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

研究生，伊丽莎白维尔茨，沙龙威廉姆斯博士的监督下，将探讨如何暴力，不安全，不平等和贫困的经验塑造妇女的生殖偏好，决定和行动。研究人员将使用系统的定性人种学方法来调查身体和结构性暴力影响索马里难民妇女生殖生活的方式。该项目将设法了解身体暴力和结构性暴力之间的相互作用，以及它们影响妇女生殖选择的方式，以及它们对妇女成功实现这些选择的能力所施加的限制。这项研究有助于在长期和严重的危机，暴力，贫困和痛苦的背景下，个人和文化的服从和适应的理论理解。该项目还具有很大的潜力，为解决生殖健康、性别平等和各种形式的暴力，特别是难民社区的性暴力和基于性别的暴力的政策和方案提供信息。具体而言，该项目旨在提出见解，供在东非和其他地方从事难民工作的机构用于改善妇女的健康、安全和福祉。研究设计的一部分包括培训和雇用当地社区的研究助理，以促进当地参与社会科学研究，并增加难民参与潜在的干预措施和方案实施。该项目的信息将通过学术和非学术渠道传播，包括学术会议和出版物以及报告和与在东非从事难民工作的国际和当地人道主义组织的合作。该项目还有助于培养一名人类学研究生。

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.