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Pamela Block

Professor - Sociocultural Anthropology

Disciplines

  • Anthropology
  • Social and Cultural Anthropology

Research Interests

  • My research interests include “disability culture” and cultural perceptions of disability in the United States, Brazil and Canada and the scholarly intersections of disability, anthropology and occupational studies. I study disability experience on individual, organizational and community levels, with past funded research involving socio-environmental barriers, empowerment/capacity-building, and health promotion. My qualitative research methodologies combine historical and discourse analyses with community-based ethnographic, authoethnographic, and participatory approaches. I am particularly interested in the intersections of gender, race, economic status, and disability in movements for disability liberation (justice and rights) and disability oppression (eugenics, sterilization, mass-incarceration and killing) in Brazil, the United States and Canada. My current research involves the experiences of people with complex medical conditions who rely on technologies such as mechanical ventilation and 24/7 skilled nursing for survival. I actively support initiatives related to the emergence of neurodivergence and disability studies in Brazil and other Global South Countries.

Andrew Walsh

Undergraduate Chair & Associate Professor

Disciplines

  • Anthropology

Research Interests

  • Most of my research has involved ethnographic fieldwork and collaborative research and teaching in Madagascar’s northernmost province of Antsiranana. My doctoral research focused on ritual and different reckonings of history and identity in the Ankarana region, and in the years since, I have focused on a wide range of topics, dictated largely by developments in this region: artisanal sapphire mining, conservation, ecotourism, and, most recently (as of 2018) the proliferation of small-scale transnational humanitarian, conservation and development projects.