Epidemics and violence from a feminist anthropological perspective
Tracing her experiences of nursing HIV patients early in the epidemic in the UK and Tanzania, Shelley Lees argues that epidemics are a feminist concern.
Drawing on her anthropological research of infectious disease epidemics she will critically reflect on the disproportionate burden of care, illness and poverty that women bear due to structural inequalities at global and local levels of public health response. This will include women’s experiences and engagement with biomedicine, including medical research. Shelley will situate the response to infectious disease epidemics alongside anthropological understandings of gender-based violence, which is a global epidemic, to argue that global health policies are dominated by male-focused health priorities. Drawing on theories of power, she will argue that feminist anthropology can provide feminist critique and grounded co-produced ethnographic accounts to inform women-centred approaches to epidemic preparedness and response.
Speaker
Professor Shelley Lees, LSHTM
Admission
Contact
