Dr Rebecca Marsland
Job Title
Senior Lecturer
Room number
5.06Building (Address)
Chrystal Macmillan BuildingStreet (Address)
15a George SquareCity (Address)
EdinburghCountry (Address)
UKPost code (Address)
EH8 9LDResearch interests
Research interests
Medical Anthropology, Tanzania, East Africa, Funerals, International development, HIV and AIDS, Witchcraft, Human-animal relationships/Multispecies Anthropology, Bees, Veterinary Anthropology, One Health
I am currently writing up an ESRC-funded research project on bees and beekeepers called Beelines.
My research in Tanzania focuses on on the entry of public health discourses about malaria into discussions about local "tradition". I am currently working on a book, The Words of the People, which will revisit classic ethnographies of the Nyakyusa, through the lens of public heath and development discourse. The book aims to put contemporary debate about the morality of tradition in Kyela into historical perspective.
Topics interested in supervising
Interested in supervising students in areas related to: Medical Anthropology, East Africa, Multispecies Anthropology, Veterinary Anthropology, Social Approaches to One Health.
Background
Selected publications
Marsland, R. (2021) ‘Fracturing the pandemic: the logic of separation and infectious disease in Tanzania’, in Manderson, L., Burke, N.J., and Wahlberg, A. (eds) Viral loads. Anthropologies of urgency in the time of COVID-19. London: UCL Press. *Open Access*Prince RJ and Marsland R (eds) 2014. Making and Unmaking Public Health In Africa: Ethnographic Perspectives Athens: Ohio University Press.
Marsland, R. 2014. Who are the public in public health? Debating crowds, populations and publics in Tanzania. In Making and Unmaking Public Health In Africa: Ethnographic Perspectives (eds) R. Marsland & R. Prince, J. Athens: Ohio University Press.
Marsland. 2013. Pondo Pins and Nyakyusa Hammers: Monica and Godfrey in Bunyakyusa. In Inside African Anthropology: Monica Wilson and her Interpreters (eds) A. Bank & L.J. Bank. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Marsland, R. 2012. (Bio)sociality and HIV in Tanzania: Finding a Living to Support a Life. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 26, 470-485.
Marsland, R. & R. Prince, J. 2012. What Is Life Worth? Exploring Biomedical Interventions, Survival, and the Politics of Life. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 26, 453-469.
Marsland, R. (2007). The modern traditional healer. Locating 'hybridity' in modern traditional Medicine. Journal of Southern African Studies 33 (4): 751-765.
Marsland, R. (2006). "Community participation the Tanzanian Way: Conceptual Contiguity or Power Struggle?" Oxford Development Studies 34 (1): 65-79.
Works within
Staff Hours and Guidance
Click on the link to book a meeting during my Feedback and Guidance Hours on Fridays, 1-3pm, during Semester Two.
Outside of teaching semesters, please email for an appointment.