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BIOGRAPHICAL
INFORMATION:
Originally from South Wales, from Pontllanfraith
in Gwent, I earned my undergraduate degree in History from Bedford
College, University of London. My graduate degrees (M.A., Ph.D)
in Anthropology are from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania,
where I studied with Dr Frederica De Laguna and Dr Jane Goodale.
My dissertation research was based on fieldwork carried out
in Kyuquot, the most northerly settlement of the West Coast
(Nootkan) Indians on Vancouver island, British Columbia.
Since that time I have carried out several
other major field studies. From 1979-85, my family and I lived
in the republic of the Sudan, where I was investigating the
changing roles of Sudanese women in the town of Sennar, Blue
Nile Province. I was particularly interested in issues of health
and healing, including the activities of zar. I also studied
women's economic activities, ranging from midwifery to market
work to spiritual activities.
From 1985-9 we lived in Bogor, Indonesia.
I continued to pursue my interests into women's lives while
at the same time became involved with local NGOs such as Yayasan
Tenaga Sukarela Sosial (YTSS), with grass-root projects helping
school drop-outs. From 1987-8 I also worked as an editor with
ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific)
at the CGPRT (Coarse Grains, Pulses, Roots and Tubers) Centre
in Bogor.
We moved to Indiana in 1990, and before
coming to Butler University in 1995, I taught at IUPUI and Valparaiso
University. During this time I was a co-Investigator of a Michigan
State U/Purdue U/Costa Rica U project, to "Improve the
Digestibility and Nutritional Quality of the Common Bean through
Traditional Plant Breeding Molecular Biology and Food Technology."
As the social scientist on the project my role was to ensure
that social and cultural constraints and context were fully
part of the research design. I made three field trips to Costa
Rica, based in San Jose. This project was funded by US-AID,
through the Bean/Cowpea Collaborative Research Support Program
(CRSP).
I am married to Simon J. Kenyon, a large-animal
veterinarian who teaches at Purdue University's School of Veterinary
Medicine. We have three adult children: Alistair, also a veterinarian
practicing in Gloucester, England; Katie, a social worker at
Middleway House in Bloomington, IN; and Chris, an engineer in
Indianapolis.
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