Alex Nading

Alex Nading is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on medical and environmental anthropology in Nicaragua, examining transnational health campaigns, grassroots environmental movements, and the intersections of labor, ecology, and global health through ethnographic methods.

Education:

• PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• MA, University of Sussex
• BA, University of Virginia

Research Focus: Nading bridges medical anthropology with critical environmental studies and science and technology studies. His work centers on epidemics (dengue, chronic kidney disease), chemical infrastructures of global health, and environmental justice activism. Key themes include disposability in labor, plantation ecologies, and collaborative ethnographic experiments exploring 'buen vivir' (quality of life) in urban Nicaragua.

Publication Trends: Recent work (2020-2024) reveals escalating focus on chronic kidney disease in sugarcane zones, analyzing how capital, science, and environmental toxicity converge in labor exploitation. His scholarship increasingly incorporates collaborative methodologies, using visual and dramatic arts to co-produce knowledge with Nicaraguan communities about urban survival and social justice.

Professional Leadership: Served as editor of Medical Anthropology Quarterly (2021-2024). Active as Faculty Fellow at Cornell's Atkinson Center for Sustainability and on the Steering Committee for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Collaborative Projects: Co-leads 'A Political Ecology of Value' with Josh Fisher, conducting cohort-based ethnography in Nicaraguan cooperatives and urban workshops that merge artistic practice with social theory to reimagine environmental movements.