentage of the population over sixty-five years old. Population per square kilometer and percentage taking public transit to work were both negatively associated with case rates. Percentage of sidewalks was negatively associated with case rates, but parks were not significant. ZCTAs with higher percentage area of sidewalks were associated with lower case rates, controlling for potential confounders. Consideration of the local characteristics of the built environment could inform context-specific COVID-19 prevention guidelines, such as increasing street space for pedestrian use in high-density neighborhoods.
The modernization (i.e. mechanization, formalization, and capital intensification) and enclosure ... more The modernization (i.e. mechanization, formalization, and capital intensification) and enclosure of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems threaten waste picker livelihoods. From 2009 to 2013, a major development project, embodying traditional neoliberal policies with inclusive social policies , transformed the Managua, Nicaragua, municipal solid waste site from an open-air dump where as many as 2,000 informal waste pickers toiled to a sanitary landfill. To investigate waste pickers' social and economic condition, including labor characteristics, household income, and poverty incidence, after the project's completion, 146 semi-structured survey questionnaires were administered to four communities adjacent to the landfill and 45 semi-structured interviews were completed with key stakeholders. Findings indicate that hundreds of waste pickers were displaced by the project, employment benefits from the project were unevenly distributed by neighborhood, and informal waste picking endures due to persistent impoverishment, thereby contributing to continued social and economic marginalization and environmental degradation. The findings highlight the limitations of inclusive neoliberal development efforts to transform MSWM in a low-income country.
There is a growing debate among genetic researchers, social scientists and public health official... more There is a growing debate among genetic researchers, social scientists and public health officials about the relevance of genetic information for assessing and addressing health disparities. 1-3 Whereas some scholars believe that genetic information can help to elucidate differences in health outcomes between populations, others fear that placing too much emphasis on genetics will result in a disregard for social and environmental determinants of health. Unfortunately, the voices of underserved and ethnically diverse communities experiencing health disparities are often left out of these discussions. 4 Because of these concerns, a community-engaged study was undertaken to gain an understanding of the perceptions of genetics and health disparities within underserved communities. 5,6 A key aim of this study was not only to create community partnerships to help recruit and engage study participants through interviews and focus groups, but also to use innovative methods to disseminate the findings back to the community and continue the engagement process. A method of photo-documentation 7 involving photography and reflective writing was used. Two different underserved population groups in the greater Cleveland area participated in this project: Latino youths who attended programmes at the organization Esperanza, Inc., and African-American seniors who frequented the Helen S. Brown Senior Centre.
Several Latin American countries are implementing a suite of so-called “postneoliberal” social an... more Several Latin American countries are implementing a suite of so-called “postneoliberal” social and political economic policies to counter neoliberal models that emerged in the 1980s. This article considers the influence of postneoliberalism on public health discourses, policies, institutions, and practices in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
Social medicine and neoliberal public health models are antecedents of postneoliberal public health care models. Postneoliberal public health governance models neither fully incorporate social medicine nor completely reject neoliberal models.
Postneoliberal reforms may provide an alternative means of reducing health inequalities and improving population health.
Post/neo/liberalism in Relational Perspective, Political Geography 48 (2015): 37-48
pdf available on request - email: ettlinger.1@osu.edu Within a decade of the new millennium n... more pdf available on request - email: ettlinger.1@osu.edu
Within a decade of the new millennium new left governments in many countries across Latin America developed new constitutions that bespeak a new, postneoliberal era, supplanting neoliberal hegemony. Debates about postneoliberalism-as-governance or as a discourse lack resolution. Drawing from Foucault’s lecture series The Birth of Biopolitics, which engages the relation between neoliberalism and liberalism, as well as from his general analytic approach, we cast postneoliberalism, neoliberalism, and liberalism in relational terms relative to principles not time periods, and offer precision on how different discourses co-exist and become mutually entangled and politicized in the context of neoliberal practices. We reference points in our argument with empirical research in various Latin American contexts, and in the penultimate section we thread the argument through current dynamics in one context, Nicaragua. Although overall we concur with the critical literature about the neoliberal character of pink-tide governments in practice, in the final section we depart from the prevailing approach that focuses on formal government as the bellwether of change and conclude by drawing attention to prospects for postneoliberal practices in the microspaces of daily life. Drawing from Foucault’s late scholarship on ethics and mindful of the longstanding role of informality in Latin American political economy, we clarify how postneoliberal values can materialize in everyday life while formal governmental actions and policies persist as neoliberal amid liberal, postneoliberal, as well as socialist discourses.
Family health history tools rarely incorporate environmental and neighborhood factors, although t... more Family health history tools rarely incorporate environmental and neighborhood factors, although the social and physical environments in which people live are recognized as major contributors to chronic diseases. This paper discusses beliefs about neighborhood influences on chronic disease risk among racially and ethnically diverse individuals in low-income communities in Cleveland, Ohio. We report findings from a qualitative study consisting of 121 interviews with White, African American, and Hispanic participants. Results are organized into four major themes: (1) social and economic environment, (2) physical environment, (3) barriers to healthy behaviors, and (4) participants' views on integrating genetic and non-genetic determinants of health to understand and address disease prevention and management. Findings suggest that integrating environmental factors into family health history assessments would better reflect lay perceptions of disease causation. Results have implications for improving patient-clinician communication and the development of strategies to prevent and manage chronic diseases.
This article examines the beliefs and experiences of individuals living in underserved ethnically... more This article examines the beliefs and experiences of individuals living in underserved ethnically diverse communities in Cleveland, Ohio, regarding the influence of genetic, social, and environmental factors on health and health inequalities. Using a community-engaged methodological approach, 13 focus groups were conducted with African American, Hispanic, and White individuals residing in the Cleveland area to explore attitudes and beliefs about genetics, genetic research, and health disparities and inequalities. Results of this study highlight the range of meanings that individuals attach to genetic variation, genomic research, and gene-environment interactions, and their implications for addressing health inequalities. The majority of participants in all focus groups reported that social and environmental factors were more important than genetics in contributing to health inequalities. Most participants were unfamiliar with genetic research. These data have implications for how genetic information and research might be applied in conjunction with addressing social determinants of health to improve prevention strategies in underserved communities and ultimately reduce health inequalities.
Informal waste recovery is a vital occupation for urban dwellers without formal economic opportun... more Informal waste recovery is a vital occupation for urban dwellers without formal
economic opportunities. Despite the prevalence of informal waste pickers in urban areas,
little is known about tension and conflict associated with pickers’ ability to access trash
at municipal waste sites. In this article, ethnographic field data are analyzed to explore
themes of tension and conflict as experienced by informal waste pickers at the Managua,
Nicaragua, municipal waste site. Special attention is paid to two recent events in the
waste site: the announcement of a large-scale development project that will radically
change municipal solid waste management practices at the site and a month-long strike
carried out by waste pickers. Importantly, findings suggest that municipal waste sites
should be situated in terms of historical and present-day processes, that waste must be
conceptualized as a finite resource to be fought for, and that waste pickers experience
tension and conflict on account of internal and external spatially-defined factors.
COVID-19-related restrictions, including full or partial lockdowns, have impacted an estimated fi... more COVID-19-related restrictions, including full or partial lockdowns, have impacted an estimated five billion people globally (International Labour Organization 2020). These restrictions have been necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, but have also dramatically increased the vulnerability of 1.6 billion informal workers, such as waste pickers. Waste pickers—also referred to as informal recyclers, recolectores or recicladores (in Colombia), catadoras (in Brazil), reclaimers (in South Africa) and other local terms—are especially vulnerable because of the nature of their work: they retrieve, sort and sell discarded materials from the waste stream for meager remuneration with little to no support from public authorities. To examine the impact of the pandemic on waste pickers’ earnings, occupational health and support from public entities, we draw on data from the WIEGO-led COVID-19 Crisis and the Informal Economy Study. The study surveyed 499 waste pickers across nine cities in Africa...
American Journal of Public Health, 2016
Several Latin American countries are implementing a suite of so-called “postneoliberal” social an... more Several Latin American countries are implementing a suite of so-called “postneoliberal” social and political economic policies to counter neoliberal models that emerged in the 1980s. This article considers the influence of postneoliberalism on public health discourses, policies, institutions, and practices in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Social medicine and neoliberal public health models are antecedents of postneoliberal public health care models. Postneoliberal public health governance models neither fully incorporate social medicine nor completely reject neoliberal models. Postneoliberal reforms may provide an alternative means of reducing health inequalities and improving population health.
COVID-19 Cases and the Built Environment: Initial Evidence from New York City
The Professional Geographer
Social distancing (e.g., maintaining two-meter distance between people, restricting group gatheri... more Social distancing (e.g., maintaining two-meter distance between people, restricting group gatherings) is recommended to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Social distancing guidelines might not broadly consider the varying built environment contexts in which people live, however. Controlling for key covariates, we examined the association of several built environment characteristics with COVID-19 cases in New York City. This cross-sectional ecological study used ZIP code tabulation area (ZCTA) data from New York City. We found positive, significant adjusted associations between the COVID-19 case rate and average people per household, percentage of Black or African American population, percentage of Hispanic population, and percentage of the population over sixty-five years old. Population per square kilometer and percentage taking public transit to work were both negatively associated with case rates. Percentage of sidewalks was negatively associated with case rates, but parks were not significant. ZCTAs with higher percentage area of sidewalks were associated with lower case rates, controlling for potential confounders. Consideration of the local characteristics of the built environment could inform context-specific COVID-19 prevention guidelines, such as increasing street space for pedestrian use in high-density neighborhoods.