Plenary Speakers
Anthony Zwi, University of New South Wales
Professor Anthony Zwi heads the School of Public Health and Community
Medicine at The University of New South Wales. He has strong interests
in public health issues related to equity and social justice and is committed
to building Asia-Pacific partnerships and capabilities in public health,
health policy, and disaster planning, management and response. Current
research focuses on evidence in policy-making in relation to early interventions
in childhood and in relation to injury and violence. He is also involved
in initiatives related to the ethics of research work on conflict settings,
the interface between infectious disease and violent political conflict,
and the active role of children in shaping and influencing research on
their health and their proposed solutions in situations of violent political
conflict. He is keen to build links with health, development and humanitarian
NGOs interested in adding a research and lesson-learning, reflective component
to their activities.
Merlinda Bobis, University of Wollongong
Dr. Merlinda Bobis is an acclaimed Filipino-Australian poet, novelist
and performer. She has received more than a dozen literary awards, prizes
and fellowships. She has published a novel, a short story collection,
five poetry books, and has had plays performed/produced in Australia,
Philippines, the United States, France, China, Thailand and the Slovak
Republic. She writes in three languages: English, Pilipino and Bicol.
She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Wollongong.
Merlinda Bobis, University of Wollongong
Dr. Merlinda Bobis is an acclaimed Filipino-Australian poet, novelist
and performer. She has received more than a dozen literary awards, prizes
and fellowships. She has published a novel, a short story collection,
five poetry books, and has had plays performed/produced in Australia,
Philippines, the United States, France, China, Thailand and the Slovak
Republic. She writes in three languages: English, Pilipino and Bicol.
She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Wollongong.
Dr Nural Ilmi Idrus, Hasanuddin University
Dr Nurul Ilmi Idrus is a Lecturer at the Department of Anthropology,
Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Hasanuddin University in Indonesia.
Her research is concerned with gender and women in Indonesia, including
in relation to violence against women and marital rape. More recently,
she has conducted research on labour migration, in particular Indonesian
working in Malaysia as domestic workers.
Sabina Faiz Rashid, BRAC University, Bangladesh
Sabina Faiz Rashid, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the James P Grant,
School of Public Health, BRAC University, in Dhaka Bangladesh. She is
the coordinator of Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights course, which
is taught to MPH students at the School (www.bracuniversity.net). Her
background is in Social and Medical Anthropology/Public Health, trained
at The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Since 1994,
she has been working in Bangladesh in development organizations, conducting
qualitative and ethnographic research on gender, sexuality and reproductive
health. She has published a number of reports and articles in a number
of peer-reviewed journals including Reproductive Health Matters, Disasters,
IDS Bulletin; and there are forthcoming publications in Medical Anthropology
Quarterly and Anthropology and Medicine (2007). She has also co-authored
a book on gender sensitive delivery care for rural women (University Press
Limited, Bangladesh).
Anne Perez Hattori, University of Guam
Anne Perez Hattori is an indigenous Chamorro native from the island of
Guam, located in the region of the Pacific known as Micronesia. She is
a tenured Associate Professor of Pacific History and Micronesian Studies
at the University of Guam where she is privileged to serve as a classroom
teacher, student mentor, and community advocate. Her 2004 publication,
Colonial Dis-Ease: US Naval Health Policies and the Chamorros of Guam,
1898-1941, examines the construction of American colonial power in Guam
through the lens of health and medicine.
Professor Mark Nichter, University Arizona
Mark Nichter is the Regents' Professor and Professor of Anthropology,
Professor (Public Health) at the University of Arizona. In addition to
engaging in the anthropological study of social practices, social processes,
social formations, power relations, and issues of identity, he has spent
much of his life demonstrating how anthropology can contribute to real
world problem solving. He studies illness and healing as entry points
for understanding "culture and society"; ideology and disparity
in the distribution of resources and different forms of capital; and cultural
roles, norms, and institutions to better understand illness experience,
health care seeking, and medical traditions. Studying issues related to
ill health and suffering, the relationship between microorganisms and
macro pathogens, social mobilization etc. has Mark to become an active
participant in international health and critical public health.
Professor Lakshmi Lingam, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Lakshmi Lingam is a Professor in the Centre for Women's Studies, at the
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. Her research interests
range from exploring the social and gender specific implications of health
sector reforms and other macro economic policies, to studying women's
and other social movements in the period of globalisation, and understanding
migration patterns and reproductive rights. In 2004-2005, as a Fulbright
New Century Scholar, she worked with other scholars on the program entitled
'Global Empowerment of Women'. She was also a Visiting Scholar at the
Center for Education of Women, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2003),
a resource person at the International Training Programs at Uppsala University,
Sweden ( 2000 & 2002 ) and the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague,
Netherlands ( 2002 ), and a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Education
of Women , University of Ann Arbor (2003) and at the Institute for Research
on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2005). Professor
Lingam is a Curriculum Advisory Board member of several Women's Studies
Departments in Indian Universities as well as Technical and Ethical Advisory
Board member of NGOs. In addition to her outstanding teaching and research
activities, Professor Lingam has contributed to gender and equity mainstreaming
activities of Government departments in a number of states in India.
Dr Beth Kangas, Waybe State University
Beth Kangas is a medical/cultural anthropologist who specializes in the
Muslim Middle East. Her research focuses on ethical, economic, and emotional
issues related to advanced medical technology, both in the Middle East
and globally. In her dissertation fieldwork, Dr. Kangas surveyed patients,
doctors, and Islamic religious scholars in Yemen regarding life-prolonging
treatments. She also interviewed Yemeni patients pursuing advanced medical
care in Jordan and India. Dr. Kangas' additional experience in the Middle
East includes three years (1989-1991) working with Afghan refugees in
Pakistan. Dr. Kangas' current research explores technological medicine
in Yemen and Arab Detroit.
Dr Anita Ghai, University of Delhi, India
Anitah Ghai teaches Psychology at the Jesus and Mary College, University
of Delhi. She is orthopedically impaired. Her own existential reality
is at the background of her interest in disability activism and research
in disability issues. Her publications include a book on the vocational
rehabilitation and several book chapters on disability from the developing
world perspective. Her forthcoming publications are (Dis)embodied Form
and Understanding Disability. She is currently on a sabbatical, researching
the issues of gender and disability. She is the overseas editor for Disability
and Society.
Esau Kekeubata
Esau Fo`ofafimae Kekeubata is chairman of the Kwaio Fadanga (Kwaio council
of chiefs) and founding health worker at Kafurumu health centre in the
mountains of Malaita, Solomon Islands. The Indigenous Kwaio people live
in the tropical rainforest of central Malaita and are the last of some
eighty language groups in the Solomon Islands to retain their cultural
autonomy, resisting pressure to relinquish ancestral culture and religion.
As an Indigenous leader Esau is involved in a wide range of community
initiatives including establishing community controlled health and education
services, leading sustainable grassroots community development and proactively
leading peace building and conflict mitigation initiatives. In 1988 Esau
established a culturally appropriate health facility in the mountains
and in 2006 a further facility at the regional hospital for the many Kwaio
excluded from hospital services because they follow traditional culture
and religion. He continues to advocate for placing Kwaio cultural models
of health and wellbeing at the centre of health and community development
projects. Esau first traveled from Solomon Islands in 2004 to attend the
Melbourne IUHPE World Conference. Since then his grass roots initiatives
have received growing recognition as exemplars of sustainable, community
driven, culturally appropriate approaches to health promotion action.
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