Alexandra Brewis

Much of my research activity is based in the Culture, Health, Environment, and Language Laboratory (CHELab) which I co-lead with three other anthropologists. I am always exploring new ideas and collaborations or branching off to learn new skills, so the research foci shifts from year to year. Here are some of our core lab projects that are ongoing efforts: 

Small World/Big Bodies is a cross-cultural, comparative, multi-phased, data-driven study of how and why stigma toward obesity is spreading globally, even as body weights increase, and the consequences of this powerful process. A long-term and diverse cross-cultural, comparative, multi-phased, data-driven study of how and why stigma toward higher body weight and “obesity” is spreading globally, and the consequences of this powerful process. Running since 2006, to date we have collected community-based data in 21 countries. New comparative research is focusing on the human aspects of the global roll-out of drugs for extreme weight loss (including “off label” use).   

The Global Ethnohydrology Study is a multi-year transdisciplinary project based in our lab using data collected with local communities from around the globe, drawing on the water expertise of Amber Wutich. The goal is to better theorize how people understand and adapt to the everyday challenges of climate changes, such as getting enough safe water, and to explicate the health and psychological impacts of that struggle. This is one of the primary projects students in our lab collaborate on, learning social science research skills, and also where we test new methods to systematically collect varied forms of cultural data.

Global Impact Collaboratory (GIC) is about testing of new methods how we know when development projects are actually “working” from the perspectives of the people on the ground they are meant to serve. The GIC was designed with Peggy Ochandarena as Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning at Chemonics International. Our signature test-bed activities conducted in collaboration with USAID projects to date include: coastal Mozambique on climate change adaptation, Haiti on advancing access to justice, the West Bank on gender-based violence, and Zambia on wildlife conservation and community wellbeing. The GIC allows me to experiment with how anthropology can better "make a difference" in real world applications. 

Household Water Insecurity: Mitigating Biocultural Harms. What are the biocultural mechanisms that accrue harm to those living with chronic water insecurity? For example, how do social processes (like gendering and water sharing) interact with water insecurity to shape the coping options people have and the consequences of those for health and well-being? This work is conducted in collaboration with the HWISE – Household Water InSecurity Experiences Community of Practice. The most recent data collection is with the most water-vulnerable communities in Arizona in association with the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative (AWII), with fieldwork and analysis ongoing.