Dissertation Research: Violence, Gender and Illness in Post-Conflict Mozambique

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9902677Guarnaccia / Marlin This project supports the dissertation research of an anthropology student from Rutgers University studying the impact of violence and displacement on illness in Mozambique. Combining political-economic and symbolic perspectives, the student examines how conflict reconfigures conceptions of illness and gender relations. The study will document the relation between social destabilization, traumatic violence and changing conceptions of illness, as well as the relationship between biomedical and indigenous medical discourses, focusing on post-traumatic stress, AIDS, and infertility. Data will be collected using a multi-method sampling frame including life-histories, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, a household survey, and archival research, mainly on the district seat town of Mutarara, a site of intense conflict where 90 percent of the population of about 750 households sought refuge elsewhere then returned. The town is also the site of the district hospital. The study will advance our understanding of the effects of violence, displacement and repatriation on the social construction of the daily roles of men and women. In addition the project supports the training of a young social scientist, and advances our knowledge of this important area of the world.