ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the solidification of decisions into material devices. What Science and Technology Studies scholars call “Mundane artifacts” or “small technologies” are a good entry point into the history of aid. The history of Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) can help us grasp the historicity of humanitarian universalism. The universalization of the fight against hunger did not merely require “recognizing” that hunger was a global problem; it also required making hunger globally commensurable. Despite harsh critique, the industrialization of the MUAC tape has resulted in such massive diffusion of the tool that the conception of malnutrition is closely linked to it. The materialization of MUAC had rendered any criticism of it ineffective. Anthropometry is based on measuring growth failures and various bodily dis-proportions linked to known cases of pathology. The massive humanitarian intervention during the Biafran conflict led to a strategic connection between humanitarian organizations and tropical medicine.
