Bureaucracy, Life, and Death on the Maternity Ward of a Tanzanian Hospital

Adrienne Strong

Adrienne is a PhD candidate in sociocultural anthropology. She is studying maternal mortality and women's health in Tanzania, currently in the Rukwa Region, and conducted her dissertation fieldwork from January 2014- August 2015. From September 2010 through July 2011, she conducted research on access to health care services during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period in the Singida Region of Tanzania. Adrienne’s doctoral dissertation project will focus on the inner workings of a government run hospital and how institutional structures related to hierarchy, bureaucracy, historical precedents, etc., may influence the capacity of the institution to provide effective maternal health care during times of obstetric crisis. Her research will focus on biomedical health care providers and administrators, groups that are often overlooked in the context of medical anthropology in sub-Saharan Africa. She has a personal website, which includes updates on her fieldwork, conference presentations and papers, critical responses to current events related to women's health and reproduction, and outstanding photos from her work in the field.