Amy K McLennan
University of Oxford, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Department Member
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ethnography, Medical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, and 32 moreBiomedicine, Transnationalism, Anthropology of Food, Anthropology of the Body, Embodiment, Economic Anthropology, Nutrition, Human Behavioral Ecology, Obesity, Bodies and Culture, Food, Food Security and Insecurity, Ecological Anthropology, Pacific Island Studies, Anthropology Of Consumption, Food Systems, Foodways (Anthropology), Critical Medical Anthropology, Gastronomy, Fat Studies, Anthropology of Time, Food Policy, Physiological Ecology, Gift Giving (Economic Anthropology), Sensory Ecology, Sensory Ethnography, Behavioral Economics, Behavioral Ecology, Sociology of Food and Eating, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Humanities, and Computer Scienceedit
- I’m a researcher, facilitator, educator and synthesiser. I work at the intersections of human wellbeing, society, tec... moreI’m a researcher, facilitator, educator and synthesiser. I work at the intersections of human wellbeing, society, technology and ecology.
As an ethnographic researcher, I work on topics that sit between fields and sectors, including non-communicable disease, food, chronic inflammation, cybernetics, health technology.
As a policy analyst, I worked on projects that spanned multiple agencies, such as women's safety, innovation, capacity building, technology procurement.
As an educator, I'm most at home teaching students how to make sense of complex topics and wrangle multiple perspectives with rigour, creativity, and a bit of a sense of humour.
As a facilitator, I work best with cross- disciplinary, cross-sectoral or cross-generational groups who seek ways to collaborate to make something new.
As a colleague, I am open, honest and committed to a team. I have a deep sense of community, having grown up in the Aussie countryside, and I like to infuse complexity, creativity and curiosity into my work.edit
""Locket's 3D Anatomy Cutouts provides a practical approach to learning human anatomy. It contains a series of paper cutouts that isolate various functional components and anatomical regions. In this authoritive resource, every student... more
""Locket's 3D Anatomy Cutouts provides a practical approach to learning human anatomy. It contains a series of paper cutouts that isolate various functional components and anatomical regions.
In this authoritive resource, every student can label, colour in, cut out and join parts together to create in-depth, three-dimensional anatomical diagrams. This unique book encourages students to become active, hands-on learners away from the dissecting room. It is ideal for all students in health and medical-related subjects where an understanding of human anatomy is essential. Full instructions for each cutout, as well as questions highlighting important points, allow students to build a strong understanding of anatomical relationships and functions while simultaneously building a model that can be used for future reference.
UK URL: http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/1743076517.html
Australia URL: http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.au/html/9781743076514.html
In this authoritive resource, every student can label, colour in, cut out and join parts together to create in-depth, three-dimensional anatomical diagrams. This unique book encourages students to become active, hands-on learners away from the dissecting room. It is ideal for all students in health and medical-related subjects where an understanding of human anatomy is essential. Full instructions for each cutout, as well as questions highlighting important points, allow students to build a strong understanding of anatomical relationships and functions while simultaneously building a model that can be used for future reference.
UK URL: http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/1743076517.html
Australia URL: http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.au/html/9781743076514.html
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Cybernetics and Big Data
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Public health interventions that involve strategies to re-localise food fail in part because they pay insufficient attention to the global history of industrial food and agriculture. In this paper we use the method of comparative... more
Public health interventions that involve strategies to re-localise food fail in part because they pay insufficient attention to the global history of industrial food and agriculture. In this paper we use the method of comparative ethnography and the concept of structural violence to illustrate how historical and geographical patterns related to colonialism and industrialisation (e.g. agrarian change, power relations and trade dependencies) hinder efforts to address diet-related non-communicable diseases on two small islands. We find comparative ethnography provides a useful framework for cross-country analysis of public health programmes that can complement quantitative analysis. At the same time, the concept of structural violence enables us to make sense of qualitative material and link the failure of such programmes to wider historical and geographical processes. We use ethnographic research carried out from. Our island case studies share commonalities that point to similar experiences of colonialism and industrialisation and comparable health-related challenges faced in everyday life.
Research Interests:
Background: Pacific Islanders have experienced over 50 years of obesity interventions—the longest of any region in the world. Yet, obesity-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) continue to rise. ‘Traditional’ body norms have been cited... more
Background: Pacific Islanders have experienced over 50 years of obesity interventions—the longest of any region in the world. Yet, obesity-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) continue to rise. ‘Traditional’ body norms have been cited as barriers to these interventions.
Aim: In this study, we ask: ‘What is the relationship between health interventions, body norms and people’s experience of “fatness”? How – and why – have these changed over time?’ We study two nations with high rates of obesity: Nauru and Samoa. Subjects and methods: Ethnographic fieldwork with people in everyday and clinical settings in Samoa (2011–2012; 2017) and Nauru (2010–2011).
Results: Body norms are not a single or universal set of values. Instead, multiple cultural influences—including global health, local community members and global media—interact to create a complex landscape of contradictory body norms.
Conclusions: Body norms and body size interventions exist in an iterative relationship. Our findings suggest that Pacific island obesity interventions do not fail because they conflict with local body norms; rather, they fail because they powerfully re-shape body norms in ways that confuse and counteract their intended purpose. Left unacknowledged, this appears to have (unintended) consequences for the success of anti-obesity interventions.
Aim: In this study, we ask: ‘What is the relationship between health interventions, body norms and people’s experience of “fatness”? How – and why – have these changed over time?’ We study two nations with high rates of obesity: Nauru and Samoa. Subjects and methods: Ethnographic fieldwork with people in everyday and clinical settings in Samoa (2011–2012; 2017) and Nauru (2010–2011).
Results: Body norms are not a single or universal set of values. Instead, multiple cultural influences—including global health, local community members and global media—interact to create a complex landscape of contradictory body norms.
Conclusions: Body norms and body size interventions exist in an iterative relationship. Our findings suggest that Pacific island obesity interventions do not fail because they conflict with local body norms; rather, they fail because they powerfully re-shape body norms in ways that confuse and counteract their intended purpose. Left unacknowledged, this appears to have (unintended) consequences for the success of anti-obesity interventions.
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ABSTRACT Background: Dietary surveys are frequently used as the basis for theorising nutritional change and diet-related non-communicable disease emergence (DR-NCD) in the Pacific islands. However, findings from historical survey data do... more
ABSTRACT
Background: Dietary surveys are frequently used as the basis for theorising nutritional change and diet-related non-communicable disease emergence (DR-NCD) in the Pacific islands. However, findings
from historical survey data do not always align with ethnographic evidence.
Aims: This paper aims to examine the extent to which the two types of evidence can lead to similar conclusions, and draw out the implications for current theories of, and interventions addressing, nutritional change.
Subjects and methods: Dietary surveys carried out on Nauru between 1927 and 1979 are reviewed and compared with ethnographic evidence documented by social researchers across the colonial and
post-colonial periods.
Results: This comparison reveals several shortcomings of survey data. Nutritional issues considered to be relatively recent—such as high-fat, low-fibre diets and transition to imported foods—occurred a century ago in our analysis and point to a long history of nutrition policy and intervention failure. Further, there is limited evidence that caloric intake overall increased significantly over this period of time in Nauru.
Conclusions: Theories of dietary change and DR-NCD emergence and resulting interventions could be improved through a more holistic approach to nutrition that integrates sociocultural and historical evidence about both the target population and the scientists doing the research.
Background: Dietary surveys are frequently used as the basis for theorising nutritional change and diet-related non-communicable disease emergence (DR-NCD) in the Pacific islands. However, findings
from historical survey data do not always align with ethnographic evidence.
Aims: This paper aims to examine the extent to which the two types of evidence can lead to similar conclusions, and draw out the implications for current theories of, and interventions addressing, nutritional change.
Subjects and methods: Dietary surveys carried out on Nauru between 1927 and 1979 are reviewed and compared with ethnographic evidence documented by social researchers across the colonial and
post-colonial periods.
Results: This comparison reveals several shortcomings of survey data. Nutritional issues considered to be relatively recent—such as high-fat, low-fibre diets and transition to imported foods—occurred a century ago in our analysis and point to a long history of nutrition policy and intervention failure. Further, there is limited evidence that caloric intake overall increased significantly over this period of time in Nauru.
Conclusions: Theories of dietary change and DR-NCD emergence and resulting interventions could be improved through a more holistic approach to nutrition that integrates sociocultural and historical evidence about both the target population and the scientists doing the research.
Research Interests:
Loneliness was recently described in The Lancet as a public health problem that needs to be solved by the medical community (Feb 3, p 426).1 We believe that the medicalisation of loneliness in this way is damaging, especially at a time... more
Loneliness was recently described in The Lancet as a public health problem that needs to be solved by the medical community (Feb 3, p 426).1 We believe that the medicalisation of loneliness in this way is damaging, especially at a time when the issue is making its way into public understanding...
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This paper considers food as a site of public engagement with science and technology. Specifically, we focus on how public engagement with food is envisioned and operationalised by one non-profit organisation, foodwatch. Founded in... more
This paper considers food as a site of public engagement with science and technology. Specifically, we focus on how public engagement with food is envisioned and operationalised by one non-profit organisation, foodwatch. Founded in Germany in 2002, foodwatch extensively uses new information and communication technologies to inform consumers about problematic food industry practices. In this paper, we present our analysis of 50 foodwatch e-newsletters published over a period of one year (2013). We define foodwatch’s approach as ‘governance by campaign’ – an approach marked by simultaneously constituting: (a) key food governance issues, (b) affective publics that address these topics of governance through ICT-enabled media and (c) independent food and food-related expertise. We conclude our paper with a discussion of foodwatch’s mode of ‘governance by campaign’ and the democratic limits and potentials of a governance mode that is based on invited participation.
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Social media are being increasingly used for health promotion, yet the landscape of users, messages and interactions in such fora is poorly understood. Studies of social media and diabetes have focused mostly on patients, or public... more
Social media are being increasingly used for health promotion, yet the landscape of users, messages and interactions in such fora is poorly understood. Studies of social media and diabetes have focused mostly on patients, or public agencies addressing it, but have not looked broadly at all of the participants or the diversity of content they contribute. We study Twitter conversations about diabetes through the systematic analysis of 2.5 million tweets collected over 8 months and the interactions between their authors. We address three questions. (1) What themes arise in these tweets? (2) Who are the most influential users? (3) Which type of users contribute to which themes? We answer these questions using a mixed-methods approach, integrating techniques from anthropology, network science and information retrieval such as thematic coding, temporal network analysis and community and topic detection. Diabetes-related tweets fall within broad thematic groups: health information, news, social interaction and commercial. At the same time, humorous messages and references to popular culture appear consistently, more than any other type of tweet. We classify authors according to their temporal 'hub' and 'authority' scores. Whereas the hub landscape is diffuse and fluid over time, top authorities are highly persistent across time and comprise bloggers, advocacy groups and NGOs related to diabetes, as well as for-profit entities without specific diabetes expertise. Top authorities fall into seven interest communities as derived from their Twitter follower network. Our findings have implications for public health professionals and policy makers who seek to use social media as an engagement tool and to inform policy design.
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The small Pacific island of Nauru has the highest rate of obesity in the world; this has partly been attributed to a dietary transition from local to imported foods. Nutritional health interventions have included programmes to encourage... more
The small Pacific island of Nauru has the highest rate of obesity in the world; this has partly been attributed to a dietary transition from local to imported foods. Nutritional health interventions have included programmes to encourage the establishment of household kitchen gardens and local community farms to supply the people of Nauru with fresh produce. In this chapter, I draw on long-term ethnographic fieldwork to explore why these alternatives to the industrial food system have not only failed to thrive in Nauru, but have also become spaces for contestation and social friction. Further, rather than improve diets in a sustainable way, these donor-funded development initiatives have appeared to instead strengthen existing power and health inequalities. I suggest that such initiatives may be unsuccessful because in focusing on food they do not take into account long-term social ties, relations and hierarchies that structure food networks over time. In order to understand the successes and failures of a nation’s efforts to produce healthy food for its citizens, it is necessary to interrogate the politics and social relations underpinning (post)colonial patterns of land use, food supply and demand.
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A comparative review of models that have been used to conceptualise obesity, and what we can learn from them.
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(2016) McLennan AK. Book review: Moffat T & Prowse T (2010) “Human Diet and Nutrition in Biocultural Perspective. Past Meets Present” and Brewis AA (2011) “Obesity. Cultural and Biocultural Perspectives” Open Anthropology 4(2). Online... more
(2016) McLennan AK. Book review: Moffat T & Prowse T (2010) “Human Diet and Nutrition in Biocultural Perspective. Past Meets Present” and Brewis AA (2011) “Obesity. Cultural and Biocultural Perspectives” Open Anthropology 4(2). Online feature reprint of previous review.
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Since 1997, and despite several political changes, obesity policy in the UK has overwhelmingly framed obesity as a problem of individual responsibility. Reports, policies and interventions have emphasized that it is the responsibility of... more
Since 1997, and despite several political changes, obesity policy in the UK has overwhelmingly framed obesity as a problem of individual responsibility. Reports, policies and interventions have emphasized that it is the responsibility of individual consumers to make personal changes to reduce obesity. The Foresight Report ‘Tackling Obesities: Future Choices’ (2007) attempted to reframe obesity as a complex problem that required multiple sites of intervention well beyond the range of personal responsibility. This framing formed the basis for policy and coincided with increasing acknowledgement of the complex nature of obesity in obesity research. Yet policy and interventions developed following Foresight, such as the Change4Life social marketing campaign, targeted individual consumer behaviour. With the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government of 2011, intervention shifted to corporate and individual responsibility, making corporations voluntarily responsible for motivating individual consumers to change. This article examines shifts in the framing of obesity from a problem of individual responsibility, towards collective responsibility, and back to the individual in UK government reports, policies and interventions between 1997 and 2015. We show that UK obesity policies reflect the landscape of policymakers, advisors, political pressures and values, as much as, if not more than, the landscape of evidence. The view that the individual should be the central site for obesity prevention and intervention has remained central to the political framing of population-level obesity, despite strong evidence contrary to this. Power dynamics in obesity governance processes have remained unchallenged by the UK government, and individualistic framing of obesity policy continues to offer the path of least resistance.
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Anatomical dissection has begun to reveal striking similarities between gross anatomical structures and the system of nomenclature used in traditional Chinese acupuncture. This paper argues that acupuncture point nomenclature is rooted in... more
Anatomical dissection has begun to reveal striking similarities between gross anatomical structures and the system of nomenclature used in traditional Chinese acupuncture. This
paper argues that acupuncture point nomenclature is rooted in systematic anatomical investigation of cadaveric specimens, and that acupuncture points and meridians are purposefully named to reflect observable physical form.
Two types of evidence are compared: observations of physical structures based on anatomical dissection, and translation and analysis of original Chinese texts. Evidence is contextualised
through in-depth practical understanding of acupuncture. Points designated as 天 tian (heavenly/superior), 下 xia (below/inferior), 髎 liao (bone-hole), 飛 fei (flying), 委wei (bend)
and 谿 xi (mountain stream/ravine) are investigated. These acupuncture point names: (a) specify position; (b) reflect function and/or form; (c) indicate homologous structures; (d)
mark unusual structures; and/or (e) describe the physical appearance of a deep (dissected) structure by likening it to a homologous everyday object. Results raise intriguing possibilities for developing an understanding of acupuncture points and meridians firmly based in the material and functional anatomy of the human body. Such an understanding has the potential to open new fields of thought about functional anatomy. It also has implications for future investigations into the mechanisms of acupuncture, and gives some insights into the possible origins of this iconic area of Chinese medicine.
paper argues that acupuncture point nomenclature is rooted in systematic anatomical investigation of cadaveric specimens, and that acupuncture points and meridians are purposefully named to reflect observable physical form.
Two types of evidence are compared: observations of physical structures based on anatomical dissection, and translation and analysis of original Chinese texts. Evidence is contextualised
through in-depth practical understanding of acupuncture. Points designated as 天 tian (heavenly/superior), 下 xia (below/inferior), 髎 liao (bone-hole), 飛 fei (flying), 委wei (bend)
and 谿 xi (mountain stream/ravine) are investigated. These acupuncture point names: (a) specify position; (b) reflect function and/or form; (c) indicate homologous structures; (d)
mark unusual structures; and/or (e) describe the physical appearance of a deep (dissected) structure by likening it to a homologous everyday object. Results raise intriguing possibilities for developing an understanding of acupuncture points and meridians firmly based in the material and functional anatomy of the human body. Such an understanding has the potential to open new fields of thought about functional anatomy. It also has implications for future investigations into the mechanisms of acupuncture, and gives some insights into the possible origins of this iconic area of Chinese medicine.
Research Interests:
During our research fieldwork to date, we have experienced first-hand the devastating impacts that such diseases have on individuals, families and communities in some PICTs. We have also observed different attempts to prevent and treat... more
During our research fieldwork to date, we have experienced first-hand the devastating impacts that such diseases have on individuals, families and communities in some PICTs. We have also observed different attempts to prevent and treat diabetes, and heard reactions and responses to them on a daily basis. Our fieldwork research is specific to certain PICTs, particularly the Cook Islands (Ulijaszek, 9 months), Papua New Guinea (Ulijaszek, 40 months) and Nauru (McLennan, 11 months). While it is important to avoid essentializing the Pacific islands and the people who live on them, as they have unique and varied social lives and social histories, our research can inform thinking about diabetes aetiology more broadly. Here, we offer one anthropological perspective based on our observations, and sketch three points of potential relevance to clinicians.
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The framing of obesity as a lifestyle disease invites anthropological attention. While lifestyle is widely applied to obesity both academically and in everyday language, no single discipline appears to have clearly defined the term. I... more
The framing of obesity as a lifestyle disease invites anthropological attention. While lifestyle is widely applied to obesity both academically and in everyday language, no single discipline appears to have clearly defined the term. I begin by reviewing the theoretical development of the concept of ‘lifestyle’. I then consider how lifestyle is understood in research relating to the high levels of obesity in Nauru, showing that the concept is widely used but poorly defined. I draw on ethnographic findings from Nauru to illustrate how a sociocultural understanding of lifestyle – or everyday ways of life – captures details that are overlooked in epidemiological or public health constructs of lifestyle. In Nauru, for example, good health or the good life (mo tsimorum) is a feeling that can be derived from both good social relationships and the absence of biomedical disease. In this case, human health as it relates to obesity is dynamic and relational rather than mechanistic or deterministic. I argue for the re-appropriation of lifestyle as a sociocultural concept underpinned by modes of production, relations of power, social exchanges, social values, education and status-seeking. If it is carefully defined and accurately applied, the concept of lifestyle has the potential to conceptually unify and contextualize existing disparate aspects of obesity-related research (or research on ‘lifestyle factors’), as well as the potential to bring new sociocultural perspectives to such research.
Research Interests:
Objective Between 1980 and 2008, two Pacific island nations – Nauru and the Cook Islands – experienced the fastest rates of increasing BMI in the world. Rates were over four times higher than the mean global BMI increase. The aim of the... more
Objective Between 1980 and 2008, two Pacific island nations – Nauru and the Cook Islands – experienced the fastest rates of increasing BMI in the world. Rates were over four times higher than the mean global BMI increase. The aim of the present paper is to examine why these populations have been so prone to obesity increases in recent times.
Design Three explanatory frames that apply to both countries are presented: (i) geographic isolation and genetic predisposition; (ii) small population and low food production capacity; and (iii) social change under colonial influence. These are compared with social changes documented by anthropologists during the colonial and post-colonial periods.
Setting Nauru and the Cook Islands.
Results While islands are isolated, islanders are interconnected. Similarly, islands are small, but land use is socially determined. While obesity affects individuals, islanders are interdependent. New social values, which were rapidly propagated through institutions such as the colonial system of education and the cash economy, are today reflected in all aspects of islander life, including diet. Such historical social changes may predispose societies to obesity.
Conclusions Colonial processes may have put in place the conditions for subsequent rapidly escalating obesity. Of the three frameworks discussed, social change under colonial influence is not immutable to further change in the future and could take place rapidly. In theorising obesity emergence in the Pacific islands, there is a need to incorporate the idea of obesity being a product of interdependence and interconnectedness, rather than independence and individual choice.
Design Three explanatory frames that apply to both countries are presented: (i) geographic isolation and genetic predisposition; (ii) small population and low food production capacity; and (iii) social change under colonial influence. These are compared with social changes documented by anthropologists during the colonial and post-colonial periods.
Setting Nauru and the Cook Islands.
Results While islands are isolated, islanders are interconnected. Similarly, islands are small, but land use is socially determined. While obesity affects individuals, islanders are interdependent. New social values, which were rapidly propagated through institutions such as the colonial system of education and the cash economy, are today reflected in all aspects of islander life, including diet. Such historical social changes may predispose societies to obesity.
Conclusions Colonial processes may have put in place the conditions for subsequent rapidly escalating obesity. Of the three frameworks discussed, social change under colonial influence is not immutable to further change in the future and could take place rapidly. In theorising obesity emergence in the Pacific islands, there is a need to incorporate the idea of obesity being a product of interdependence and interconnectedness, rather than independence and individual choice.
Research Interests:
KEY POINTS • Introduction • Begins with Mintz’s [1] landmark work on sugar. • Three decades later, sugary products are now consumer items in the contemporary era of global food corporations, mass consumption, and food marketing. •... more
KEY POINTS
• Introduction
• Begins with Mintz’s [1] landmark work on sugar.
• Three decades later, sugary products are now consumer items in the contemporary era
of global food corporations, mass consumption, and food marketing.
• This chapter considers the experiences that sugary products evoke via sensory and
social meanings.
• This is done by paying attention to advertising slogans and campaigns of well-known
sugary consumer products.
• The experience of sugars: space, time, and reward
• Meaning in sugary foods is often implicitly created and communicated through slogans,
labels, and placement of foods.
• These foods can either create time or save time, evoke the local or the exotic.
• The feeling sugars inspire can be interpreted as refreshing, enjoyable, satiating or
rewarding (sugar-free equivalents are less-commonly advertised in this way).
• Sugars and identity: clear brands, ambivalent consumption
• Products can reinforce identity and status.
• Sugars have ambiguous positions; use of sugars as a reward can be considered good
or bad parenting; sugars may be framed as natural and synthetic/refined; shared and
secretive.
• Conclusion
• Our preference for sugars and sweetness is linked to biological and social factors.
• When Mintz wrote in 1985, meanings were created at the intersections between consumers
and larger political forces.
• Today these meanings are more often created by corporations for the purposes of selling
food products.
• Introduction
• Begins with Mintz’s [1] landmark work on sugar.
• Three decades later, sugary products are now consumer items in the contemporary era
of global food corporations, mass consumption, and food marketing.
• This chapter considers the experiences that sugary products evoke via sensory and
social meanings.
• This is done by paying attention to advertising slogans and campaigns of well-known
sugary consumer products.
• The experience of sugars: space, time, and reward
• Meaning in sugary foods is often implicitly created and communicated through slogans,
labels, and placement of foods.
• These foods can either create time or save time, evoke the local or the exotic.
• The feeling sugars inspire can be interpreted as refreshing, enjoyable, satiating or
rewarding (sugar-free equivalents are less-commonly advertised in this way).
• Sugars and identity: clear brands, ambivalent consumption
• Products can reinforce identity and status.
• Sugars have ambiguous positions; use of sugars as a reward can be considered good
or bad parenting; sugars may be framed as natural and synthetic/refined; shared and
secretive.
• Conclusion
• Our preference for sugars and sweetness is linked to biological and social factors.
• When Mintz wrote in 1985, meanings were created at the intersections between consumers
and larger political forces.
• Today these meanings are more often created by corporations for the purposes of selling
food products.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Material objects, performance art or events often inspire animated thought and discussion about a wide range of topics. In this series, various UBVO Fellows, Associates and students are presented with a 'tool to think' and an... more
Material objects, performance art or events often inspire animated thought and discussion about a wide range of topics. In this series, various UBVO Fellows, Associates and students are presented with a 'tool to think' and an obesity-related topic, and are invited to contribute a short opinion paper linking the two. These papers are indended for a general readership. In this paper, inspired by Jake and Dinos Chapmans' sculpture, DPhil student Amy McLennan writes about obesity in the Pacific Islands.
The Berlin Roundtables on Transnationality are jointly organized by the Irmgard Coninx Foundation, the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and the Humboldt-University Berlin. They provide a forum for international young academics... more
The Berlin Roundtables on Transnationality are jointly organized by the Irmgard Coninx Foundation, the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and the Humboldt-University Berlin. They provide a forum for international young academics and journalists to discuss the political and social challenges facing a global civil society. The Berlin Roundtables are international conferences that consist of workshops and lecture series for 30 to 65 participants selected by an international jury based on essay competitions. Unlike the buzzword globalization which refers mainly to an economic trend, the concept of transnationality aims at a broader political, social and cultural perspective. How can a global civil society respond to challenges that do not stop at national borders? By addressing different thematic areas, the Berlin Roundtables intend to foster an understanding of the complex interrelations of global societal processes and nationally structured conditions.
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An interview with Vicky Hallett, a reporter for the NPR blog 'Goats and Soda: Stories of Life in a Changing World', who asks why Nauru is an outlier in IFPRI's 2015 Global Nutrition Report.
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Featured research on ScienceDaily, following an article in PHN (2014)
Reports and policy documents resulting from the Think Tanks. Facilitator for Think Tank 1: Tackling Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs): Lifestyle options for improved nutrition and well being.
Article by Sarah Knapton in the Telegraph covering our article in PHN (2014).
Article by Madlen Davies in the Daily Mail citing PHN (2014) article.
This project aims to develop a digital, collaborative museum for Nauru, a remote country that currently doesn’t have a physical museum. Contributions could be made to the open-access museum by anyone – local residents (instead of relying... more
This project aims to develop a digital, collaborative museum for Nauru, a remote country that currently doesn’t have a physical museum. Contributions could be made to the open-access museum by anyone – local residents (instead of relying on Facebook for this!), international archives or researchers like me – and both contributed material and peoples’ responses to them could be used as a basis for future research, innovation and collaboration.
Australia's own prestigious postgraduate scholarships. John Monash Scholars are selected on the basis of their demonstrated and potential leadership contribution to their fields of endeavour and to the Australian and global community.... more
Australia's own prestigious postgraduate scholarships. John Monash Scholars are selected on the basis of their demonstrated and potential leadership contribution to their fields of endeavour and to the Australian and global community. Funding for DPhil degree.
Bursary used to support doctoral research fieldwork (long-term) in the Republic of Nauru.
The Arthur Maurice Hocart Prize, established in 1948 under the will of the Mrs EG Hocart in memory of her husband, is awarded for the best essay on an anthropological subject by a student of any nationality registered for a postgraduate... more
The Arthur Maurice Hocart Prize, established in 1948 under the will of the Mrs EG Hocart in memory of her husband, is awarded for the best essay on an anthropological subject by a student of any nationality registered for a postgraduate degree in any branch of anthropology at a British or Irish institution.
The Clarendon Fund is a major graduate scholarship scheme at the University of Oxford, offering over 100 new scholarships every year. Awards are made based on academic excellence and potential across all subject areas, enabling the most... more
The Clarendon Fund is a major graduate scholarship scheme at the University of Oxford, offering over 100 new scholarships every year. Awards are made based on academic excellence and potential across all subject areas, enabling the most distinguished scholars to study at Oxford University, one of the world's top five universities and the oldest university in the English-speaking world.
Full funding for MPhil degree.
Full funding for MPhil degree.
Clarendon-linked award.
The purpose of the scholarship is to assist students to undertake part of their course of study overseas to enhance their Flinders University studies by providing an international perspective. The scholarship is awarded for one full-time... more
The purpose of the scholarship is to assist students to undertake part of their course of study overseas to enhance their Flinders University studies by providing an international perspective. The scholarship is awarded for one full-time semester of study undertaken overseas.
Used for study of French language and New Caledonian cultural diversity at CREIPAC, Noumea (New Caledonia).
Used for study of French language and New Caledonian cultural diversity at CREIPAC, Noumea (New Caledonia).
A Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation is awarded to a student whose academic performance is outstanding in a year of study in an undergraduate or postgraduate coursework program. The award is determined by the Examinations Board of the... more
A Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation is awarded to a student whose academic performance is outstanding in a year of study in an undergraduate or postgraduate coursework program. The award is determined by the Examinations Board of the Faculty.
A Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation is awarded to a student whose academic performance is outstanding in a year of study in an undergraduate or postgraduate coursework program. The award is determined by the Examinations Board of the... more
A Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation is awarded to a student whose academic performance is outstanding in a year of study in an undergraduate or postgraduate coursework program. The award is determined by the Examinations Board of the Faculty.
Research Interests:
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to take urgent collective action to reduce violence against women and their children. On 1 April 2016, the COAG Advisory Panel on Reducing Violence against Women and their Children... more
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to take urgent collective action to reduce violence against women and their children. On 1 April 2016, the COAG Advisory Panel on Reducing Violence against Women and their Children submitted its final report to COAG, containing six areas for action and 28 recommendations.
A team from the Project Office and Office for Women (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet) collaborated to prepare the report.
A team from the Project Office and Office for Women (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet) collaborated to prepare the report.