Sheila Cosminsky
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice
Rutgers University, Camden

Research

My field research has been carried out in the areas of medical anthropology and nutritional anthropology in Guatemala, Belize, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Japan, and currently in southern New Jersey.
 

Guatemala

I have carried out fieldwork in Guatemala in both the highlands among the Maya and on a coffee and sugar plantation on the south coast. The most recent project is focusing on medicalization of birth and midwifery through the examination of a mother and daughter pair of midwives. 

Africa
I have worked in Kenya and Zimbabwe. My research in Kenya was on infant and child feeding practices among the Luo in South Nyanza. In Zimbabwe, I did research on child nutrition, morbidity, and mortality in the Masvingo area, which also included a study of infant feeding practices. The picture to the left was taken as part of a study of the Masai carried out by my students at the University of Nairobi Medical School.

Teaching

Courses I teach include the following: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Food and Culture, Health and Healing, Peoples and Cultures of Latin America, and Peoples and Cultures of Africa. With the assistance of a Rutgers Dialogues grant, I have co-taught (with Dr. Roberta Tarbell of the Fine Arts Department) Latin American Art in Cultural Context. I have taught graduate courses at Rutgers-New Brunswick in Women and Health and Medical Anthropology.

E-mail Dr. Cosminsky

Updated: June 5, 2001