Noémi Tousignant

Noémi Tousignant is a Researcher in the Department of History at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Université de Montréal. Her work focuses on the history of science and public health in late-colonial and postcolonial Africa, particularly Senegal. She investigates themes such as scientific capacity, the afterlives of scientific materiality, civic subjectivities in relation to scientific expertise, and gaps in health protection caused by toxic exposures.

Her research combines archival, material, oral, and ethnographic methods. Key areas include the social and material dimensions of global health inequalities, the role of science in public service, and the historical trajectories of medical infrastructure in Africa. She collaborates with the MEOS research group (Le Médicament comme Objet Social) at Université de Montréal.

Tousignant’s publications explore topics like the environmental impact of pesticides in the Sahel, the political economy of peanut cultivation in Senegal, and the emergence of global health frameworks. Her work highlights how historical legacies shape contemporary health systems and scientific capacity.

Her recent projects include Edges of Exposure: Toxicology and the Problem of Capacity in Postcolonial Senegal (Duke University Press, forthcoming), examining toxicology’s role in health protection gaps. Other notable works analyze pain measurement technologies and the colonial history of pharmaceuticals in Vietnam.

Tousignant’s research bridges history, anthropology, and public health, offering critical insights into the intersections of science, governance, and inequality in Africa and beyond.