Ian Harper

Emeritus Professor of Anthropology of Health and Development

ian.harper@ed.ac.uk

+44 (0)131 650 3816

5.03

Chrystal Macmillan Building

15a George Square

Edinburgh

EH8 9LD

Profile
Publications

Research interests

International development, South Asia, Medical Anthropology, Global Health Policy, Conservation and Rural Health

Background

Ian Harper is a medical and social anthropologist. He has researched extensively in Nepal and South Asia, in the fields of global public health and development, with a particular focus on tuberculosis and infectious disease control. He has been the recipient of ESRC and Welcome Trust research awards, and was the founding director of the Edinburgh Centre for Medical Anthropology. He is currently a trustee with the Highland Perthshire Community Land Trust (HPCLT: https://www.duncoillich.org/).

Works within

Social Anthropology

Publication	Research Explorer link
Stenhouse R, Chiumento A, MacBeth A, Jain S, Segal LB, Harper I. A vision for reinvigorating global mental health. PLOS Global Public Health . 2024 Apr 2;4(4):1-4. e0003034. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0003034	View
Harper I. Hydrocortisone. In Ford A, Malcolm R, Erikainen S, Raeder L, Roberts C, editors, Hormonal Theory: A Rebellious Glossary. Bloomsbury . 2024. p. 133-142. (Theory in the New Humanities).	View
Harper I. Shielding and exit from lockdown: Medical anthropologist Ian Harper asks why he should stay at home? 2020.	View
Ganguli-Mitra A, Young I, Engelmann L, Harper I, McCormack D, Marsland R et al. Segmenting communities as public health strategy: A view from the social sciences and humanities. Wellcome Open Research . 2020 May 26. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15975.1	View
Harper I, Khatri R. Diagnosing tuberculosis. In Macdonald H, Harper I, editors, Understanding Tuberculosis and Its Control: Anthropological and Ethnographic Approaches. 1 ed. London: Routledge. 2019. p. 259-277 Epub 2019 Sept 4. doi: 10.4324/9780429457104-14	View
Macdonald H, (ed.), Harper I, (ed.). Understanding Tuberculosis and Its Control: Anthropological and Ethnographic Approaches. 1 ed. London: Routledge, 2019. 282 p. Epub 2019 Sept 4. doi: 10.4324/9780429457104	View
Macdonald H, Mason PH, Harper I. Introduction. In Macdonald H, Harper I, editors, Understanding Tuberculosis and Its Control: Anthropological and Ethnographic Approaches. 1 ed. London: Routledge. 2019. p. 1-23 Epub 2019 Sept 4. doi: 10.4324/9780429457104-1	View
Sharma J, Khatri R, Harper I. Accountability and generating evidence for global health: Misoprostol in Nepal. IDS Bulletin. 2018 May 8;49(2):49-64. doi: 10.19088/1968-2018.135	View
Sharma J, Harper I. Britain-Nepal Relations through the prism of Aid. European Bulletin of Himalayan Research. 2018 Mar 31;50/51:145-161.	View
Sharma J, Harper I, Adhikari R, Smith P, Thapa D, Chand OB et al. Comment — WHO outsourcing dilemma: For whose benefit, at whose expense? BMJ Global Health. 2017 Jan 25;2(Suppl 1):i3- i4. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000237	View
Sharma J, Khatri R, Harper I. Understanding health research ethics in Nepal. Developing World Bioethics. 2016 Dec 30;16(3):140-147. Epub 2016 Feb 2. doi: 10.1111/dewb.12109	View
Abeysinghe S, Brondi L, Harper I, Lesshafft H, Lowe L, Nading A et al.. A forum on the Zika virus Somatosphere. 2016.	View
Harper I, Rawal N. Living and dying with mycobacteria: Tuberculosis and the regulation of anti-tuberculous drugs in Nepal. In Das V, Han C, editors, Living and Dying in the Contemporary World: A Compendium. Oakland: University of California Press. 2015. p. 232-250. 10 doi: 10.1525/9780520961067	View
Brhlikova P, Harper I, Subedi M, Bhattarai S, Rawal N, Pollock AM. Aid conditionalities, international Good Manufacturing Practice standards and local production rights: A case study of local production in Nepal. Globalization and Health. 2015 Jun 14;11(1):25. doi: 10.1186/s12992-015-0110-3	View
Harper I. Courts and the control of TB: Quarantine, travel and the question of adherance. In Harper I, Kelly T, Khanna A, editors, The Clinic and the Court: Law, Medicine & Anthropology. Cambridge University Press. 2015. 9. (Cambridge Studies in Law and Society).	View
Kelly T, (ed.), Harper I, (ed.), Khanna A, (ed.). The Clinic and the Court: Law, Medicine and Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. 320 p. (Cambridge Studies in Law and Society).	View
Harper I. Development and Public Health in the Himalaya: Reflections on Healing in Contemporary Nepal. 1 ed. Abingdon: Routledge, 2014. 184 p. (Routledge/Edinburgh South Asian Studies Series).	View
Taylor EM, Harper I. The Politics and Anti-Politics of the Global Fund Experiment: Understanding Partnership and Bureaucratic Expansion in Uganda. Medical Anthropology. 2013 May 9. Epub 2013 May 9. doi: 10.1080/01459740.2013.796941	View
Ecks S, Harper I. Public-Private Mixes: The Market for Anti-Tuberculosis Drugs in India. In Biehl J, Petryna A, editors, When People Come First: Critical Studies in Global Health. Princeton University Press. 2013. p. 252-275	View
Hayman R, Taylor EM, Crawford F, Jeffery P, Smith J, Harper I. The Impact of Aid on Maternal and Reproductive Health: A Systematic Review to Evaluate the Effect of Aid on the outcomes of Millennium Development Goal 5: The Impact of Aid on Maternal and Reproductive Health. London: University of London, Institute of Education, 2011.	View
Harper I, Rawal N, Subedi M. Disputing Distribution: Ethics and Pharmaceutical Regulation in Nepal. Studies in Nepali History and Society. 2011 Jun;16(1):1-39.	View
Harper I. World Health and Nepal: Producing Internationals, Healthy Citizenship and the Cosmopolitan. In Mosse D, editor, Adventures in Aidland: The Anthropology of Professionals in International Development. Berghahn Books. 2011. (Studies in Public and Applied Anthropology).	View
Brhlikova P, Harper I, Jeffery R, Rawal N, Subedi M, Santhosh MR. Trust and the Regulation of Pharmaceuticals: South Asia in a Globalised World. Globalization and Health. 2011;7:10. doi: 10.1186/1744-8603-7-10	View
Ecks S, Harper I. ‘'There is no regulation, actually” : the private market for anti-TB drugs in India. In When people come first : anthropology and social innovation in global health . Duke University Press. 2011	View
Harper I. Extreme condition, extreme measures? Compliance, drug resistance and the control of tuberculosis. Anthropology and Medicine. 2010 Aug;17(2):201-214. doi: 10.1080/13648470.2010.493606	View
Harper I, Jeffery R. Trust, ethics and spurious medicine. Himal South Asian. 2009 Aug.	View
Harper I. What is the relevance of clinical trials findings to national treatment regimens? : the case of rifampicin. University of Edinburgh. 2009 Jun 1.	View
Harper I. National tuberculosis control programmes of Nepal and India : are they using the correct treatment regimens? Journal of Health Studies. 2009 Jan 1;2.	View
Harper I. Mediating Therapeutic Uncertainty: A Mission Hospital in Nepal. In Harrison M, Jones M, Sweet HM, editors, From Western Medicine to Global Medicine: The Hospital Beyond the West. Orient BlackSwan. 2009. p. 303-329. (New Perspectives in South Asian History).	View
Kohrt B, Harper I. Navigating Diagnoses: Understanding Mind-Body Relations, Mental Health, and Stigma in Nepal. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry. 2008;32(4):462-491. doi: 10.1007/s11013-008-9110-6	View
Harper I. Confidentiality in Practice: Non-Western Perspectives on Privacy. In Clark C, McGhee J, editors, Private and Confidential? Handling Personal Information in Social and Health Services. Policy Press. 2008. p. 49-62	View
Harper I, maddox B. The impossibility of wellbeing: Development language and the pathologisation of Nepal. In Jimenez A, editor, Culture and Well-being: Anthropological Approaches to Freedom and Political Ethics. Pluto Press. 2008. p. 35-52	View
Harper I, Raman P. Less than Human? Diaspora, Disease and the Question of Citizenship. International Migration. 2008;46(5):3-26. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2435.2008.00486.x	View
Jeffery P, Ecks S, Basu S, Bhattarai S, Singh N, Brhilikova P et al. Qualitative research on fluoxetine and oxytocin in India. University of Edinburgh. 2007 Jul 3.	View
Harper I, Subedi MS, Bhattarai S, Basu S, Das Gupta A, Ecks S et al. Drug procurement in Nepal. University of Edinburgh. 2007 Jul 3.	View
Jeffery R, Basu S, Bhattarai S, Brhilikova P, Das Gupta A, Ecks S et al. Pharmaceuticals distribution systems in India. University of Edinburgh. 2007 Jul 2, p. 27. (Centre for International Public Health Policy working paper).	View
Harper I. Translating Ethics: Researching Public Health and Medical Practices in Nepal. Social Science & Medicine. 2007;65(11):2235-2247. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.08.007	View
Harper I. Anthropology, DOTS and Understanding TB control in Nepal. Journal of Biosocial Science. 2006;38(1):57-67. doi: 10.1017/S0021932005000982	View

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