Roanne Van Voorst
Biographic Data
| ID | 131740 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roanne Van Voorst |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roanne |
| FAMILY NAME | Van Voorst |
| SIGNATURE | VAN VOORST R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Amsterdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6288-927X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Collaborating with artificial intelligence in healthcare
This article explores the role of magical beliefs in shaping the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. Drawing on ethnographic research across hospitals in seven countries, it argues that healthcare professionals’ perceptions of AI as an autonomous, inevitable force significantly propel ongoing development and investment, despite frequent frustrations, errors, and ethical concerns. These beliefs—centered on notions of A…
The magic of AI
This introduction argues that anthropology requires a new conceptual framework for understanding the contemporary social life of artificial intelligence (AI). We propose "the magic of AI" as an analytical concept that shifts attention from AI's technical capacities to the beliefs, uncertainties, and sociotechnical imaginaries through which it acquires authority and efficacy. Revisiting anthropological theories of magic, particularly the work of E…
“No longer morally justifiable” temporal dynamics of care, or how AI made waiting unethical
This article explores the impact of Artificial Intelligence on professional caregivers in a Scandinavian hospital, drawing upon an ethnographic and interview-based study that focused on time experiences in relation to cancer diagnoses and treatment plans. The AI system produces detailed radiographic drawings faster and more accurately than its human counterpart, leading to more accurate diagnoses and treatment predictions. I examine how this tech…
Networked biopower
This study fucuses on data-driven personalization in healthcare (DDPH), an umbrella term for collection, storage, and analysis of big individual data with a view to providing patient-specific healthcare solutions, including customized treatments, and disease prevention. Interviews with prominent figures in public healthcare in Israel and Estonia revealed their socio-technical imaginaries regarding DDPH trends. The analysis draws on the Foucauldia…
Redefining intelligence
This paper analyzes the collaboration between healthcare professionals and algorithms in making decisions within the realm of public healthcare. By extending the concept of ‘tinkering’ from previous research conducted by philosopher Mol (Care in practice. On tinkering in clinics, homes and farms Verlag, Amsterdam, 2010) and anthropologist Pols (Health Care Anal 18: 374–388, 2009), who highlighted the improvisational and adaptive practices of heal…
"What do you mean, we use intuition?" The productive silence of diagnostic intuition
This paper explores the theoretical development of the "absent present," as conceptualized by Michel Callon and John Law, within the context of healthcare practice and explicit attention for the agency of the non-material, specifically words, or the active silencing thereof. Based on fieldwork in international hospitals (2020-2024), I argue that healthcare professionals often downplay the significance of their diagnostic intuition in public disco…
Performative insights
This article presents the innovative "Future-in-the-Now method," an ethnographic and theatrical approach designed for anthropological research, particularly effective for futures-anthropologists and those exploring sensitive topics through arts-based methods. By emphasizing the co-creation of a theatrical performance between the ethnographer and research participants, this method transforms the performance into the central site of ethnographic in…
The Loss of a Cyclical Self
This article explores the profound impact of menstruation and menopause on people's sense of self, as shaped by the lenses of medical experts and advocates of the cyclical living movement. Drawing from personal experience of premature menopause, it reflects on the narratives surrounding reproductive health and the cultural significance attached to these bodily transitions. The article moves beyond a discussion of the complex emotions associated w…
How my mother partially vanished from life
This anthropological nonfiction piece explores the complex landscape of caring for a mother by her daughter during a near-loss. It questions whether, and how, we can miss someone who is still present but changed. Rooted in anthropology, the story examines how personal experiences of caregiving and aging intersect with societal and cultural structures, especially the increasing demand for citizen participation in health care. The concept of "absen…
Futures thinking as collaborative practice in anthropology
Futures-thinking methods offer transformative potential for anthropological research yet need to be more utilized in our field. Collaborative Futures Scenario Thinking (CFST) combined with the Qualitative Delphi (QD) method provides an accessible and dynamic approach to understanding how communities imagine and shape their futures. Anthropologists have long been sceptical of these methods because corporations have co-opted them. Yet their fundame…
Key points for an ethnography of AI
Recent years have seen an increase in calls for ethnography as a method to study Artificial Intelligence (AI). Scholars from diverse backgrounds have been encouraged to move beyond quantitative methods and embrace qualitative methods, particularly ethnography. As anthropologists of data and AI, we appreciate the growing recognition of qualitative methods. However, we emphasize the importance of grounding ethnography in specific ways of engaging w…
The influence of artificial intelligence within health-related risk work
In this editorial we highlight the need for empirical studies into the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in healthcare and social work settings, especially studies which are theoretically informed by critical social science studies of risk and uncertainty. In setting out the importance of interpretative and critical traditions for research into such AI-oriented forms of risk work, we propose three important conceptual lines o…
The Medical Tech Facilitator
This article focuses on the emerging position of the 'medical tech facilitator' developed by practitioners in the Dutch public healthcare system. The analysis is based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Dutch hospitals. It highlights, firstly, the practices and ongoing negotiations that these facilitators engage in, to maintain a position between two parties-the medical sector and the technology industry. I argue that the practices of medi…
Accountability in Humanitarian Action
Although a growing number of NGOs are combining humanitarian and development activities, it was long the case that humanitarian action was isolated from discussions and practices in the world of development. The work of saving lives was deemed to be guided solely by the humanitarian principles, and discussions on accountability were rare. In the 1990s, humanitarian standards initiatives arose in recognition that humanitarian organisations were no…
Managing the humanitarian micro-space
The delivery of humanitarian aid remains one of the main challenges in contemporary armed conflict. The legal, political and physical construction of a sustained and respected humanitarian space, in which such aid delivery can occur, is a fragile operation. Humanitarian spaces increasingly appear fragmented and localised. They are re-negotiated continuously, either as part of subnational and local truces and peace or cooperation agreements or thr…
Juxtapositions in Jakarta
This paper traces the interplay of spatially, socially and legally juxtaposed differences between different groups of Indonesia’s residents: (1) a group of riverbank settlers in Jakarta, (2) political decision-makers and urban planners that evict this particular riverbank settlement and (3) a group of Jakartan academics, architects and journalists that got involved in these interventions. The dynamics between and within these groups are examined …
Praxis and paradigms of local and expatriate workers in ‘Aidland’
This paper discusses practices and paradigms that expatriate and national humanitarian aid workers use to deal with major problems they encounter in their daily work. It views ‘Aidland’ as an arena where different actors encounter, negotiate and shape the outcome of aid. One of the main findings is that there are consistent differences in the way expatriate and national aid actors perceive problems in their field, as well as in the way they respo…
Jakarta
Jakarta is being transformed in an unknown speed and manner by new types of urban authorities and drivers of transformation. These actors are moving in a field of opportunity that was created by recent and severe changes in the economic, socio-political and natural environment of Jakarta. Including chapters written by contributors who have lived and worked in Jakarta for years, this book shows how urban space in Jakarta is increasingly created by…
Disaster Risk Governance in Indonesia and Myanmar
This article discusses the discourse and practice of co-governance in disaster risk reduction (DRR). It is based on an extensive ethnographic study of DRR at global level and in two disaster-prone countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia and Myanmar. These country cases were selected not only because of their similarly high vulnerability to disasters, but also because the overlaps and differences between them in disaster governance allowed for a co…
Natural Hazards, Risk and Vulnerability
Different people handle risk in different ways. The current lack of understanding about this heterogeneity in risk behaviour makes it difficult to intervene effectively in risk-prone communities. Natural Hazards, Risk and Vulnerability offers a unique insight in the everyday life of a group of riverbank settlers in Jakarta - one of the most vulnerable areas worldwide in terms of exposure to natural hazards. Based on long-term fieldwork, the book …
Formal and informal flood governance in Jakarta, Indonesia
Applying the risk society thesis within the context of flood risk and poverty in Jakarta, Indonesia
Scholars have called for further critical reflection on and hence advancement of popular theories of risk. Classic texts such as Beck's risk society thesis have been criticised for their Eurocentricity, making them difficult to use in non-Western contexts. This limitation is especially problematic given that so many risks and natural hazards occur in precisely the Southern, developing regions of the world which Beck's work largely neglects. In th…
Introduction to the “risky everyday”
Item does not contain fulltext
Risk-handling styles in a context of flooding and uncertainty in Jakarta, Indonesia
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce an analytical framework to define and interpret heterogenous risk behaviour within communities facing natural hazard. By employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, the paper presents a categorization of "risk-styles" that are commonly used by Jakartan riverbank settlers facing recurrent risk. Unlike the more common concept of "flood-coping strategies", the notion of risk-styl…
One Risk Replaces Another
It has long been recognised that poor, marginalised groups are the most vulnerable to hazards related to climate change. Several recent studies have suggested that such communities may be doubly vulnerable when interventions are carried out to make climate-change-related adaptations. Climate-change interventions may be “maladaptive” and may further “injure” vulnerable communities. Although such findings are troubling, little empirical research ha…
Praxis and paradigms of local and expatriate workers in ‘Aidland’
This paper discusses practices and paradigms that expatriate and national humanitarian aid workers use to deal with major problems they encounter in their daily work. It views ‘Aidland’ as an arena where different actors encounter, negotiate and shape the outcome of aid. One of the main findings is that there are consistent differences in the way expatriate and national aid actors perceive problems in their field, as well as in the way they respo…
Futures thinking as collaborative practice in anthropology
Futures-thinking methods offer transformative potential for anthropological research yet need to be more utilized in our field. Collaborative Futures Scenario Thinking (CFST) combined with the Qualitative Delphi (QD) method provides an accessible and dynamic approach to understanding how communities imagine and shape their futures. Anthropologists have long been sceptical of these methods because corporations have co-opted them. Yet their fundame…
Formal and informal flood governance in Jakarta, Indonesia
One Risk Replaces Another
It has long been recognised that poor, marginalised groups are the most vulnerable to hazards related to climate change. Several recent studies have suggested that such communities may be doubly vulnerable when interventions are carried out to make climate-change-related adaptations. Climate-change interventions may be “maladaptive” and may further “injure” vulnerable communities. Although such findings are troubling, little empirical research ha…
Accountability in Humanitarian Action
Although a growing number of NGOs are combining humanitarian and development activities, it was long the case that humanitarian action was isolated from discussions and practices in the world of development. The work of saving lives was deemed to be guided solely by the humanitarian principles, and discussions on accountability were rare. In the 1990s, humanitarian standards initiatives arose in recognition that humanitarian organisations were no…
Managing the humanitarian micro-space
The delivery of humanitarian aid remains one of the main challenges in contemporary armed conflict. The legal, political and physical construction of a sustained and respected humanitarian space, in which such aid delivery can occur, is a fragile operation. Humanitarian spaces increasingly appear fragmented and localised. They are re-negotiated continuously, either as part of subnational and local truces and peace or cooperation agreements or thr…
Disaster Risk Governance in Indonesia and Myanmar
This article discusses the discourse and practice of co-governance in disaster risk reduction (DRR). It is based on an extensive ethnographic study of DRR at global level and in two disaster-prone countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia and Myanmar. These country cases were selected not only because of their similarly high vulnerability to disasters, but also because the overlaps and differences between them in disaster governance allowed for a co…
The Right to Aid
Regular floods impact negatively on the health and wellbeing of slum dwellers in Jakarta and it is understandable that the victims seek access to justice. Fieldwork in one of Jakarta's most flood-prone neighbourhoods, Bantaran Kali, reveals that riverbank settlers there access what they perceive to be justice by engaging in a number of different social networks that are neither formal nor informal—they feature in between civil society and the sta…
The Right to Aid
Regular floods impact negatively on the health and wellbeing of slum dwellers in Jakarta and it is understandable that the victims seek access to justice. Fieldwork in one of Jakarta's most flood-prone neighbourhoods, Bantaran Kali, reveals that riverbank settlers there access what they perceive to be justice by engaging in a number of different social networks that are neither formal nor informal—they feature in between civil society and the sta…
Applying the risk society thesis within the context of flood risk and poverty in Jakarta, Indonesia
Scholars have called for further critical reflection on and hence advancement of popular theories of risk. Classic texts such as Beck's risk society thesis have been criticised for their Eurocentricity, making them difficult to use in non-Western contexts. This limitation is especially problematic given that so many risks and natural hazards occur in precisely the Southern, developing regions of the world which Beck's work largely neglects. In th…
Introduction to the “risky everyday”
Item does not contain fulltext
Risk-handling styles in a context of flooding and uncertainty in Jakarta, Indonesia
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce an analytical framework to define and interpret heterogenous risk behaviour within communities facing natural hazard. By employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, the paper presents a categorization of "risk-styles" that are commonly used by Jakartan riverbank settlers facing recurrent risk. Unlike the more common concept of "flood-coping strategies", the notion of risk-styl…
One Risk Replaces Another
It has long been recognised that poor, marginalised groups are the most vulnerable to hazards related to climate change. Several recent studies have suggested that such communities may be doubly vulnerable when interventions are carried out to make climate-change-related adaptations. Climate-change interventions may be “maladaptive” and may further “injure” vulnerable communities. Although such findings are troubling, little empirical research ha…
Natural Hazards, Risk and Vulnerability
Different people handle risk in different ways. The current lack of understanding about this heterogeneity in risk behaviour makes it difficult to intervene effectively in risk-prone communities. Natural Hazards, Risk and Vulnerability offers a unique insight in the everyday life of a group of riverbank settlers in Jakarta - one of the most vulnerable areas worldwide in terms of exposure to natural hazards. Based on long-term fieldwork, the book …
Formal and informal flood governance in Jakarta, Indonesia
Jakarta
Jakarta is being transformed in an unknown speed and manner by new types of urban authorities and drivers of transformation. These actors are moving in a field of opportunity that was created by recent and severe changes in the economic, socio-political and natural environment of Jakarta. Including chapters written by contributors who have lived and worked in Jakarta for years, this book shows how urban space in Jakarta is increasingly created by…
Disaster Risk Governance in Indonesia and Myanmar
This article discusses the discourse and practice of co-governance in disaster risk reduction (DRR). It is based on an extensive ethnographic study of DRR at global level and in two disaster-prone countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia and Myanmar. These country cases were selected not only because of their similarly high vulnerability to disasters, but also because the overlaps and differences between them in disaster governance allowed for a co…
Praxis and paradigms of local and expatriate workers in ‘Aidland’
This paper discusses practices and paradigms that expatriate and national humanitarian aid workers use to deal with major problems they encounter in their daily work. It views ‘Aidland’ as an arena where different actors encounter, negotiate and shape the outcome of aid. One of the main findings is that there are consistent differences in the way expatriate and national aid actors perceive problems in their field, as well as in the way they respo…
Juxtapositions in Jakarta
This paper traces the interplay of spatially, socially and legally juxtaposed differences between different groups of Indonesia’s residents: (1) a group of riverbank settlers in Jakarta, (2) political decision-makers and urban planners that evict this particular riverbank settlement and (3) a group of Jakartan academics, architects and journalists that got involved in these interventions. The dynamics between and within these groups are examined …
Accountability in Humanitarian Action
Although a growing number of NGOs are combining humanitarian and development activities, it was long the case that humanitarian action was isolated from discussions and practices in the world of development. The work of saving lives was deemed to be guided solely by the humanitarian principles, and discussions on accountability were rare. In the 1990s, humanitarian standards initiatives arose in recognition that humanitarian organisations were no…
Managing the humanitarian micro-space
The delivery of humanitarian aid remains one of the main challenges in contemporary armed conflict. The legal, political and physical construction of a sustained and respected humanitarian space, in which such aid delivery can occur, is a fragile operation. Humanitarian spaces increasingly appear fragmented and localised. They are re-negotiated continuously, either as part of subnational and local truces and peace or cooperation agreements or thr…
Key points for an ethnography of AI
Recent years have seen an increase in calls for ethnography as a method to study Artificial Intelligence (AI). Scholars from diverse backgrounds have been encouraged to move beyond quantitative methods and embrace qualitative methods, particularly ethnography. As anthropologists of data and AI, we appreciate the growing recognition of qualitative methods. However, we emphasize the importance of grounding ethnography in specific ways of engaging w…
The influence of artificial intelligence within health-related risk work
In this editorial we highlight the need for empirical studies into the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in healthcare and social work settings, especially studies which are theoretically informed by critical social science studies of risk and uncertainty. In setting out the importance of interpretative and critical traditions for research into such AI-oriented forms of risk work, we propose three important conceptual lines o…
The Medical Tech Facilitator
This article focuses on the emerging position of the 'medical tech facilitator' developed by practitioners in the Dutch public healthcare system. The analysis is based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Dutch hospitals. It highlights, firstly, the practices and ongoing negotiations that these facilitators engage in, to maintain a position between two parties-the medical sector and the technology industry. I argue that the practices of medi…
“No longer morally justifiable” temporal dynamics of care, or how AI made waiting unethical
This article explores the impact of Artificial Intelligence on professional caregivers in a Scandinavian hospital, drawing upon an ethnographic and interview-based study that focused on time experiences in relation to cancer diagnoses and treatment plans. The AI system produces detailed radiographic drawings faster and more accurately than its human counterpart, leading to more accurate diagnoses and treatment predictions. I examine how this tech…
Networked biopower
This study fucuses on data-driven personalization in healthcare (DDPH), an umbrella term for collection, storage, and analysis of big individual data with a view to providing patient-specific healthcare solutions, including customized treatments, and disease prevention. Interviews with prominent figures in public healthcare in Israel and Estonia revealed their socio-technical imaginaries regarding DDPH trends. The analysis draws on the Foucauldia…
Redefining intelligence
This paper analyzes the collaboration between healthcare professionals and algorithms in making decisions within the realm of public healthcare. By extending the concept of ‘tinkering’ from previous research conducted by philosopher Mol (Care in practice. On tinkering in clinics, homes and farms Verlag, Amsterdam, 2010) and anthropologist Pols (Health Care Anal 18: 374–388, 2009), who highlighted the improvisational and adaptive practices of heal…
"What do you mean, we use intuition?" The productive silence of diagnostic intuition
This paper explores the theoretical development of the "absent present," as conceptualized by Michel Callon and John Law, within the context of healthcare practice and explicit attention for the agency of the non-material, specifically words, or the active silencing thereof. Based on fieldwork in international hospitals (2020-2024), I argue that healthcare professionals often downplay the significance of their diagnostic intuition in public disco…
Performative insights
This article presents the innovative "Future-in-the-Now method," an ethnographic and theatrical approach designed for anthropological research, particularly effective for futures-anthropologists and those exploring sensitive topics through arts-based methods. By emphasizing the co-creation of a theatrical performance between the ethnographer and research participants, this method transforms the performance into the central site of ethnographic in…
The Loss of a Cyclical Self
This article explores the profound impact of menstruation and menopause on people's sense of self, as shaped by the lenses of medical experts and advocates of the cyclical living movement. Drawing from personal experience of premature menopause, it reflects on the narratives surrounding reproductive health and the cultural significance attached to these bodily transitions. The article moves beyond a discussion of the complex emotions associated w…
How my mother partially vanished from life
This anthropological nonfiction piece explores the complex landscape of caring for a mother by her daughter during a near-loss. It questions whether, and how, we can miss someone who is still present but changed. Rooted in anthropology, the story examines how personal experiences of caregiving and aging intersect with societal and cultural structures, especially the increasing demand for citizen participation in health care. The concept of "absen…
Futures thinking as collaborative practice in anthropology
Futures-thinking methods offer transformative potential for anthropological research yet need to be more utilized in our field. Collaborative Futures Scenario Thinking (CFST) combined with the Qualitative Delphi (QD) method provides an accessible and dynamic approach to understanding how communities imagine and shape their futures. Anthropologists have long been sceptical of these methods because corporations have co-opted them. Yet their fundame…
Collaborating with artificial intelligence in healthcare
This article explores the role of magical beliefs in shaping the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. Drawing on ethnographic research across hospitals in seven countries, it argues that healthcare professionals’ perceptions of AI as an autonomous, inevitable force significantly propel ongoing development and investment, despite frequent frustrations, errors, and ethical concerns. These beliefs—centered on notions of A…
Sociology (17 works) · Political science (12 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Geography (8 works) · Disaster Management and Resilience (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Business (6 works) · Economics (6 works)