Mr Joel Busher
| Job Title | Contact | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Research Student | J dot Busher at uea dot ac dot uk |
Biography
My main area of interest is the processes through which social relationships and community-level power structures are re-configured through responses to long-wave hazards.
My doctoral research explores individual experiences of what has come to be known as 'the fight against HIV/AIDS' in the Kavango Region of Namibia and the way in which these experiences have affected notions of community, civil participation, social responsibility, leadership and trust. Central to this discussion is the emergence of new institutions and the consequent negotiation of social relationships that are stretched across the new institutional environment.
Academic Background
My first degree was in Philosophy and Italian at The University of Edinburgh. I trained as a social science researcher at UEA, completing an MRes in Development Studies with a dissertation entitled, "Never as easy as ABC: Constructing HIV prevention discourse", in which I analysed the origins of HIV prevention discourses and considered the implications for current HIV prevention paradigms in Swaziland.
Prior to my doctoral studies I worked and volunteered with a number of non-governmental organisations, including Feed the Minds, Methodist Relief and Development Fund, VSO and Tenteleni. As a VSO volunteer I worked with the Namibia Red Cross Society on a programme for orphans and vulnerable children in Kavango, collaborating with health and education professionals, government institutions and civil society groups. I have carried out research and managed volunteer projects in South Africa, Swaziland and Malawi with Tenteleni, with whom I was also a trustee for seven years.
Conference Presentations and Posters
Poster presented at 17th International AIDS Conference, Mexico City, 2008
'Enabling Congregations? Church-based networks and resilience to the impacts of high morbidity and mortality in North-East Namibia'
Presentation given at AEGIS conference, Leiden, 2007
