Speaker: Susan Greenhalgh, John King and Wilma Cannon Fairbank Research Professor of Chinese Society Emerita, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
Moderator: Nicole West Bassoff, PhD Candidate in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

The 1990s were tough times for the soda industry. In the United States, obesity rates were exploding. Public health critics pointed to sugary soda as a main culprit and advocated for soda taxes that might decrease the consumption of sweetened beverages—and threaten the revenues of the giant soda companies. In her new book, Soda Science, Greenhalgh tells the story of how, during 1995-2015, industry leader Coca-Cola mobilized allies in academia to create a soda-defense science that would protect profits by advocating exercise, not dietary restraint, as the priority solution to obesity, a view few experts accept. Anthropologist and science studies specialist Susan Greenhalgh discovers a hidden world of science-making—with distinctive organizations, social networks, knowledge-making practices, and ethical claims—dedicated to creating industry-friendly science and keeping it under wraps. Coke’s research isn’t fake science, she argues; it was real science, conducted by real and eminent scientists, but distorted by its aim. By tracing the birth, maturation, death, and effects of this global science project as it spread in two sites – the U.S. and China – Soda Science reveals the cunning ways giant corporations come to shape our diets, lifestyles, and health to their own needs.

Note: This is a science studies talk about Prof. Greenhalgh’s new book; a talk for China Studies scholars will be scheduled at a later date.

Also via Zoom. Register at: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwsf-2hrjIjHtc03BEGIDG1RTmuG2cUDQUx#/registration