Abstract
This thesis research examines diabetes as one playing field on which Native groups and individuals reposition and reassert identity by simultaneously exploiting the language and premises of biomedicine to frame and to inform traditional Native concepts of health while also critiquing and resisting biomedical institutions and discourses. This multi-sited ethnography is conducted at the sites of biomedical studies of the genetic etiology of diabetes, national community-based healthcare education and prevention programs, and expert opinion or literature on Native California Cuisine and Culture.