Susie Kilshaw

Arranging marriage; negotiating risk: genetics and society in Qatar

This paper considers how the globalized discourse of genetic risk in cousin marriage is shaped, informed and taken up in local moral worlds within the context of Qatar. This paper investigates the way Qataris are negotiating the discourse on genetics and risk. It is based on data from ongoing ethnographic research in Qatar and contributes to anthropological knowledge about this understudied country. Participants were ambivalent about genetic risks and often pointed to other theories of causation in relation to illness and disability. The discourse on genetic risk associated with marrying in the family was familiar, but for some participants the benefits of close marriage outweighed potential risks. Furthermore, the introduction of mandatory pre-marital screening gave participants confidence that risks were monitored and minimized.

Toxic Emissions: The Role of Semen in GWS Narratives.

Narratives about Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) contain discussions of sex and reproduction and there is a high level of anxiety about these subjects. Although similar to other medically unexplained conditions, GWS has distinctive features. The most salient of these is its contagious nature, with the main vehicle for contamination being semen. GWS sufferers believe their semen to be affected by their participation in the Gulf War. This paper focuses on a number of specific symptoms described by Gulf veterans including: Burning Semen Syndrome, low libido, impotence and birth defects and aims to interpret why certain symptoms became powerful markers of the condition. Furthermore, the paper looks at the meaning conveyed by such symptom reporting. Data were generated from 14 months ethnographic fieldwork in the UK including participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Concerns about lack of potency, toxicity and quality suggest that semen itself is a substance in which social concerns are enacted. The paper argues that such a focus on and anxiety about semen suggests that GWS narratives express concerns about masculinity, or, more precisely a loss of masculinity.

Qatari intersections with global genetics research and discourse

ABSTRACT Genetic discourses have taken a predominant role in approaches to combating a number of conditions that affect Qataris. This paper is derived from an exploration of Qatari encounters with globalizing discourses of genetics, particularly as they relate to notions of risk. It explores Qataris negotiations of global interactions and influences, including the discourses around genetic risk and cousin marriage. It suggests that family marriage can be seen as one of the main platforms of resistance and a means for modern, cosmopolitan and tradition to be negotiated.

Birds, meat, and babies: the multiple realities of fetuses in Qatar

ABSTRACT This paper explores miscarriage in a variety of Qatari contexts to reveal the multiple realities of the unborn. During 18 months of ethnographic research, a range of settings in which fetuses emerged were explored. The unborn are represented and imagined differently, particularly in relation to the ways they are located, with multiple beings emerging according to the context and position of the stakeholder. This paper considers fetuses produced within these contexts and considers how they can be different beings simultaneously. The paper reveals how categories meant to define these beings are in flux and are constantly negotiated; it reflects moments of ambiguity. The paper serves as an illustration of the way in which value-afforded pregnancy materials affects the contexts in which they emerge; this then loops back as context dictates the significance of the material, hence multiple realities of these beings.

Genomics and genetic medicine: pathways to global health?

This special issue of Anthropology and Medicine contributes to emerging anthropological research examining the expanding terrain of genomic research and genetic medicine as a product of and vector ...

Erratum: Arranging marriage; Negotiating risk: Genetics and society in Qatar (Anthropology and Medicine (2015) DOI:10.1080/13648470.2014.976542)

The purposes of the study were to measure adherence with antiretroviral therapy to dose, schedule, and dietary instructions in a sample of patients with HIV infection in Stockholm, Sweden, over a 2-year period and identify baseline predictors of the three types of adherence. The study cohort consists of 144 patients who completed at least six out of seven follow-up selfreported adherence questionnaires. Baseline self-administrated questionnaire examined socio-demographics, medicationrelated, psychological, cognitive, and social context factors and self-reported adherence. Biomedical data were obtained through patients’ medical records. Summary dose, schedule, and dietary instructions adherence scores provided outcome measures reflecting 100% adherence across all time points or not 100% adherence during at least one measurement period. A total of 61% maintained consistent full-dose adherence throughout baseline and all follow-up visits and equivalent proportion of 100% schedule adherence was 39%. Among patients with dietary instructions, 37% retained consistent adherence at all visits. Only schedule adherence was predicted by baseline data; perceived pressures from medical staff to take HIV medications (OR 0.51, p B/.05), life stress (OR 0.13, p B/.01), ART health concerns (OR 0.19, p B/.01), and ART prolongs one’s life (OR 0.39, p B/.05) predicted reduced schedule adherence over time. Perceived medication pressures from those close to the patient (OR 1.76, p B/.05), post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (OR 1.07, p B/.01), and adherence self-efficacy (OR 3.50, p B/.05) predicted positive schedule adherence over time. These results clearly illustrate difficulties in sustaining ART adherent behaviour, in particular schedule and dietary restrictions, over time and thus emphasizes the importance of multiple periodic assessments of all three types of adherence. Interventions aimed at improving schedule adherence should in particular focus on psychological and cognitive factors.