Skip to the content
 

Psych: Professor Lenore Manderson

Biography

Lenore Manderson is an inaugural Australian Research Council Federation Fellow and Professor of Medical Anthropology in the School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, and the School of Political and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Arts, at Monash University, Australia. She joined Monash University in 2006, prior to which she was Professor of Tropical Health (University of Queensland, 1988-1998) and Professor of Women’s Health (University of Melbourne, 1999-2005). She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia and the World Academy of Art and Science.

Lenore has a distinguished career as an anthropologist, social historian and public health researcher and educator. She has played a lead role in training and research in inequality, social exclusion and marginality, the social determinants of infectious and chronic disease, gender and sexuality, immigration, ethnicity and inequality. In Australia, she has worked with Indigenous, immigrant and Anglo-Australians, and she has also conducted research in Southeast and East Asia (including Malaysia, China, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan), South Africa and Ghana, and most recently in the Solomon Islands. She is the author, editor or co-author of over 500 books, articles, book chapters and reports, including Sickness and the State (1996), Global Health Policy, Local Realities (2000), Chronic Conditions, Fluid States (2010), and Surface Tensions (2011).

For over two decades, Lenore has worked to strengthen institution capability and develop research capacity in the social sciences and health, particularly in resource-poor environments. In particular, she has worked with WHO/TDR (Special Programme in Research and Training in Tropical Diseases) since 1988 as a participant of scientific advisory meetings, and as a member of the Research Strengthening Group, steering committees for social and economic research and applied epidemiology, and the taskforce on gender and tropical disease. From 2008-2011 she was a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Stewardship on Research on Infectious Disease of Poverty (SAC-STE). She is an active member of CARTA (Consortium of Advanced Research and Training in Africa (CARTA), a south-led initiative involving 15 African universities and research institutes which provides doctoral research training in public and population health.

Lenore has trained to graduation over 100 higher degree students and mentored dozens of other trainees, research interns and colleagues in Australia and overseas; in recognition of this she was awarded the American Anthropological Association, Medical Anthropology Students’ Association Mentor Award in 2007.  She was President of the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (ISAACS 2001-2003), She is a member of the steering committee for a project of the Academy of Science of Australia on population, equity, climate change and sustainability, and is Editor of the international journal Medical Anthropology (2010-present).

Professional Activities

Current Appointments

  • Professor of Medical Anthropology and Director, Social Science & Health Research Unit, School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, 2006 -
  • Professor, School of Political and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, 2008 -
  • Honorary Professor, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa,  2004 -2010
  • Honorary Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Khon Kaen University, Thailand, March 2004 -
  • Editor, Medical Anthropology (Taylor and Francis), 2010-2014

Honours and Awards

  • Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, 1995
  • ARC Federation Fellowship, 2002-2007 (inaugural awards, awarded 25 September 2001)
  • Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio Research Residency, 2003
  • National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Research Resident, 2003
  • Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology (USA), 2002
  • Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, 2004
  • Hillel Friedland Award, University of the Witwatersrand, 2007
  • MASA Graduate Student Mentor Award, Society of Medical Anthropology, American Anthropological Association, 2007

Current Board and Committee Membership

  • Member, Steering Committee, Australian Academy of Science Linked Learned Academies Special Project: Australia 2050, 2010-2012
  • Member, Monash University Museum of Art Committee, 2010-
  • Inaugural Member, Scientific Advisory Committee for Stewardship on Research on Infectious Disease of Poverty (SAC-STE), WHO/TDR (Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases), 2008-2010

Research Interests

Professor Manderson’s research includes a series of related and complementary projects, which aim to contribute substantially to understanding how, in different cultural, social and economic settings and under different, more immediate circumstances, embodied experience, ideas of the self, and social relationships and their meanings, are revised and restructured as a result of corporeal change. The program is divided into a series of activities that capitalize, consolidate and expand on her earlier work. In the past decade, her work has focused on chronic illness and its management, both in Australia and in Southeast Asian settings, resulting in a number of books as well as articles (see below).

With Pranee Liamputtong and Elizabeth Hoban (La Trobe University) and Katie Vasey, she has been conducting research on Immigration and Parenting among Cambodian and Iraqi women in Australia, and with PhD students, this work has extended to interrelationships in other immigrant communities between immigration, parenthood and personal and family identity. By combining ethnographic and innovative survey methods, this study is generating knowledge of the creative ways in which women negotiate social structures, extend networks and build up personal resources to ensure, in their own terms, that their children have a healthy start to life. The study is supported by ARC.

With Brian Oldenburg (Monash), Bruce Hollingsworth (U Lanc.), Vivian Lin (LaTrobe) and Max de Courten (Copenhagen), Lenore and Rachel Canaway are completing an NHMRC supported study, known as CAMELOT, on the use of complementary and alternative medicines (cam) by people with chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and/or cardiovascular disease (CVD). The study is a multi-phase, mixed method, interdisciplinary study, involving participant observation, extended interviews, and survey research, and was undertaken with the support of a reference group from various disease-support, professional and community organisations.

Her other research interests, on social inclusion, the social determinants of health, and inequality and sexuality, are reflected in the diversity of student projects and in her publications.

Postgraduate Research Projects

  • Ajay Ranjan Singh. Carriers of the Modern: Rickshaw Pullers in Delhi, India. (Primary Supervisor: Lenore Manderson)
  • Alla Demutska Acculturation, depression and anxiety among skilled immigrants from the former Soviet Union (Primary supervisor: Litza Kiropoulos; Co-Supervisor: Lenore Manderson)
  • Ansariadi Social and geographical determinants of pregnancy outcomes in South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. (Primary Supervisor: Lenore Manderson)
  • Asrenee Abdul Razak. Depression among older Malay women in Australia. (Primary Supervisor: Lenore Manderson, Co-Supervisor: Jill Astbury)
  • Azam Naghavi. Migration, marriage and family among immigrant Iranain women in Australia. (Primary Supervisor: Lenore Manderson, Co-Supervisor: Katie Vasey)
  • Gregory Phillips. Healing and identity among Indigenous Australians (Primary Supervisor: Lenore Manderson, Co-Supervisor: Steve Wesselingh)
  • Juna Liau. Disability and access to care in rural Sarawak. (Arts) (Co-supervisors: Gil-Soo Han, Lenore Manderson)
  • Kaine Grigg Development of an attitudinal measure of racial, ethnic and cultural acceptance (Primary Supervisor: Lenore Manderson)
  • Lingani Mbakile Managing acquired brain injury among people in Botswana (Primary Supervisor: Supervisor: Co-Supervisor: Lenore Manderson)
  • Leigh Williamson. Sexuality and modernity among young women in India. (Primary Supervisor: Lenore Manderson; Co-Supervisor: Katie Vasey)
  • Meagan Wilson. Immigration, identify and meaning among Burma immigrants in Australia. (Primary Supervisor: Lenore Manderson, Co-Supervisor: Jill Astbury)
  • Megan McCarthy Attitudes and Behaviours towards Pet Ownership in Thailand (Co-supervisors: Samia Toukhsati, Grahame Coleman, Lenore Manderson)
  • Mutsumi Karasaki Dealing with changes: experiences of carers and family members of younger stroke survivors. (Supervisor: Narelle Warren, Co-Supervisor: Lenore Manderson)
  • Nicola Pitt Discourses of mothering in China and US. (Arts) (Primary Supervisor: Lenore Manderson)
  • Noh Amit Cultural and social factors related to drinking among young people in Australia and Malaysia (Supervisor: Penny Haskings, Co-Supervisor: Lenore Manderson)
  • Rebecca Aitkin Diabetes management in people with an intellectual disability: A carer perspective (Primary Supervisor: Lenore Manderson)

Collaborations

  • Honorary professorial appointments at the School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, The Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia and The Faculty of Nursing, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.

Grant Support

  • Care-seeking, use of CAM, and self-management among people with Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. NHMRC 491171, 2008-2011 (with Oldenburg,B., Lin, V., Hollingsworth, B., and de Courten, M.)
  • Immigration and parenting among Cambodian and Iraqi women in Australia. ARC DP 0878866, 2009-2011 (with Liamputtong, P.; Hoban, L.; Vasey, K.)
  • CARTA (Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa): Developing public health higher degree research training in Africa. Wellcome Trust, Carnegie Foundation, Ford Foundation, British Council, 2009-2014 (with Ezeh, A., Fonn, S., Inungu, J., Izugbara, C., Kabiru, C., Kahn, K., Tollman, S., et al.)
  • Socio-cultural attitudes to disability in the Solomon Islands: Identifying culturally appropriate solutions to disadvantage. AusAID & ARC Linkage Grant, 2010-2011 (with Gartrell, A.)

Publications

Books

MANDERSON, L. (ed) 2005. Rethinking Wellbeing: Essays on health, disability and disadvantage. Perth Curtin University Press for API Network

Woolcock, G. and MANDERSON, L. (eds) 2009. Social Capital and Social Justice: Critical Australian Perspectives.  Darwin: Charles Darwin University Press.

MANDERSON, L. and Smith-Morris, C. (eds) 2010. Chronic Conditions, Fluid States: Chronicity and the Anthropology of Illness. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

MANDERSON, L. 2011. Surface Tensions: Surgery, Bodily Boundaries and the Social Self. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press  http://www.lcoastpress.com/book.php?id=360     

MANDERSON, L., Smith, W. and Tomlinson, M. (eds) 2012.  Flows of Faith: Religious Reach and Community in Asia and the Pacific. Dordrecht and New York: Springer Publishing Company. http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/acatalog/Chronic_Conditions_Fluid_States.html

MANDERSON, L. (ed) 2012. Technologies of Sexuality, Identity and Sexual Health. London and New York: Routledge. http://www.routledge.com/books/search/author/lenore_manderson/

Warren, N. and MANDERSON, L. (eds) Forthcoming. Reframing Disability and Quality of Life: A Global Perspective. Dordrecht and New York: Springer Publishing Company

Audio-visual

Woodson, Wendy (Producer and Director). 2007. Nerve: Conversations with Lenore. Written and performed by L.MANDERSON. 29 Min., Amherst, Mass., Present Company Inc. Video clip on http://www.amherst.edu/~wwoodson/ PresentCompany/nerve.html.

Recent articles

Ramsay, T., MANDERSON, L and Smith, W.  2010. “From a mountain to a mustard seed:” The Brahma Kumaris, suffering and soul consciousness. Journal of Contemporary Religion 25, 1: 89-105.

Kimani-Murage, E.W., MANDERSON, L, Norris, S.A. and  Kahn, K. 2010. “You opened our eyes”: Narratives on attitudes and perceived utility of knowing child’s positive HIV status in care-giving in rural South Africa. Health and Social Care in the Community 18, 3: 264-271.doi 10.1111/j.1365-2524.2009.00891.x

MANDERSON, L. and Naemiratch, B.  2010. From Jollibee to BeeBee: ‘Lifestyle’ and chronic disease in Southeast Asia. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 22, 3: 117S-124S.

Chhea, C., Warren, N. and MANDERSON, L. 2010. Health worker motivation and retention in rural Cambodia. Rural and Remote Health, 10(online): 1391. Available from: http://www.rrh.org.au.

MANDERSON, L. and Warren, N. 2010. The art of (re)learning to walk: Trust on the rehabilitation ward. Qualitative Health Research 20, 10: 1418-1432.

Whittaker, A., MANDERSON, L. and Cartwright, E.  2010. Patients beyond borders: A critical medical anthropology of medical travel. Medical Anthropology 29, 4: 336-343.

Ezeh, A.C., Izugbara, C.O., Kabiru, C.W., Fonn, S., Kahn, K., MANDERSON, L. Undieh, A., Omigbodun, A. and Thorogood, M. 2010. Building Capacity for public and population health research in Africa: Research training in Africa (CARTA) model. Global Health Action 3: 5693 - DOI: 10.3402/gha.v3i0.5693.

Granado, S., MANDERSON, L., Tanner, M. and Obrist, B.  2011. Appropriating “malaria”: MANDERSON, L. 2010. Image and the Imaginary in Early Health Education: Wilbur Augustus Sawyer and the Hookworm Campaigns of Australia and Asia. In Serlin, D., ed, Imagining Illness: Visual Culture and Public Health. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 3-23.

MANDERSON, L. and Smith-Morris, C. 2010. Preface and acknowledgements. In MANDERSON, L. and Smith-Morris, C. (eds). Chronic Conditions, Fluid States: Chronicity and the Anthropology of Illness. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, vii-ix.

MANDERSON, L. and Smith-Morris, C. 2010. Introduction. On chronicity: Unsettling Biomedical Binaries and Attending to Context. In MANDERSON, L. and Smith-Morris, C. (eds). Chronic Conditions, Fluid States: Chronicity and the Anthropology of Illness. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1-18.

MANDERSON, L. 2010. “Half a woman”: Embodied disruptions and ideas of gender among Australian women. In MANDERSON, L. and Smith-Morris, C. (eds). Chronic Conditions, Fluid States: Chronicity and the Anthropology of Illness. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 96-112.

Vasey, K. and MANDERSON, L. 2010. The social and cultural context of immigration and stress. In Sher, L. and A.Vilens, eds. Immigration and Mental Health: Stress, Psychiatric Disorders and Suicidal Behavior Among Immigrants and Refugees, New York: Nova Science Publishers, 295-311.

Granado, S., MANDERSON, L., Tanner, M. and Obrist, B.  2011. Appropriating “malaria”: Local responses to malaria treatment and prevention in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.  Medical Anthropology 30, 1: 102-121.

Stirling, L. and MANDERSON, L.  2011. About you: Empathy, objectivity and authority. Journal of Pragmatics 43: 1581-1602, doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2010.12.002

Team, V., Canaway, R. and MANDERSON, L. 2011. Integration of CAM information and advice in chronic disease management guidelines. Australian Journal of Primary Health 17: 1-8.

MANDERSON, L. 2011. Social capital and inclusion: Locating wellbeing in community. Australian Cultural History

Team, V. and MANDERSON, L. 2011. Social and Public Health Impacts of Climate Change in “40 South.” WIREs Climate Change DOI:10.1002/wcc.138

Brijnath, B, and MANDERSON, L. 2011. Appropriation and dementia in India. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry DOI: 10.1007/s11013-011-9230-2

Gwatirisa, P.Rutendo and MANDERSON, L. In press. ‘Living from day to day’: Food insecurity, complexity and coping in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Ecology of Food and Nutrition.

Stirling, L., MANDERSON, L. and MacFarlane, J. 2010. “You don’t want to look like that for the rest of your life”: Contested discourses of loss in a normative societal context. In Candlin, Christopher N. &Crichton, Jonathan (eds) Discourses of Deficit. Sydney: Palgrave Macmillan, 137-156.

MANDERSON, L. 2011. Anthropologies of cancer and risk, uncertainty and disruption. In Singer, M. and Erickson, P. (eds) A Companion to Medical Anthropology. London: Wiley Blackwell, 323-338.

Ramsay, T. and MANDERSON, L. 2011 Resilience, spirituality and post-traumatic growth: Reshaping the effects of disaster. In Weissbecker, I. (ed) Climate Change and Human Wellbeing: Global Challenges and Opportunities. International and Cultural Psychology Book Series. Dordrecht and New York: Springer Publishing Company, 165-184. (doi 10.1007/978-1-4419-9742-5_9).

Content maintained by: research.psych@monash.edu