Research Projects and Interests

 

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Current Research Projects:

 

Ethnography of a Chinese Population within the Canadian Cultural Mosaic: Cultural Identity, Lifecycle Issues, and Health Practices Among Montreal Chinese: Analysis of interviews and fieldnotes on men and women of Chinese ethnicity living in Montréal, focusing on how they negotiate multiple languages and cultures in their everyday lives and their sense of identity and with regard to the lifecycle, generational issues, and health practices, 2000-present.

 

Gender, health, sexuality, the lifecycle, and aging in mainland China: Analysis of the ethnographic interview, survey, and media data I have collected on gender, health, sexuality, the lifecycle, aging, middle age, menopause, and old age in mainland China, 1992-present.

 

Issues of efficacy and evidence in traditional Chinese medicine:  Analysis of debates concerning the interface between traditional Chinese medicine and standards of efficacy prioritized in contemporary formulations of evidence-based medicine.

 

Visual documentation of Chinese communities in North America and China: Documentation of cultural activities and healing practices through digital still photography and digital video documentation. Conducted in Chinatowns in Canada and the U.S. and in the People's Republic of China, 1998-present.

 

 

Research and Teaching Interests:

 

General:

  • Sociocultural anthropology
  • Medical anthropology
  • Health, illness, healing, and health care systems
  • Psychological anthropology
  • Identity and experience
  • Lifecycle, development, and aging
  • Gender and sexuality
  • Economic development/social change
  • Multiculturalism/globalization
  • Influences of gender, class, culture and ethnicity on health.
  • Cultural and generational differences in experience of the lifecycle.
  • Health concerns and social issues marking lifecourse transitions.
  • Integration of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.
  • Visual anthropology

Asian Studies:

  • Chinese culture and history
  • Chinese experiences of health and illness
  • Healing practices in China
  • Chinese conceptions of the lifecycle
  • Middle age and menopause in China
  • Generational differences in China
  • Chinese in Montreal, Canada, and US
  • Eastern/ Western cultural interplay

 

Academic Positions:

University of Vermont

Associate Professor, Anthropology                   May 2004-present

Assistant Professor, Anthropology              September 1998-April 2004

Visiting Assistant Professor, Anthropology        January 1998-May 1998

Harvard University

Teaching Fellow, Asian Studies                         September 1997-January 1998

Teaching Fellow, Anthropology                         September 1991-June 1997

 

Educational Background:

 

Harvard University                                   Ph.D. in Anthropology, June 1998

 

Harvard University                                   M.A. in Anthropology, June 1994

 

Beijing University                                      Fulbright/ITT International Fellow

Chinese History and Culture

September 1989-May 1990

 

Dartmouth College                                    B.A., Summa Cum Laude, June 1989

 

University College London                      Study Abroad, English Literature

October 1987-March 1988

 

Beijing Normal University                       Study Abroad, Chinese

Language/Literature

June-December 1986

 

Bellows Free Academy, Fairfax, VT        Valedictorian, June 1985

 

Selected Publications:

 

Jeanne L. Shea, "Cross-Cultural Comparison of Women's Midlife Symptom-Reporting: A China Study," Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry: An International Journal of Comparative Cross-Cultural Research, September 2006(30:3).

 

Jeanne L. Shea, " Parsing the Ageing Asian Woman: Symptom Results from the China Study of Midlife Women,” Maturitas: The European Menopause Journal, August 2006(55:1):36-50.

 

Jeanne L. Shea, "Applying Evidence-Based Medicine to Traditional Chinese Medicine: Debate and Strategy," Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine," April 2006(12:3):255-63.

 

Jeanne L. Shea, "Chinese Women's Symptoms: Relation to Menopause, Age and Related Attitudes," Climacteric: The Journal of the International Menopause Society, February 2006(9:1):30-39.

 

Jeanne L. Shea, "Midlife Women's Symptom Reporting in China," American Journal of Human Biology, March/April 2006(18:2):219-222.

 

Jeanne L. Shea,"Sexual 'Liberation' and the Older Woman in Contemporary Mainland China," Modern China: An International Quarterly of History and Social Science, January 2005(31:1):115-47.

 

Jeanne L. Shea, "Setting the Anthropological Record Straight: A Critique of Marshall Sahlins’ Characterization of Classic Theories of Causality in Anthropology," Anthropos, September 2003(98):489-497.

 

 

 

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Contact me with questions or comments at jeanne.shea@uvm.edu