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- Convenor:
-
Maysoon Shafiq
(Sheffield Hallam University)
Send message to Convenor
- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Arts Lecture Room 2
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 8 April, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel explores anthropological approaches to minority health, examining challenges, opportunities, and ethical considerations in researching health disparities and promoting well-being among underserved social groups and communities.
Long Abstract:
This panel aims to explore the complex intersections of health, well-being, and marginalisation, focusing on how anthropology, including critical medical anthropology theories and methodologies, can examine the lived experiences of minority communities facing health disparities worldwide. Contributions will critically examine both the challenges and opportunities inherent in conducting research with marginalised groups, particularly in contexts where systemic neglect, discrimination and sociocultural factors contribute to significant inequities in health outcomes.
Through ethnographic studies, community-engaged research, and critical analysis, the discussion will address diverse topics, including access to healthcare, mental well-being, the impact of historical trauma, and the role of alternative care practices in promoting resilience, among others. The panel is also interested in addressing the ethical implications of academic research with vulnerable populations, engaging in a critical dialogue on how to ensure that research practices do not perpetuate harm and inequalities but instead contribute to social justice and empowerment.
By centring the debate on minority voices and perspectives, this panel aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how anthropology can help address and mitigate health disparities, highlighting both the potential for positive change and the responsibilities that come with such work.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 8 April, 2025, -Paper Short Abstract:
With a population of approximately 70 million people living in the UK, we are witnessing a significant increase in diversity. This ethnographic study aims to engage with the Pakistani community and health professionals to collect their perspectives on palliative care.
Paper Abstract:
Although palliative care is a relatively recent addition to modern healthcare, it is becoming increasingly acknowledged as a vital component of all healthcare systems. The definitions of palliative care may vary, even within the same country, highlighting the evolving nature of this critical aspect of healthcare. World Health Organisation (WHO) defines palliative care as a crucial part of integrated, people-centred health services. However, there are still barriers limiting access to palliative care worldwide.
The number of British Pakistani Muslims in the UK has been on the rise. According to the Office for National Statistics, Pakistani Muslims constitute the second-largest ethnic minority population in the UK and the second-largest sub-group of British Asians. The available evidence suggests a growing disparity between the current model of end-of-life care and the health needs of religious and ethnic communities, particularly among Muslims. This is reflected in the poor uptake of advanced care planning and hospice services, including community-based services and on-site care.
This research will provide insights into the various factors, including religious, cultural, social, and economic, that contribute to the low uptake of palliative care in this demographic by adopting an ethnographic approach and interviewing medical practitioners, patients and their family members. Additionally, the study will explore the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of participants with the goal of enhancing the accessibility of palliative care services. By analysing empirical data, the research will generate evidence-based recommendations for improving the uptake, accessibility, and delivery of palliative care services.
Paper Short Abstract:
Recognition of worrying racial disparities in maternal and newborn outcomes has prompted more routine, early interventions. Drawing on 2 research studies and risk theory, I will discuss how changes intended to address disparities in outcomes may engender neglect through treating PoC as risky bodies.
Paper Abstract:
After a long period of inattention, the disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes in Britain have become a focus of concern. Mortality monitoring systems show significant differences in risk of poor outcomes for Black and South Asian women and their babies and qualitative studies and surveys have highlighted less positive experiences of care. This is not a new phenomenon – in the late 1990s our research reported that these women had worse experiences of care or informed choices and that greater continuity of midwifery carer could help to address this problem. Now that disparity is being given attention in the media, in research and in health services, there has been a shift to increase medicalisation – for example, routine early induction of labour. The concept of maternal vulnerability is deployed with good intentions, but in-effect locates vulnerability in the person rather than in the structural and social context that shapes health. Activist groups have criticised medical actions to address disparities for treating people-of-colour (as well as poor women) as ‘risky bodies’ without consideration of the impact of socio-political environments on their health and wellbeing, or the impact of racism in everyday life and in care encounters. I will draw on two of our recent studies, one focused on induction of labour and the other on a group model of antenatal care, plus anthropological risk theory to discuss critically the direction of health actions to address disparities and ask, are the most important issues being neglected?
Paper Short Abstract:
Gender-based violence remains one of the most persistent human rights issues of our time. We presents the ethnographic fieldwork to understand and describe the experiences, motives and feelings of women who receive treatment for drug abuse and who have suffered violence in Andalusia.
Paper Abstract:
Gender-based violence remains one of the most persistent and pressing human rights issues of our time. In fact, it reinvents itself in different ways intersectionally based on age, rural or urban residence, or the type of psychoactive substance use of women who are assaulted. In the field of drug dependence, gender-based violence has been seen as a barrier to access to treatment for women in need of help. However, as research in this field advances, we believe that it is much more, because of the impact it has on the lives and health of women who use or abuse drugs and because of its bidirectional nature: women who are victims of gender violence abuse substances to cope with their discomfort and, in the opposite direction, having problems with drugs exposes them to abusing drugs to a greater extent than women who do not have them.
We presents the ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the context of a research project carried out in Andalucía (España). Through an ethnographic approach we have used life stories to collect data. Our aim has been to understand and describe the experiences, motives and feelings of women who receive treatment for drug abuse and who have suffered violence, in order to make the intervention more comprehensive and effective.
From direct contact with the women who have been interviewed in their treatment centres, I will reflect on the experience and personal feelings and also on the ethical problems with a population in extreme vulnerability.
Paper Short Abstract:
This study explores the lived experiences of three women and their families during their process of re-settlement in Norway.
Paper Abstract:
One of the women, Zhara, comments on her hair turning white, symbolizing the intense hardships, traumatic memories, and the ongoing pressures of adapting to a new environment, complicated by health challenges. Based on a year of ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observation and in-depth interviews with three refugee women and their families, the study provides an ethnographic approach to everyday life. Knowledge from the lived experiences among refugee women is not readily accessible. It requires the establishment of trust-based relationships; being present and being together with the interlocutors over time.
Refugees in Norway are a minority which are facing health disparities. They report poorer health compared to refugee men and the general population and are more vulnerable to Othering, loneliness, and marginalization. Our findings show the important and complex relationship between family ties, flight, and health. The bonds between familial members seems to play an important role in proving strength and support, which emerges as crucial for the adaptation process and well-being of the three women. Although not in unproblematic ways. Accessing sensitive topics within such groups can be demanding; however, ethnography, through face-to-face interrelationship, can provide the necessary knowledge and insights to this understudied group.