Michelle a Parsons
My central focus is the application of sociocultural anthropology to health inequality and global/public health practice. More specifically I am interested in how political economy gives rise to social relations which, in turn, influence health and health research/interventions.
My first project applied ethnographic methods to the Russian mortality crisis of the 1990s, which is the subject of a substantial epidemiology literature. My book Dying Unneeded: The Cultural Context of the Mortality Crisis revolves around the gendered idea of being unneeded–having nothing to offer others. I explore how being unneeded relates to the concept of social capital and its use in quantitative analyses.
I am currently working on an ethnography of a global health project, addressing perinatal healthcare, surveillance, and donor ethics. I am also developing a project on mortality disparities in the Northern Arizona context which will use both quantitative and qualitative methods.
I have done global health research on HIV/AIDS testing and counseling, medication use, menopause, and reported health at Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization.
Education
PhD, MA, Anthropology – Emory University, 2011
SM, Population and International Health – Harvard School of Public Health, 2000
BA, Human Biology – Stanford University, 1995
Source: Northern Arizona University
