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Professor James Staples
Professor - Anthropology

Marie Jahoda 137

Summary

After completing a first degree in anthropology in 1990 I worked for nearly ten years as a journalist before my ongoing fascination with South India drew me back to SOAS, University of London, to undertake a PhD. Thanks to ESRC and British Academy Fellowships I was able to stay on there for four years after completion as a post-doctoral fellow, broadening out my initial research on the social consequences of leprosy to consider how attitudes towards negatively construed bodily differences in India are shaped by – and shape – ideas about what constitutes human completeness. A further 16-months’ fieldwork in Hyderabad examined how the category of disability is constituted in multiple ways, and how it is experienced by disabled people in their day-to-day interactions. I joined Brunel as a lecturer in January 2007, returning regularly to my original field site to pursue new research on various topics, including food and social mobility, and suicide.

Qualifications:

  • PhD Social Anthropology (SOAS, London) 2003
  • BA (Hons) Social Anthropology (SOAS, London) 1990
  • PG Cert (Brunel) 2008

Responsibility

Divisional Senior Tutor, REF co-ordinator, Director of South Asia Studies Research Group, Deputy Divisional Lead

Newest selected publications

Staples, J. and Marsland, R. (2024) 'Time for a Focus on Climate Change and Health'. Medical Anthropology: cross-cultural studies in health and illness, 43 (1). pp. 1 - 4. ISSN: 0145-9740

Journal article

Staples, J. (2023) 'Making up leprosy in India', in Mizuho, M., Sae, N. and Kenta, F. (eds.) Life, Illness and Death in Contemporary South Asia: Living through the Age of Hope and Precariousness.. London : Routledge. pp. 17 - 29. ISBN 10: 1-003-31651-4. ISBN 13: 978-1-032-32744-0. Open Access Link

Book chapter

Staples, J. and Marsland, R. (2023) 'Encountering Ethics'. Medical Anthropology: cross-cultural studies in health and illness, 42 (1). pp. 1 - 3. ISSN: 0145-9740

Journal article

Staples, J. (2022) 'Unpacking Communal Tensions in Leicester'. Anthropology Today, 38 (6). pp. 27 - 27. ISSN: 0268-540X Open Access Link

Journal article

Staples, J. and Marsland, R. (2022) 'Grappling with Diversification'. Medical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness, 41 (1). pp. 1 - 3. ISSN: 0145-9740

Journal article
More publications(44)
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