Of Biomedicine and Barami: Melioidosis and the Politics of Visibility in Global Health

This article is about how melioidosis, a historically little-known infectious disease, came to be constructed as an object of evidence and rendered visible within global health. I consider the production of knowledge on melioidosis in Thailand, focusing particularly on spaces of scientific research and policy, and examining the social relations required to make the disease visible at both a national and international scale. My research demonstrates how barami, a social capital distinct to Thai culture, is cultivated alongside scientific knowledge in ways that give prominence to the researchers involved while magnifying the disease and its research sites.