Politics, International Relations & Philosophy

I joined the School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy (SPIRE) in September 2009. I was educated at Southampton University, where I obtained a BA in Modern History and Politics in 2003, an MSc in Global Politics in 2006 and a PhD in July 2009.

My research explores the gender context of why women are at particular risk of HIV infection in Malawi and engages with the interface of gender, HIV, development and security. I generated original data during a 6 month research project funded by the ESRC that included Chichewa language training and 44 key-informant interviews. I am currently writing my first book HIV Crisis, Gendered Security: Women and HIV/AIDS in Context (Palgrave MacMillan, Forthcoming).

The findings of this research have been presented at international conferences to audiences including academics from various disciplines, policy makers, practitioners and students. Most notably I have presented at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna (July 2010) and The Third Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Abuja, Nigeria (February 2008).

• Global politics, politics of the Global South and African politics
• Development, security, gender and power
• Global health and HIV/AIDS
• Methodological expertise includes case study analysis, interviewing and conducting fieldwork in challenging environments

Over the past decade, international relations scholars have begun to debate the societal impact of HIV/AIDS in security terms. And yet, although the impact on women is highlighted, research on gender is limited. My research responds to this challenge by examining the interaction of gender, HIV and security. It makes a novel contribution to the field in that it draws upon original evidence about the situation of women in Malawi: a country devastated by HIV/AIDS and where 57 percent of infected adults are women. 

My first book HIV Crisis, Gendered Security: Women and HIV/AIDS in Context (Palgrave MacMillan, Forthcoming) provides a timely, in-depth examination of the gender context of HIV in Southern Africa. Where HIV travels along the fault lines of society it reveals the gender inequalities and provides the opportunity to challenge them. I am also developing a series of papers for publication that engage with the intersection of gender, security and HIV/AIDS. My article on ‘Infectious women: Gendered bodies and HIV/AIDS in Malawi’ examines how the gendered construction of women’s bodies heightens their risk. My article on ‘HIV/AIDS, women and security’ examines the intersection of gender, HIV and security. It is argued that the dominant security framework circumscribes an emergency response situation, failing to engage with the gender context of why women are at risk in mature epidemics in Southern Africa.

My future research will offer a broader comparative analysis of whether recent Anti-Domestic Violence and HIV/AIDS legislation in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Malawi effectively addresses the gender dimensions of the vulnerability of women to HIV infection.

I am an affiliate member of the Research Centre 4-SPIRE.

Forthcoming Publications

•  HIV Crisis, Gendered Security: Women and HIV/AIDS in Context (Palgrave MacMillan, Forthcoming)

• MA Human Rights and Global Justice
• Introduction to International Relations
• International Relations of the Environment
• The Changing World: A History of International Relations since 1945