Helle Samuelsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 79584 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Helle Samuelsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Helle |
| FAMILY NAME | Samuelsen |
| SIGNATURE | SAMUELSEN H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Copenhagen |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8059-9380 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 57 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The role of the commons during epidemic outbreaks in unstable places
Purpose: In this paper we examine what roles civil society organizations (CSOs) played – and wanted to play – during the COVID-19 pandemic in Burkina Faso and discuss the potential role of ‘commons’, here understood as public interest goods and services (de Sardan & Leyronas, 2022) and those who engage with the commons, such as CSOs, in prevention and management of future epidemic outbreaks in unstable places like Burkina Faso.Materials and metho…
Covid-19 Temporalities
Globalisation intensifies global interconnectedness; reorders time and space; and stretches social, political, and economic practices across boundaries. However, globalisation is not a linear process; it takes place in discrete phases of short and concentrated bursts. The COVID-19 pandemic is one such time-space burst, or 'eruption'. In this paper, we focus on COVID-19 as an 'emerging epidemic' from the perspective of citizens in Bobo-Dioulasso, …
Balancing professional autonomy and authority at the margins of a fragile state
The availability of diagnostic equipment, medical products and basic infrastructure is limited in most low-income societies. Poor motivation among health workers as well as recruitment and retention problems are key factors contributing to poor health care services in developing countries. The current paper describes how the front line cope with these difficult working conditions. Data for this study come from anthropological fieldwork in two dis…
Accelerated fragility
In Burkina Faso, political turmoil, escalating insecurity and a looming pandemic challenge the population's trust in the state. This article contributes to the debates about state-citizen relationships in fragile countries by connecting local health-seeking practices with the global trends of datafication and a strong focus on the fight against malaria in this part of Africa. Drawing on long-term research engagement in Burkina Faso, I examine the…
Lokale opfattelser af diarré i Baluchistan
Diarrhoea is one the most common diseases among children in rural Baluchistan and contributes to a very high child mortality rate. A study in which 60 mothers were interviewed shows that humoral theories of hot and cold food play a prominent role in local people's beliefs about causes of childhood diarrhoea. However, data on management of diarrhoea show that the humoral balance is not redressed by intake of cold food. Instead parhaiz, a limited d…
Health Care Systems
A health care system is a conglomeration of institutions, organizations, ideas, practices, and social relationships that aims at improving human health. Initially, anthropological studies of health care systems focused on descriptions of medical traditions and ethnomedicine. Later, the division between personalistic and naturalistic systems and the coexistence of various medical traditions (medical pluralism) were studied. Arthur Kleinman's appro…
The Regulation of Street Foods
Children get sick all the time”
The analysis of case studies, interviews and observations shows how mothers in a rural area struggle and often fail to receive care at public healthcare facilities. Health service delivery could be organized in a manner that responds better to the needs of these mothers in terms of both access and retention
Teaching minority children hygiene
Kindergartens can be important institutions for the promotion of safe hygiene practices among children, but they must invest in the maintenance of hygiene and sanitation infrastructures and adopt a strong practice-based teaching approach in daily work and in teacher's education. To support highland minority children in particular, teaching styles must take local living conditions and caregiver structures into account and teach in local languages.…
Tavshedens Dilemma
Michel Foucault har i sine analyser af forholdet mellem viden og magt beskrevet, hvordan seksualitet siden victoriatiden har været genstand for en diskursiv eksplosion. Med den globale aids-epidemi har verden oplevet endnu en højlydt italesættelse af seksualitet i det offentlige rum, ofte tilskyndet af de internationale organisationer, der finansierer oplysningsprogrammerne. Erkendelse, bekendelse og åbenhed har været grundelementer i mange hiv/a…
Perspectives on child diarrhoea management and health service use among ethnic minority caregivers in Vietnam
In order to improve EMGs' use of government health services it is necessary to improve the communication skills of health staff and to acknowledge both EMGs' explanatory disease models and the significant socio-economic constraints they experience. Broader health promotion programs should address the significant gender roles preventing highland mothers from seeking health services and include family elders and fathers in future health promotion p…
Hygiene and sanitation among ethnic minorities in Northern Vietnam
Den Jyske Historiker 120. Historier om dansk udviklingsbistand
Anmeldes af Helle Samuelsen
Keeping Up Appearances
Love, lifestyles and the risk of Aids
The HIV epidemic has had a profound impact on people's everyday life in most African societies. A large proportion of all new HIV infections involves young people between 15 and 25 years. The objective of this paper is to explore local moral worlds of young people in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, and discuss how the HIVS epidemic affects their reflections on their everyday life and their perceptions of sexual relationships. Based on anthropologic…
Prevention of mosquito nuisance among urban populations in Burkina Faso
Prevention of mosquito nuisance among urban populations in Burkina Faso
Muted voices
This article explores the discrepancies between the vocal public discourse on HIV/AIDS and sexuality as generally encouraged by policy-makers and donor communities in Africa, and the often hushed voices of their target groups: young people in African communities. Based on fieldwork among urban youth in Senegal and Burkina Faso, we describe the silence of young people with regard to HIV/AIDS and sexuality as a social phenomenon, with focus given t…
The relevance of Foucault and Bourdieu for medical anthropology
The relevance of Foucault and Bourdieu for medical anthropology: exploring new sites." Anthropology & Medicine, 11(1), pp. 3–10
Therapeutic itineraries
The health care system in Burkina Faso presents a paradox. The number of health centres in the rural areas has increased significantly since the signing of the Alma-Ata Declaration in 1978. However, studies show that these public health facilities are grossly under-utilized. Parallel to this development, local healers of different types are numerous and popular, and self-treatment extremely common. The present study explores this paradox on the b…
Illness Transmission and Proximity
Anthropological studies of African conceptions of illness have often worked with a division between the natural and the supernatural, with the focus being on the efficient, or final, causes of an illness. This approach tends to maintain local African explanations of sickness within a framework of exoticism. Based on a study among the Bissa in southeastern Burkina Faso, this paper offers an alternative analysis, with the main focus being on how th…
A Study of Risk Factors for Intestinal Helminth Infections Using Epidemiological and Anthropological Approaches
This study, conducted in Kisumu District, Kenya, identified important risk factors for infection with intestinal helminths using traditional epidemiological methods. This was combined with a rapid assessment study using qualitative methods, which focused on sanitation practices and local illness perceptions. The multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the absence of latrines was a significant predictor for hookworm infection with an o…
Curing and Healing
Curing and Healing: Medical Anthropology in Global Perspective. Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 1999. vii+224 pp. Everyday Spirits and Medical Interventions: Ethnographic and Historical Notes on Therapeutic Conventions in Zanzibar Town. Tapio Nisula. Saarijanjarvi: Transactions of the Finnish Anthropological Society 43,1999. 321 pp. Some Spirits Heal, Others Only Dance:. Journey into Human Selfhood in …
Infusions of health
The Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI) has been a worldwide success; about 80% of all infants are being vaccinated. A number of anthropological studies have discussed reasons behind the active demand for vaccinations and injections in general. One issue that has been discussed in many of these studies is to which extent injection techniques correspond to indigenous perceptions and practices of prevention and therapy. This paper explores rel…
Knut-Inge Klepp, Paul M. Biswalo & Aud Talle (red.)
Fighting AIDS in Northern Tanzania. Anmeldes af Helle Samuelsen.
Hygiene and sanitation among ethnic minorities in Northern Vietnam
The relevance of Foucault and Bourdieu for medical anthropology
The relevance of Foucault and Bourdieu for medical anthropology: exploring new sites." Anthropology & Medicine, 11(1), pp. 3–10
Therapeutic itineraries
The health care system in Burkina Faso presents a paradox. The number of health centres in the rural areas has increased significantly since the signing of the Alma-Ata Declaration in 1978. However, studies show that these public health facilities are grossly under-utilized. Parallel to this development, local healers of different types are numerous and popular, and self-treatment extremely common. The present study explores this paradox on the b…
Keeping Up Appearances
Infusions of health
The Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI) has been a worldwide success; about 80% of all infants are being vaccinated. A number of anthropological studies have discussed reasons behind the active demand for vaccinations and injections in general. One issue that has been discussed in many of these studies is to which extent injection techniques correspond to indigenous perceptions and practices of prevention and therapy. This paper explores rel…
Illness Transmission and Proximity
Anthropological studies of African conceptions of illness have often worked with a division between the natural and the supernatural, with the focus being on the efficient, or final, causes of an illness. This approach tends to maintain local African explanations of sickness within a framework of exoticism. Based on a study among the Bissa in southeastern Burkina Faso, this paper offers an alternative analysis, with the main focus being on how th…
Knut-Inge Klepp, Paul M. Biswalo & Aud Talle (red.)
Fighting AIDS in Northern Tanzania. Anmeldes af Helle Samuelsen.
Vincanne Adams
Vincanne Adams: Doctors for Democracy. Health Professionals in the Nepal Revolution. Anmeldes af Helle Samuelsen
Åndebørn
Helle Samuelsen: Spirit Children According to local cosmology among the Bissa of Burkina Faso, small children up to 3-4 years of age are seen as balancing between the living and the spiritual worlds. At this early stage in their lives, they are in a transitional state with a certain attachment to the world of spirits and ancestors. On the one hånd, children are considered vulnerable and thus eligible for parental protection, while on the other hå…
A Study of Risk Factors for Intestinal Helminth Infections Using Epidemiological and Anthropological Approaches
This study, conducted in Kisumu District, Kenya, identified important risk factors for infection with intestinal helminths using traditional epidemiological methods. This was combined with a rapid assessment study using qualitative methods, which focused on sanitation practices and local illness perceptions. The multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the absence of latrines was a significant predictor for hookworm infection with an o…
Curing and Healing
Curing and Healing: Medical Anthropology in Global Perspective. Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 1999. vii+224 pp. Everyday Spirits and Medical Interventions: Ethnographic and Historical Notes on Therapeutic Conventions in Zanzibar Town. Tapio Nisula. Saarijanjarvi: Transactions of the Finnish Anthropological Society 43,1999. 321 pp. Some Spirits Heal, Others Only Dance:. Journey into Human Selfhood in …
Infusions of health
The Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI) has been a worldwide success; about 80% of all infants are being vaccinated. A number of anthropological studies have discussed reasons behind the active demand for vaccinations and injections in general. One issue that has been discussed in many of these studies is to which extent injection techniques correspond to indigenous perceptions and practices of prevention and therapy. This paper explores rel…
Prevention of mosquito nuisance among urban populations in Burkina Faso
Prevention of mosquito nuisance among urban populations in Burkina Faso
Muted voices
This article explores the discrepancies between the vocal public discourse on HIV/AIDS and sexuality as generally encouraged by policy-makers and donor communities in Africa, and the often hushed voices of their target groups: young people in African communities. Based on fieldwork among urban youth in Senegal and Burkina Faso, we describe the silence of young people with regard to HIV/AIDS and sexuality as a social phenomenon, with focus given t…
The relevance of Foucault and Bourdieu for medical anthropology
The relevance of Foucault and Bourdieu for medical anthropology: exploring new sites." Anthropology & Medicine, 11(1), pp. 3–10
Therapeutic itineraries
The health care system in Burkina Faso presents a paradox. The number of health centres in the rural areas has increased significantly since the signing of the Alma-Ata Declaration in 1978. However, studies show that these public health facilities are grossly under-utilized. Parallel to this development, local healers of different types are numerous and popular, and self-treatment extremely common. The present study explores this paradox on the b…
Illness Transmission and Proximity
Anthropological studies of African conceptions of illness have often worked with a division between the natural and the supernatural, with the focus being on the efficient, or final, causes of an illness. This approach tends to maintain local African explanations of sickness within a framework of exoticism. Based on a study among the Bissa in southeastern Burkina Faso, this paper offers an alternative analysis, with the main focus being on how th…
Love, lifestyles and the risk of Aids
The HIV epidemic has had a profound impact on people's everyday life in most African societies. A large proportion of all new HIV infections involves young people between 15 and 25 years. The objective of this paper is to explore local moral worlds of young people in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, and discuss how the HIVS epidemic affects their reflections on their everyday life and their perceptions of sexual relationships. Based on anthropologic…
Keeping Up Appearances
Den Jyske Historiker 120. Historier om dansk udviklingsbistand
Anmeldes af Helle Samuelsen
Hygiene and sanitation among ethnic minorities in Northern Vietnam
Perspectives on child diarrhoea management and health service use among ethnic minority caregivers in Vietnam
In order to improve EMGs' use of government health services it is necessary to improve the communication skills of health staff and to acknowledge both EMGs' explanatory disease models and the significant socio-economic constraints they experience. Broader health promotion programs should address the significant gender roles preventing highland mothers from seeking health services and include family elders and fathers in future health promotion p…
Tavshedens Dilemma
Michel Foucault har i sine analyser af forholdet mellem viden og magt beskrevet, hvordan seksualitet siden victoriatiden har været genstand for en diskursiv eksplosion. Med den globale aids-epidemi har verden oplevet endnu en højlydt italesættelse af seksualitet i det offentlige rum, ofte tilskyndet af de internationale organisationer, der finansierer oplysningsprogrammerne. Erkendelse, bekendelse og åbenhed har været grundelementer i mange hiv/a…
Teaching minority children hygiene
Kindergartens can be important institutions for the promotion of safe hygiene practices among children, but they must invest in the maintenance of hygiene and sanitation infrastructures and adopt a strong practice-based teaching approach in daily work and in teacher's education. To support highland minority children in particular, teaching styles must take local living conditions and caregiver structures into account and teach in local languages.…
Children get sick all the time”
The analysis of case studies, interviews and observations shows how mothers in a rural area struggle and often fail to receive care at public healthcare facilities. Health service delivery could be organized in a manner that responds better to the needs of these mothers in terms of both access and retention
The Regulation of Street Foods
Health Care Systems
A health care system is a conglomeration of institutions, organizations, ideas, practices, and social relationships that aims at improving human health. Initially, anthropological studies of health care systems focused on descriptions of medical traditions and ethnomedicine. Later, the division between personalistic and naturalistic systems and the coexistence of various medical traditions (medical pluralism) were studied. Arthur Kleinman's appro…
Lokale opfattelser af diarré i Baluchistan
Diarrhoea is one the most common diseases among children in rural Baluchistan and contributes to a very high child mortality rate. A study in which 60 mothers were interviewed shows that humoral theories of hot and cold food play a prominent role in local people's beliefs about causes of childhood diarrhoea. However, data on management of diarrhoea show that the humoral balance is not redressed by intake of cold food. Instead parhaiz, a limited d…
Balancing professional autonomy and authority at the margins of a fragile state
The availability of diagnostic equipment, medical products and basic infrastructure is limited in most low-income societies. Poor motivation among health workers as well as recruitment and retention problems are key factors contributing to poor health care services in developing countries. The current paper describes how the front line cope with these difficult working conditions. Data for this study come from anthropological fieldwork in two dis…
Accelerated fragility
In Burkina Faso, political turmoil, escalating insecurity and a looming pandemic challenge the population's trust in the state. This article contributes to the debates about state-citizen relationships in fragile countries by connecting local health-seeking practices with the global trends of datafication and a strong focus on the fight against malaria in this part of Africa. Drawing on long-term research engagement in Burkina Faso, I examine the…
Medicine (17 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Political science (12 works) · Geography (11 works) · Environmental health (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · African Studies and Ethnography (7 works) · Public health (7 works) · Child Nutrition and Water Access (6 works) · Economic growth (6 works)