Scholarship list
Presentation
Into Women’s Hands: A Decolonial Approach to Misoprostol Research in West Africa
Date presented 10/28/2025
Lunchtime Seminar, Department of Sociology, Boston College
Presentation
Date presented 05/02/2025
Reproductive Justice in an Era of Backlash Workshop, 05/02/2025, Brown University, Providence, RI
Presentation
Reproductive Justice at the Intersections of Violence, Technology, & Politics
Date presented 03/28/2025
Locating Reproductive Justice: Global and Regional Perspectives (Obermann Center Arts & Humanities Symposium_, 03/27/2025–03/28/2025, University of Iowa
Invited Panelist for a session on "Reproductive Justice at the Intersections of Violence, Technology, & Politics" at the “Locating Reproductive Justice: Global and Regional Perspectives Symposium” organized by the Obermann Center Arts & Humanities, University of Iowa, March 27-28, 2005.
Presentation
Into Women’s Hands? Misoprostol and Reproductive Justice in West Africa
Date presented 10/25/2024
Center for Health Action and Social Medicine speaker series, 10/24/2024–10/25/2024, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, Davis
“Into Women’s Hands” is a collaborative research project involving faculty and graduate students from Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Senegal, Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo in Burkina Faso, and Brandeis University in the US. We conduct ethnographic research on the use and circulation of misoprostol in Burkina Faso and Senegal. At a time when misoprostol is widely recognized as a pharmaceutical approach to reducing maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, we ask: how does a life-saving medication end up in the hands of some consumers, patients, and health workers, but not others? We draw on the principle of reproductive justice to investigate structural inequalities in reproductive health care. We train, mentor, and supervise graduate students in collecting and analyzing ethnographic data. Research methods include interviews, observation in health facilities and pharmacies, and mystery client studies with in-person and virtual vendors. Through our collaborative approach, we aim to center African scholars and universities in the production of knowledge about reproduction in Africa. In this talk, I highlight the advantages, possibilities, and challenges of conducting collaborative research on reproductive health.
Presentation
Saving Lives? Post-Abortion Care, Misoprostol, and Global Maternal Health Politics in West Africa
Date presented 10/24/2024
Center for Health Action and Social Medicine speaker series, 10/24/2024–10/25/2024, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, Davis
Almost all global maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to promoting facility-based births, global health experts have encouraged harm reduction interventions and medications such as the post-abortion care (PAC) model and misoprostol to reduce maternal mortality related to abortion complications and postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). Misoprostol can be administered by non-physicians, or by women themselves, in managing abortion complications and PPH and in terminating pregnancies. Drawing on ethnographic research in Burkina Faso and Senegal, I explore how models and discourses of harm reduction and self care are transforming clinical, professional, and technological landscapes of reproductive health in West Africa. While these approaches have increased access to life-saving care for some, they have also exacerbated reproductive health inequalities and constrained mid level providers’ capacity to provide care. In this talk, I call attention to the role of aid donors, NGOs, and pharmaceutical companies in the global governance of reproductive health, and reflect on possibilities for reproductive justice.
Presentation
Date presented 04/04/2024
Annual M. Jaqui Alexander Lecture in African Diaspora Studies, 04/04/2024, Brandeis University
Presentation
Date presented 11/30/2023
Feminisms Unbound, Graduate Consortium for Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality, MIT
Presentation
Into Women’s Hands: Misoprostol and the Politics of Reproduction in Burkina Faso and Senegal
Date presented 11/06/2023
Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice Series, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute
Presentation
Dying to Count: Post-Abortion Care and Global Reproductive Health Politics in Senegal
Date presented 11/01/2023
Guest Lecture, Anthropology, Brown University
Presentation
Dying to Count: Post-Abortion Care and Global Reproductive Health Politics in Senegal
Date presented 10/31/2023
Guest Lecture, Medical Anthropology MA Program, Boston University