Medical Anthropology, Political Anthropology
Anthropology of Organisation (international institutions, civil society, health systems)
Science and Technology Studies, Public Health, Epidemiology, Gender

Research Area(s)
West Africa (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia)

Profile
Anita Schroven is researching the effects of the Ebola outbreak on West African societies, especially the conceptualizations and practices with normalcy, exception and crisis as well as differing experiences of long-term state and international interventions. Changes and continuities in generational and gender relations are key to understanding these socio-political mobilization. The project Bio-Medical Engagement in the West African Ebola Epidemic at Pasteur Institute Paris focuses on researchers’ and other interveners’ work, understanding and practice of science and humanitarianism as well as knowledge production during the outbreak.

She coordinated the research group Cultural Constitution of Causal Cognition at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research at Bielefeld University where she explored the relevance of cultural differences in diagnosing and healing.

Anita Schroven received her PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg. During her studies, she conducted fieldwork on international interventions and gender mainstreaming policies in Sierra Leone as well as Liberia and researched state-society relations in Guinea, focusing on governmental reform projects and the relevance of oral local and national histories on everyday politics and identities.

Outreach

"Racontez-moi ce qui est survenu"
Anita Schroven has been interviewed on working with oral history methods with West African Ebola survivors and helpers during the annual conference of the "Oral History Association" at Concordia University, 10-14 October 2018.

"How can Guinea's, Liberia's and Sierra Leone's health systems be improved?" Civil Society Conferences in Ebola-affected countries exploring ways forward after the Ebola crisis. (August 2016)

"The Morning After: Ethnologie mit Ebola-Kater.", Blog of the work group Medical Anthropology of the German Anthropological Association (DGV).

"Wenn Ebola wiederkommt: Lehren aus der Epidemie in Westafrika." Interview at Bayern2 (July 21, 2015)

"How to fix the WHO's response to Ebola-like crises." Interview at Radio France International english (July 9, 2015)

"Es verwundert nicht, dass Angst zu spüren war." Max Planck Forschung 1/2015: 8p.

"Ebola-Epidemie – Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone in der Krise", Radio interview with Deutschland Radio Kultur.

"Man lässt keine Kranken allein”, Radio interview with Deutschland Radio Kultur.

"Ebola, Medien und Ethnologie – Offener Brief zum SZ Artikel Böser Zauber Ebola", with Uli Beisel, Anne Menzel, Sung-Joon Park, René Umlauf.

"Ebola in Guinea: Zustandsanalyse eines erkrankten Staatskörpers", Blog of the work group Medical Anthropology of the German Anthropological Association (DGV).

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