Doctoral Dissertation Research: Measuring the Impacts of Physical and Structural Constraint on Refugee Women's Reproductive Health

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Graduate student, Elizabeth Wirtz, under the supervision of Dr. Sharon Williams, will explore how experiences of violence, insecurity, inequality, and poverty shape women's reproductive preferences, decisions, and actions. The researcher will use systematic qualitative ethnographic methods to investigate the ways in which physical and structural violence affects Somali refugee women's reproductive lives. This project will seek to understand the interaction between physical and structural violence and the ways in which they influence women's reproductive choices as well as the constraints they place on women's ability to successfully realize these choices. This study contributes to a theoretical understanding of individual and cultural resiliance and adaptation in the context of both prolonged and acute crisis, violence, poverty, and suffering. The project also has strong potential to inform policies and programs that address reproductive health, gender equality, and various forms of violence, particularly sexual and gender based violence in refugee communities. Specifically, this project aims to produce insights that will be used by agencies working with refugees in East Africa and elsewhere to improve the women's health, safety, and well-being. Part of the research design includes training and employing research assistants from the local community to foster local participation in social science research and increase refugee participation in potential interventions and program implementation. Information from this project will be disseminated through academic and non-academic channels including academic conferences and publications as well as reports and collaborations with international and local humanitarian organizations working with refugees in East Africa. The project also contributes to the education of a graduate student in anthropology.