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Martha Lincoln

Professor of Medical and Cultural Anthropology, San Francisco State University
Chapter Leader: Bay Area SSN, California SSN
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About Martha

Lincoln's research focuses on the cultural politics of health, particularly in Vietnam but also in the United States and elsewhere. Lincoln's overarching themes in writings include the cultural significance of infectious disease, the political economy of health, and shifting patterns of access to health care.  Lincoln received a Scholars grant from the National Science Foundation to study medical crowdfunding for cancer in the US in 2020. Lincoln is an editor at the open-access journal Medicine Anthropology Theory and the weblog Somatosphere, and co-directs the Science, Technology, and Society Hub at San Francisco State University.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

It’s Time to Send Every American Free At-Home COVID Tests

  • Harris Solomon
Commentary,

Study the Role of Hubris in Nations’ COVID-19 Response, Many Countries That See Themselves As Distinctive Have Handled the Pandemic Badly

Commentary,

In the News

Opinion: "The Coronavirus Still Doesn’t Care About Your Feelings," Martha Lincoln (with Arijit Chakravarty), The Nation, October 13, 2023.
Opinion: "Ending Free Covid Tests, US Policy Is Now “You Do You”," Martha Lincoln, Health and Disease, The Nation, September 9, 2022.
Opinion: "Stop Telling Americans That They’re “Tired of Covid”," Martha Lincoln, Health and Disease, The Nation, August 18, 2022.
Opinion: "Biden’s “New Normal” on COVID Is Neither Normal nor New," Martha Lincoln (with Lorenzo Servitje), Analysis, Salon, June 26, 2022.
Opinion: "Gavin Newsom’s SMARTER Plan for COVID Could Definitely Be Smarter," Martha Lincoln, Opinion // Open Forum, San Francisco Chronicle, February 24, 2022.
Opinion: "Start Memorializing Covid-19's Victims Now," Martha Lincoln, Opinion, CNN, October 25, 2021.
Opinion: "The Missing Link of Biden’s COVID Strategy: Social Scientists," Martha Lincoln, Opinion, The Hill, November 23, 2020.

Publications

"Tainted Commons, Public Health: The Politico–Moral Significance of Cholera in Vietnam" International Journal for the Analysis of Health 28, no. 3 (2014): 342-361.

Uses a series of cholera outbreaks as a jumping-off point to explore the cultural politics of infectious disease in Vietnam, where transition to a market economy has complicated collective views of risk, morality, and responsibility.