Section: Sociology

Bregje De Kok

Name
Dr Bregje De Kok
Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Organisation
Sociology, School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh
Address
Edinburgh UK
Telephone
+44 (0)131 651 3890
E-Mail
URL
http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/sociology/dekok_b

Childbearing in Malawi: Constructions of Pregnancy Loss and Maternal Mortality

A Post-Doctoral Fellowship funded by the ESRC/MRC.

Education

  • PhD, Psychology, University of Edinburgh (funded by ESRC, BFWG and others)

  • Msc, Psychology, University of Edinburgh (2002)

  • MA (with distinction), Psychology (Specialisation: Psychology of Culture & Religion), Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (2001)

  • Research student (for 6 months in 1999-2000), Theology and Religious Studies, Chancellor College, University of Malawi.

Research interests

My research interests concern reproductive health issues in sub Saharan Africa, health issues faced by ethnic minorities in the U.K, and qualitative methods.

My doctoral research focuses on social constructions of infertility in Malawi, produced in interviews by people with a fertility problem, significant others, and traditional and biomedical practitioners. Use of discourse analysis, informed by conversation analysis, a novel analytic approach in infertility studies, let to new insights into the management of interpersonal, normative and moral issues in constructions of infertility. These issues revolve around accountability, (e.g. for seeking solutions, not curing infertility); blame (e.g. avoiding blaming others for troubled relationships) and problematic identities (e.g. incompetent healer).

Future work will pertain to constructions of other forms of loss in childbearing in Malawi, such as abortions, miscarriages and maternal mortality. Findings will be of use for the development of reproductive health policy, health promotion and health service design in Malawi and other countries in sub Saharan Africa.

I have also been involved in a project about the experiences of Pakistani and Chinese mothers, living in Scotland, of parenthood and of the health visiting service, and in a project on the implementation of 'Health for All Children', in relation to the health visiting service and support provided to families and young children.

Recent publications:

Journal papers
Kok, B. de (2008). The role of context in conversation analysis: Reviving an interest  in       ethno-methods. Journal of Pragmatics,  40(5), 886-903.

Kok, B. de. ‘Automatically you become a polygamist’: ‘Culture’ and ‘norms’ as resources for normalisation and managing accountability in talk about infertility. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine. (in press)

Kok, B. de & Widdicombe, S. ‘I really tried’: Management of normative issues in accounts of responses to infertility. Social Science and Medicine. (in press).

Books
Kok, B. de (2005). Christianity and African Traditional Religion in Malawi: Two realities of a     different  kind. Oxford: African Books Collective (ISBN 99908-76- 17-7)

Reports
Kok, B. de (2008). Talking about infertility in Malawi: A starting point for developing
interventions in order to alleviate the problem of infertility. Zomba:  Kachere (in press).

NB. This is a report based on my doctoral research, focussing on the findings with practical implications. A draft version formed the basis for discussions with stakeholders in Malawi, which led to practical recommendations. Feel free to download!

Hogg, R., Kok, B., de, Hanley, J.,  Haycock-Steward, E., Macpherson, C. & Netto, G. (2006). An  
analysis of experiences of Pakistani and Chinese mothers of parenthood and of the health visiting services. Report for the Chief Scientist Office (Scottish Executive).


Teaching/supervision/mentoring:

  • Qualitative methods of data collection and analysis on Msc courses in Psychology (UoE, since 2004) 
  • Ethics and values in psychological research (UoE, 2003-2005)
  • Supervision of research projects in Psychology 3, tutor  Psychology 1, 2 (UoE and RUN) and 4 (UoE) (2001-2004).
  • I am a mentor for the 'communication-in-action' course (2008). 
  • I am involved in supervision of a PhD project (Alexa Ispas), which uses conversation analysis to analyse verbal strategies used in Scottish parliamentary committees. 
Scottish Conversation and Discourse Analysis group.
I convene, together with Beatrix Futak-Campbell, the  Scottish Conversation Analysis and Discourse Analaysis group (SCADA). We have fortnightly informal data analysis- and reading sessions. Email me (B.deKok@ed.ac.uk) for more information.

**Workshop**

'Loss in childbearing in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia'

I am organizing an interdisciplinary workshop on 'Loss in childbearing in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia', taking place at the University of Edinburgh, September 4-6, 2008. Social and medical scientists, as well as medical practitioners, policymakers and NGOs are most welcome. Note that registration beforehand is compulsory; email me for more information.
The workshop is funded by the British Academy, the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness,  and Development Trust Research Fund (UoE).

Click on the links below for more information.

Link to flyer

Link to provisional programme. NB Updated on 8/08/2008!

Link to information about participants and abstracts  NB Updated on 8/08/2008!
 

This page was published on 3 March 2009


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