Event

Please join us for the Food for Thought Talks Fall 2023 with the ASAM Fellows 2023-2024. 

ASAM Fellow Simran Rajpal presents: "Log Kya Kahenge: An Ethnography of Genetic Testing, Breast Cancer, & Risk Perceptions in the South Asian Diaspora."

Please RSVP here and join us in person  or  join us by Zoom here!

Abstract: Studied through an anthropological perspective, breast cancer is a lived experience that reveals how histories and politics shape the realities of living with a diagnosis. Regimes of risk—created by the technologies surrounding diagnostics—aim to provide patients clarity and definitive answers, yet often deliver unease into the local worlds in which they are implemented. With a unique intersection of immigration, societies of stigma, and centuries of history, the South Asian diaspora presents a unique case study of social, cultural, religious, and economic identities. By focusing on reactions to the unknown—mortality, genetic lineages, and kinship—through ethnography, Simran’s research aims to explore how diverse individuals comprehend notions of risk, mortality, fate, illness, and caregiving. 

Bio: Simran is a senior in studying Health and Societies and Biology with a minor in bioethics. On campus, she is involved in volunteer organizations that aim to address systemic inequities in healthcare access and delivery, is a project manager through CHOP's Healthier Together Initiative to offer grief and trauma support for students in West Philadelphia high schools, and is the logistics captain for Penn Thillana, Penn's classical Indian dance team. As an aspiring physician and researcher, she hopes to continue working at the intersections of medicine, global health, and the medical humanities.