Synergies: The Edinburgh Centre for Medical Anthropology, MAT, and a Shared Vision
Editorial for the April issue, 2024.
Category: English
The Political Life of Research Ethics Committees And What It Means for Ethnographic Research
This review discusses three pieces of work, that is, a conference panel and two books, that deal with the role of research ethics committees (RECs) in regulating biomedical research and medical anthropological research. We summarise the papers and conv…
Digital Intimacies and the Construction of Social Capital in a Heteronormative Society: A Study of Dating App Users in Indonesia
Dating apps are digital platforms that mediate meaningful relationships and facilitate digital intimacies. This study examines the construction of social capital by dating app users in Indonesia. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s and Robert D. Putnam’s concep…
The Paradox of Papuan Recognition After Two Decades of Special Autonomy: Racism, Violence, and Self-Determination
Indonesia’s relationship with Papua, its poorest and easternmost region, is still colored by racism. Despite 20 years of special autonomy law (OTSUS) and efforts to improve relations and the status of indigenous Papuans, a shocking incident of large…
Book Review: Kramer, E. A. (2022). The Candidate’s Dilemma. Anticorruptionism and Money Politics in Indonesian Election Campaigns.
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Navigating Precarity: Health and Safety Challenges in Southeast Asia’s Gig Economy Food Delivery Sector
This article examines the health and safety challenges of food delivery couriers in Southeast Asia within the gig economy, focusing on the roles of third-party platforms, like GrabFood, Foodpanda, and GoFood. It critically assesses how these platfor…
Editorial: Researching Digital Platforms and Dynamics of Civic Space
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Press Freedom in the Time of COVID-19: The Philippine Experience Under the Duterte Administration
The media plays an important role in disseminating vital information and being ‘watchdogs’ of government misconduct. Press freedom is constitutionally guaranteed in the Philippines, but the space for journalists and media companies continues to shrink….
Cultivating Care: Notes from a Mental Health Organisation in India
This Field Note reflects on the ethics and work of professional mental health care in the context of a non-profit counselling organisation in the city of Bengaluru, India. During fieldwork, having conversations with the counsellors and attending their …
Cultivating Care: Notes from a Mental Health Organisation in India
This Field Note reflects on the ethics and work of professional mental health care in the context of a non-profit counselling organisation in the city of Bengaluru, India. During fieldwork, having conversations with the counsellors and atten…
The Political Life of Research Ethics Committees And What It Means for Ethnographic Research
This review discusses three pieces of work, that is, a conference panel and two books, that deal with the role of research ethics committees (RECs) in regulating biomedical research and medical anthropological research. We summarise the papers and conv…
Making ‘Setgel’s Creature’ Mindful: Conceptual Change in Contemporary Mongolia
As globally circulating understandings of mental health and mindfulness practices gain popularity in Mongolia, they articulate with setgel, a localised concept that has been shaped by a constellation of historical forces. Loosely translated …
Pluralising Cancer
This Review essay seeks to interrogate the vast category of ‘cancer’. Taken together, the three books explored here pluralise cancer, locating it not just in organs and bodies but also in time and space—in the social, material, and historical specifici…
The Political Life of Research Ethics Committees And What It Means for Ethnographic Research
This review discusses three pieces of work, that is, a conference panel and two books, that deal with the role of research ethics committees (RECs) in regulating biomedical research and medical anthropological research. We summarise the pape…
Making ‘Setgel’s Creature’ Mindful: Conceptual Change in Contemporary Mongolia
As globally circulating understandings of mental health and mindfulness practices gain popularity in Mongolia, they articulate with setgel, a localised concept that has been shaped by a constellation of historical forces. Loosely translated as ‘mind’ i…
Concerning ‘Neglect’: Perspectives on the Prioritisation of Mental Health Conditions in Protracted Displacement Contexts
‘Neglect’ is a lucrative concept attracting billions of US dollars in research and development funding and transforming what is prioritised in global health. Stemming from a wider project aiming to improve healthcare at the intersection of g…
Concerning ‘Neglect’: Perspectives on the Prioritisation of Mental Health Conditions in Protracted Displacement Contexts
‘Neglect’ is a lucrative concept attracting billions of US dollars in research and development funding and transforming what is prioritised in global health. Stemming from a wider project aiming to improve healthcare at the intersection of gender and p…
The Butt of the Joke: Humour and Queer Care at an Anal Dysplasia Clinic
Based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork I conducted at an anal cancer prevention clinic in Chicago, USA, this article considers queer camp humour as a care practice to better understand how providers and patients navigate clinical inter…
The Butt of the Joke: Humour and Queer Care at an Anal Dysplasia Clinic
Based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork I conducted at an anal cancer prevention clinic in Chicago, USA, this article considers queer camp humour as a care practice to better understand how providers and patients navigate clinical interactions cen…
Invoking Senghor: Universal Healthcare Coverage and the Place of Culture in Senegal
Senegal introduced Couverture Maladie Universelle (CMU), its version of universal health coverage (UHC), in 2013, basing it on the establishment of mutual health insurance. Mutual health organisations (mutuelles de santé) manage the pooling …
Pluralising Cancer
This Review essay seeks to interrogate the vast category of ‘cancer’. Taken together, the three books explored here pluralise cancer, locating it not just in organs and bodies but also in time and space—in the social, material, and historical specifici…
Diversity amongst Decision Makers?: Workplace Inequality, Black Underrepresentation, and the Afterlife of Colonialism in NHS Governance
Whereas senior management within NHS England was once so monocultural that it was dubbed the ‘snowy white peaks of the NHS’, recent data suggests that things have begun to change. However, Black staff in particular are still underrepresented. Interview…
Invoking Senghor: Universal Healthcare Coverage and the Place of Culture in Senegal
Senegal introduced Couverture Maladie Universelle (CMU), its version of universal health coverage (UHC), in 2013, basing it on the establishment of mutual health insurance. Mutual health organisations (mutuelles de santé) manage the pooling of funds, i…
The Medical Tech Facilitator: An Emerging Position in Dutch Public Healthcare and Their Tinkering Practices
This article focuses on the emerging position of the ‘medical tech facilitator’ developed by practitioners in the Dutch public healthcare system. The analysis is based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Dutch hospitals. It highlights, firstly, t…
Cultivating Care: Notes from a Mental Health Organisation in India
This Field Note reflects on the ethics and work of professional mental health care in the context of a non-profit counselling organisation in the city of Bengaluru, India. During fieldwork, having conversations with the counsellors and attending their …