Food Act, Social Normativity, and Type 2 Diabetes in Migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa
The advent of type 2 diabetes has long been associated with dietary behaviours. This is one of the behaviours most targeted by health care providers to restore health to people living with type 2 diabetes. These people are, individually, invited to carefully choose the foods they include in their daily diet while respecting the nutritional values, scientifically standardized calorie intake. This conception of food obscures the social and even identity dimensions of the act of eating. Based on preliminary data from our doctoral research on people from sub-Saharan Africa with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, or at risk of diabetes, we wish to demonstrate that the act of food constitutes a powerful manifestation of a social normativity which, in turn, makes it possible to create strong social ties within the communities of people sharing similar life stories, social, economic, and political postures.