Theory of Normativity in Global Society V

In this seven sessions seminar, we will focus on how to conduct ethnographic fieldwork and how to create and circulate ethnographic narratives during health emergencies and disasters. For the purpose of the course, we will consider narratives in a broad sense, encompassing texts, videos, stills (such as photographs, digitally generated art, paintings), to reflect on the meanings and the possibilities offered through “bearing witness” in contexts of health emergencies and disasters – and the ethical stances such work calls for both in the fieldwork and beyond it. In our seven-week exercise, we will put women and women’s perspectives and needs in the center of our analysis. To facilitate the conversation, the bibliography will prioritize the instructor's academic and visual production.

· The English language is not the first language for all of us, I suppose (and Professor Diniz is still learning basic Japanese), so empathy and a good sense of humor are recommended to create a safe space for all the participants. Students are welcomed to suggest class dynamics that better fit to the group.

About the instructor
Debora Diniz is a Brazilian anthropologist, professor at the University of Brasilia (Brazil). She is also a visiting scholar at the Law Faculty, University of Toronto (Canada). Diniz is a member of the High-Level Advisory Group for the Gender and Health Hub coordinated by the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH), and she is a member of the WHO working group to develop intersectional gender lens to research ethics. Diniz’s 2016 book “Zika: from Brazilian backlands to global threat” was awarded the Brazilian Health Sciences Jabuti Prize and has since been translated into English and Japanese. Her ethnographic films have won more than 90 awards, and have been exhibited at festivals, prisons, universities and schools, hospitals and labs, courts, and churches in more than 35 countries. Due to her rights-based response to the effects of the Zika epidemic in Brazil, she was nominated as one of 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine. In 2020, she won the prestigious Dan David prize, a lifetime achievement recognition for her contributions to gender justice and the Global Health Ethics Leadership (University of Oxford, UK). In 2024, she was granted an honorary degree by the Social Sciences Department of the University of Ottawa. She was a visiting scholar in universities in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and USA; and served in several international boards, currently serving at the Witness board.
· To know more about how Diniz explores her intersecting work between anthropology and women’s rights and health emergencies, read: Bähre, Erik; Diniz, Debora. Women's rights and misogyny in Brazil: an interview with Debora Diniz.
Anthropology Today, 36(2), 17-20.

With the remote collaboration of:
Arbel Griner is a Brazilian anthropologist, currently associate research scholar at the Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton University. Griner is a member of the Brazilian research team working on the aftermath of the Zika epidemic and Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil.