Bettina Shell-Duncan (PhD 1994, Pennsylvania State)
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Nutritional anthropology, disease ecology, evolutionary medicine, maternal and child health, female genital cutting, integrated qualitative and quantitative study of medical anthropology and global health, field studies in Kenya, Senegal and The Gambia.
"In the 1990s I joined a field project in Marsabit District in northern Kenya, entitled the Rendille Sedentarization Project (RSP). My own contribution to this project involves investigating the effect of settlement and development of former nomadic pastoralists on maternal and child health. My most recent work in this project focuses on the biocultural context of mirconutrient defienciecies, particularly iron and vitamin A. I am particularly interested in insights offered by evolutionary approaches to the study of the epidemiology of mirconutrient nutrition.
My other major thread of research focuses on the topic of female genital cutting (FGC). I have investigated the cultural context and health consequences of FGC among Rendille women in Kenya, as well as debates over medicalization. Additionally, I am interested in the politics of the international campaign to end FGC, and the implications of adopting health and human rights frameworks. My current research focuses on the theoretical and empirical dynamics of behavior change in Senegal and The Gambia. I have been a consultant for WHO and UNICEF, allowing me to explore connections between local and global campaigns to end the practice.”
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Selected Publications:
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2008
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From Health to Human Rights: Female Genital Cutting and the Politics of Intervention. American Anthropologist 110(2).
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2007
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Hernlund, Y., Shell-Duncan, B. (eds.) Transcultural Bodies: Female Genital Cutting in Global Context. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
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2007
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Hernlund, Y., Shell-Duncan, B. Contingency, context and change: Negotiating female genital cutting in The Gambia and Senegal. Africa Today 53(4):43-57.
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2006
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Shell-Duncan, B., Hernlund, Y. Are there “stages of change” in the practice of female genital cutting?: Qualitative research findings from Senegal and The Gambia. African Journal of Reproductive Health, special issue on Female Genital Mutilation 10 (2): 57-71.
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2005
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Shell-Duncan BK, McDade TW. Cultural and environmental barriers to adequate iron intake among Northern Kenyan schoolchildren. Food and Nutrition Bulletin 26 (1): 39-48.
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2004
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Shell-Duncan, B.K., Yung, S.A. The maternal depletion transition in northern Kenya: The effects of settlement, development and disparity. Social Science and Medicine 58: 2485-2498.
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2004
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Shell-Duncan BK, McDade TW. Use of combined measures from capillary blood to assess iron status in rural Kenyan children. Journal of Nutrition 134:384-387.
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2002
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McDade, T.W., Shell-Duncan, B. A minimally-invasive method for assessing transferrin receptor in whole blood spots. Journal of Nutrition 132:3760-3763.
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2001
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Shell-Duncan BK. The medicalization of female "circumcision": harm reduction or promotion of a dangerous practice? Social Science and Medicine 52:1013-1028.
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2000
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Shell-Duncan BK, Hernlund Y. (eds) Female “Circumcision” in Africa: Culture, Controversy and Change. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, CO.
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