Astrid Blystad, Professor, Section of Nursing Science

Astrid Blystad Professor Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care Section of Nursing Kalfarveien 31 University of Bergen 5018 Bergen Norway astrid.blystad@isf.uib.no tel. (+ 47) 55 58 61 61 /00 fax. (+ 47) 55 58 61 30

Education: Registered nurse (1984), social anthropologist (Dr. Polit. 2000).

Research interests: Empirical and theoretical challenges related to studies of reproductive health- and gender issues.

Doctoral thesis: "Precarious Procreation: Datoga pastoralists at the late 20th century"

English summary of doctoral thesis
Blystad calls in her Ph.D. thesis for broad approaches in studies of fertility in a manner where aspects beyond traditional reproductive health issues are investigated. It is argued that an acknowledgement of the manner in which procreation is often related to in an all- encompassing manner is critical if we are to understand dynamics of reproduction. This becomes particularly critical in fertility research on the African continent.

The project draws on material from the pastoral Datoga of Tanzania. It addresses the historic and socio-political embeddedness of thought and practice related to pregnancy, birthing, convalescence, infertility, miscarriage and infant death. Among Datoga this is a time in history of radical transformation, where processes of marginalisation and impoverisation are harshly experienced by large parts of the Datoga population. Subsisting in a minimal environment which is increasingly invaded by what Datoga speak of as 'human enemies' makes the close interconnection between of life- and death cycles of people, cattle and land easily visible, and creates a rich potential for cultural elaboration.

The study explores Datoga women's strategies for gaining control over the deteriorating fertility of people, cattle and land. Women's efforts become particularly visible through ritual practices which seek to transform as much as to reproduce. In their confrontations with neighbouring peoples, with school teachers, missionaries, tax collectors, development workers, bureaucrats, politicians, soldiers etc. Datoga women frame their experience of anger and fear in a vernacular of 'threats to female wombs and to their procreative bodies', a vernacular being a significant part of discourses and technologies that establish or contest regimes of rules. Knowledge of the dynamics in the many critical encounters between the Datoga and the features and forces that impinge upon their lives, enhances our knowledge of the situatedness of fertility in modern Africa.

Practice- and experience near approaches in anthropology create the theoretical backdrop of the study.

Norwegian summary of doctoral thesis
Avhandlingen argumenterer for at forståelse av menneskelig fertilitet krever en tilnærming utover et begrenset fokus på menneskelig reproduksjon. Arbeidet illustrerer hvordan idéer og praksiser knyttet til svangerskap, fødsel, barsel, barnløshet og barnedødelighet må forstås i konkret materiell, historisk, og sosio-kulturell kontekst. Studien trekker hovedsakelig på etnografisk materiale fra det pastorale datoga-folket i det nordlige Tanzania .

En hårfin balanse mellom fruktbarheten til mennesker, dyr og planter er karakteristisk for området. Denne gjensidige avhengigheten har fremskaffet et omfattende kunnskapsdomene knyttet til det naturlige miljøet, og har også ført til betydelig kulturell elaborering av sammenhenger mellom livs- og døds-sykluser. Beskjeftigelsen med fruktbarhet, med opplevelse av sårbarhet, samt med verning og forsvar av truet fertilitet kommer til uttrykk gjennom daglig-tale og praksis, gjennom sang, dans og poesi i ulike rituelle kontekster, samt gjennom politisk aktivitet.

Opplevelsen av en til dels dramatisk materiell marginalisering og politisk stigmatisering de siste 20 år har ført til en oppblomstring av strategier der særlig gifte kvinner søker å forsvare pastoralt liv og pastorale verdier. I store politiske mobiliseringer konfronterer datoga kvinner lærere og utviklingsarbeidere, politikere og byråkrater med anklager om 'overgrep mot kvinners kropper'. Dette svært synlige og innflytelsesrike politiske innslaget fremstår som en anomali i et etnografisk landskap der patriarkalsk samfunnsstruktur og politisk mannsdominans har vært et gjennomgangstema. Studien argumenterer for at dette "patriarkalske" bildet til dels er skapt av forskning som inntil ganske nylig har vært sterkt mannsdominert.

Refleksjon knyttet til praksis- og erfaringsnære tilnærminger i antropologi danner den teoretiske og metodiske rammen for studien.

Fieldwork
Blystad's studies have primarily been based in the Hanang and Mbulu districts of Tanzania, where she for some three years (during a 12 years period) has carried out fieldwork, primarily in connection with MA and PhD studies.

MA in nursing
Blystad is in charge of the MA modules in nursing linked up with the MA in health sciences at the Centre for International Health, University of Bergen. For more info on the Nursing program confer http://www.uib.no/isf/nursing/master.htm

NUFU program
Blystad is the prime Norwegian co-ordinator of the NUFU Programme "Gender, generation and communication in times of AIDS: The potential of 'modern' and 'traditional' institutions" funded for the period 2002-2006

Programme synopsis:
The programme is an initiative from a group of Tanzanian and Norwegian researchers working with issues of HIV prevention and AIDS care in a context of a dramatically developing HIV/AIDS situation in East Africa. The proposed programme involves institution building-, capacity building-, research (with an emphasis on intervention research) and dissemination with an emphasis on providing educational opportunities for MA and PhD students on both East African and the Scandinavian side. The programme activity is organised in three separate but related components, physically located in Mbulu/Hanang and Moshi/Arusha in northern Tanzanian and in Kigoma in western Tanzania. These locations represent a substantial diversity with regards to ethnicity, adaptation, rural / urban context, and HIV prevalence which provides scholarly opportunities for comparative projects.

Albeit truly inter-disciplinary and multi-approach, the field of nursing is located at the heart of the venture. In line with the National AIDS control programmes' research priorities, an emphasis is placed on culturally informed approaches to the pandemic. To draw upon the strengths inherent in people's socio-cultural and historic environments is a fundamental emphasis of the programme. The initiative will particularly explore the assumed potential inherent in 'traditional' as well as 'modern' institutions in coping with and empowering communities in HIV prevention and AIDS care. The projects particularly target women, youth and orphans.

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Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, last updated 19.02.02