Nancy Scheper-Hughes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nancy Hughes
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Born | 1944 (age 80–81) |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
Awards | Rudolf Virchow Award (2003), Margaret Mead Award (1980) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, critical theory |
Institutions | Southern Methodist University, University of California, Berkeley |
Nancy Scheper-Hughes, born in 1944, is an amazing anthropologist, teacher, and writer. She is a special professor at the University of California, Berkeley. There, she helped start a program focused on Critical Medical Anthropology. This field looks at how health, illness, and medicine are shaped by society and power.
She is well-known for her writings about many important topics. These include how our bodies are seen in different cultures, hunger, sickness, and medicine. She also writes about motherhood, mental health, and how violence affects people. Her work often explores difficult subjects like violence and human trafficking.
Nancy Scheper-Hughes has written several books. Some of her famous works include Death Without Weeping: the Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil and Saints, Scholars and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Ireland. She has also written books with other experts, like Commodifying Bodies and Violence in War and Peace.
She has traveled to many places to study different cultures. Her research has taken her to Northeast Brazil, Argentina, Israel, South Africa, Moldova, the Philippines, and the United States.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Nancy Scheper-Hughes was born in New York, New York. She went to Queens College for her early studies. Later, she attended the University of California, Berkeley. She earned her first degree in Social Sciences in 1970. She then completed her doctorate in Anthropology in 1976. After that, she was a special researcher at Harvard University from 1979 to 1980.
Her Important Work
Nancy Scheper-Hughes' first book, Saints, Scholars and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland (1979), studied mental health among farmers in Ireland. This book won the Margaret Mead Award in 1980. The book caused some debate, especially in Ireland. Some readers felt it showed a sad picture of family life changing in rural areas. In a later edition of the book, she talked about these challenges. She also discussed how anthropologists must be careful and ethical when studying communities.
Her next book, Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday life in Brazil (1993), explored very tough situations. It looked at how mothers in extreme poverty faced difficult choices. They had to decide which of their sick children had the best chance to survive. This book also sparked discussions, both in and outside Brazil. It showed the harsh realities people faced and how they coped with them. Death without Weeping is now a very important book in the field of medical anthropology.
Besides her books, Scheper-Hughes has written about many other topics. She has explored AIDS/HIV in Brazil and Cuba. She also writes about human rights and violence in places like South Africa. She has created or helped make popular terms like "mindful body" and "militant anthropology." Her work often shows how everyday violence can be hidden. It can make people who are struggling feel even more trapped.
She has also helped share the ideas of other important thinkers. These include Italian psychiatrist Franco Basaglia and Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. She has made their work known to more people in North America.
What She Studies
Nancy Scheper-Hughes focuses on several key areas. These include critical medical anthropology, which looks at health and power. She also studies violence, mental health in different cultures, and how people deal with unfairness. Her work often explores childhood and family life in places like Ireland, Brazil, Cuba, and South Africa.
Helping Others Around the World
In the 1960s, Nancy Scheper-Hughes was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Brazil. She has also been an activist and worked with social groups. In Brazil, she supported rural workers and fought for the rights of street children. In the United States, she worked for civil rights. She also helped homeless people with mental illness. She even protested against nuclear weapons research. Around the world, she has stood up for the rights of people involved in organ donation.
Awards and Recognition
Her first book, Saints, Scholars and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland (1979), won the Margaret Mead Award in 1980. This award is given by the Society for Applied Anthropology.
In 2007, she received the first Berkeley William Sloane Coffin Jr. Award. This award honors people at the University of California, Berkeley, who show strong moral leadership. The award is named after William Sloane Coffin, a famous activist for civil rights and peace.
Selected Books
- 2003a Commodifying Bodies. Co-edited with Loïc Wacquant. This book looks at how bodies and body parts can be treated like goods to be bought and sold.
- 2001b Saints, Scholars and Schizophrenics. This is an updated version of her first book about mental illness in rural Ireland.
- 1999 Small Wars: The Cultural Politics of Childhood. Co-edited with Carolyn Sargent. This book explores how childhood is shaped by culture and politics.
- 1993b Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil. This book examines the harsh realities of life and death in Brazil.
- 1979 Saints, Scholars and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland. Her first major book, focusing on mental health in Ireland.