Shaunak Sastry
Biographic Data
| ID | 936498 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shaunak Sastry |
| GIVEN NAMES | Shaunak |
| FAMILY NAME | Sastry |
| SIGNATURE | SASTRY S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cincinnati |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3404-8283 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 38 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Exploring Pathways Connecting Climate Change, Health, and Livelihood Loss among Coastal Communities
Climate change is an existential threat to the lives, livelihoods, and health of coastal communities around the world. This threat is even more pressing in the global South, where coastal zones bear a disproportionate brunt of anthropogenic climate change. In coastal Sierra Leone, where the current study is based, the impact of coastal erosion, storm surges, and precipitation changes has been devastating to local communities, many of which have h…
The Cincinnati Project
The Cincinnati Project (TCP) was conceived in 2014 in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Cincinnati as an organic, ‘bottom-up’ organization of researchers that were housed across d
Dialogue on difference
The (mis)uses of community
Community engagement is heralded as a panacea for the inherent political challenges of public health governance. For COVID-19 vaccination planning in the United States, appeals for community engagement emerged in response to the disproportionate mortality and morbidity burdens on marginalized groups and as a bulwark against a political climate of vaccine hesitancy, scientific disinformation, and mistrust of public health. In this article, we use …
Problem Definition and Community Participation in Environmental Health Interventions
Arsenic, a known carcinogen, naturally occurs in the groundwater in large parts of West Bengal, a state in eastern India. Communities that depend on groundwater face twice the lifetime mortality risk for cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and developmental disorders. This study, focused on arsenic-affected communities in the state of West Bengal, offers an initial exploration of how local stakeholders construct groundwater arsenic as a health prob…
Feeding the other
"Feeding the other: Whiteness, privilege, and neoliberal stigma in food pantries." Health Communication, 36(8), pp. 1055–1056
How to Have (Critical) Method in a Pandemic
In this elucidative essay, we offer a broad outline of the culture-centered approach to health discourse analysis the relevance of critical health communication amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. While there is a proliferation of methods and approaches to health discourse analysis, we outline one broad approach, based on the theoretical tenets and political commitments of CCA. In particular, we emphasize a) the heuristic value of the CCA's primar…
The subcontinent speaks
(2020). The subcontinent speaks: Intercultural communication perspectives from/on South Asia. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication: Vol. 13, The Subcontinent Speaks: Intercultural Communication Perspectives from/on South Asia, pp. 93-97
A Meta-Theoretical Systematic Review of the Culture-Centered Approach to Health Communication
While the influence of the culture-centered approach (CCA; Dutta, 2008 ) on health communication scholarship is undeniable, there has been no evaluation of its application in the field. Guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for systematic reviews (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff & Altman, 2009), we analyzed a corpus of empirical, peer-reviewed literature (n = 47) that used the CCA. Our findings demo…
Structure and agency in long-distance truck drivers’ lived experiences of condom use for HIV prevention
Condom promotion has emerged as a mainstay of targeted HIV prevention interventions in India, with its emphasis on individual behaviour change and personal responsibility. However, such approaches often do not account for marginalised populations' structural vulnerability to HIV, arising from social, economic and political factors in the lived environment. In this paper, I use a critical health communication framework to analyse how structure and…
Narratives of Stress in Health Meanings of African Americans in Lake County, Indiana
Across the life course, African Americans bear an unequal burden of disease compared to other racial groups. In this article, we highlight the important role of communication scholarship to understand the everyday enactment of health disparities. Drawing upon the culture-centered approach (CCA) to co-construct narratives of health with African Americans residents of Lake County, Indiana, we explore the presence of stress in the everyday narrative…
Shoppers' Republic of China”
In light of China's recent ascent as the world's second largest economy, this article critically engages with current U.S. public discourses around China. In particular, we explore how Orientalist knowledge about China is appropriated within neoliberal contexts. Our ideological analysis of news regarding China in the New York Times revealed three themes: (a) The Shoppers' Republic of China; (b) China's responsibility to consume; and (c) China as …
Global Health Interventions and the “Common Sense” of Neoliberalism
Neoliberal ideologies, implicated in increasing global inequality, have significantly influenced how global health interventions are conceived and executed. In this article, we take a critical stance towards the market-based impetus of neoliberalism as articulated in the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest comprehensive effort against the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Using a variety of PEPFAR policy documents, our a…
Engaging Cultural Narratives of the Ethnic Restaurant
This study uses ethnographic methods to explore the discursive practices that give life to ethnic restaurants, establishing identity, and addressing community engagement. Employing postcolonial and postmodern perspectives that discuss discursive practices of hybridity, authenticity, and commoditization, the research focused on five culture-specific restaurants: Irish, Italian, Korean, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern. The restaurants' stories ar…
Postcolonial Constructions of HIV/Aids
As a field of inquiry, postcolonial health communication seeks to apprehend processes implicated in the construction of "primitive" versus "modern" with respect to issues of health. In the case of HIV/AIDS, the sociocultural representations of the disease have a profound impact on how the disease is configured medically and symbolically in dominant cultural imagination. Postcolonial constructions of disease are mobilized around the political and …
A Meta-Theoretical Systematic Review of the Culture-Centered Approach to Health Communication
While the influence of the culture-centered approach (CCA; Dutta, 2008 ) on health communication scholarship is undeniable, there has been no evaluation of its application in the field. Guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for systematic reviews (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff & Altman, 2009), we analyzed a corpus of empirical, peer-reviewed literature (n = 47) that used the CCA. Our findings demo…
Postcolonial Constructions of HIV/Aids
As a field of inquiry, postcolonial health communication seeks to apprehend processes implicated in the construction of "primitive" versus "modern" with respect to issues of health. In the case of HIV/AIDS, the sociocultural representations of the disease have a profound impact on how the disease is configured medically and symbolically in dominant cultural imagination. Postcolonial constructions of disease are mobilized around the political and …
Shoppers' Republic of China”
In light of China's recent ascent as the world's second largest economy, this article critically engages with current U.S. public discourses around China. In particular, we explore how Orientalist knowledge about China is appropriated within neoliberal contexts. Our ideological analysis of news regarding China in the New York Times revealed three themes: (a) The Shoppers' Republic of China; (b) China's responsibility to consume; and (c) China as …
Narratives of Stress in Health Meanings of African Americans in Lake County, Indiana
Across the life course, African Americans bear an unequal burden of disease compared to other racial groups. In this article, we highlight the important role of communication scholarship to understand the everyday enactment of health disparities. Drawing upon the culture-centered approach (CCA) to co-construct narratives of health with African Americans residents of Lake County, Indiana, we explore the presence of stress in the everyday narrative…
Global Health Interventions and the “Common Sense” of Neoliberalism
Neoliberal ideologies, implicated in increasing global inequality, have significantly influenced how global health interventions are conceived and executed. In this article, we take a critical stance towards the market-based impetus of neoliberalism as articulated in the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest comprehensive effort against the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Using a variety of PEPFAR policy documents, our a…
The (mis)uses of community
Community engagement is heralded as a panacea for the inherent political challenges of public health governance. For COVID-19 vaccination planning in the United States, appeals for community engagement emerged in response to the disproportionate mortality and morbidity burdens on marginalized groups and as a bulwark against a political climate of vaccine hesitancy, scientific disinformation, and mistrust of public health. In this article, we use …
The subcontinent speaks
(2020). The subcontinent speaks: Intercultural communication perspectives from/on South Asia. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication: Vol. 13, The Subcontinent Speaks: Intercultural Communication Perspectives from/on South Asia, pp. 93-97
Engaging Cultural Narratives of the Ethnic Restaurant
This study uses ethnographic methods to explore the discursive practices that give life to ethnic restaurants, establishing identity, and addressing community engagement. Employing postcolonial and postmodern perspectives that discuss discursive practices of hybridity, authenticity, and commoditization, the research focused on five culture-specific restaurants: Irish, Italian, Korean, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern. The restaurants' stories ar…
Postcolonial Constructions of HIV/Aids
As a field of inquiry, postcolonial health communication seeks to apprehend processes implicated in the construction of "primitive" versus "modern" with respect to issues of health. In the case of HIV/AIDS, the sociocultural representations of the disease have a profound impact on how the disease is configured medically and symbolically in dominant cultural imagination. Postcolonial constructions of disease are mobilized around the political and …
Global Health Interventions and the “Common Sense” of Neoliberalism
Neoliberal ideologies, implicated in increasing global inequality, have significantly influenced how global health interventions are conceived and executed. In this article, we take a critical stance towards the market-based impetus of neoliberalism as articulated in the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest comprehensive effort against the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Using a variety of PEPFAR policy documents, our a…
Shoppers' Republic of China”
In light of China's recent ascent as the world's second largest economy, this article critically engages with current U.S. public discourses around China. In particular, we explore how Orientalist knowledge about China is appropriated within neoliberal contexts. Our ideological analysis of news regarding China in the New York Times revealed three themes: (a) The Shoppers' Republic of China; (b) China's responsibility to consume; and (c) China as …
Structure and agency in long-distance truck drivers’ lived experiences of condom use for HIV prevention
Condom promotion has emerged as a mainstay of targeted HIV prevention interventions in India, with its emphasis on individual behaviour change and personal responsibility. However, such approaches often do not account for marginalised populations' structural vulnerability to HIV, arising from social, economic and political factors in the lived environment. In this paper, I use a critical health communication framework to analyse how structure and…
Narratives of Stress in Health Meanings of African Americans in Lake County, Indiana
Across the life course, African Americans bear an unequal burden of disease compared to other racial groups. In this article, we highlight the important role of communication scholarship to understand the everyday enactment of health disparities. Drawing upon the culture-centered approach (CCA) to co-construct narratives of health with African Americans residents of Lake County, Indiana, we explore the presence of stress in the everyday narrative…
A Meta-Theoretical Systematic Review of the Culture-Centered Approach to Health Communication
While the influence of the culture-centered approach (CCA; Dutta, 2008 ) on health communication scholarship is undeniable, there has been no evaluation of its application in the field. Guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for systematic reviews (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff & Altman, 2009), we analyzed a corpus of empirical, peer-reviewed literature (n = 47) that used the CCA. Our findings demo…
How to Have (Critical) Method in a Pandemic
In this elucidative essay, we offer a broad outline of the culture-centered approach to health discourse analysis the relevance of critical health communication amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. While there is a proliferation of methods and approaches to health discourse analysis, we outline one broad approach, based on the theoretical tenets and political commitments of CCA. In particular, we emphasize a) the heuristic value of the CCA's primar…
The subcontinent speaks
(2020). The subcontinent speaks: Intercultural communication perspectives from/on South Asia. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication: Vol. 13, The Subcontinent Speaks: Intercultural Communication Perspectives from/on South Asia, pp. 93-97
Feeding the other
"Feeding the other: Whiteness, privilege, and neoliberal stigma in food pantries." Health Communication, 36(8), pp. 1055–1056
Problem Definition and Community Participation in Environmental Health Interventions
Arsenic, a known carcinogen, naturally occurs in the groundwater in large parts of West Bengal, a state in eastern India. Communities that depend on groundwater face twice the lifetime mortality risk for cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and developmental disorders. This study, focused on arsenic-affected communities in the state of West Bengal, offers an initial exploration of how local stakeholders construct groundwater arsenic as a health prob…
The (mis)uses of community
Community engagement is heralded as a panacea for the inherent political challenges of public health governance. For COVID-19 vaccination planning in the United States, appeals for community engagement emerged in response to the disproportionate mortality and morbidity burdens on marginalized groups and as a bulwark against a political climate of vaccine hesitancy, scientific disinformation, and mistrust of public health. In this article, we use …
The Cincinnati Project
The Cincinnati Project (TCP) was conceived in 2014 in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Cincinnati as an organic, ‘bottom-up’ organization of researchers that were housed across d
Dialogue on difference
Exploring Pathways Connecting Climate Change, Health, and Livelihood Loss among Coastal Communities
Climate change is an existential threat to the lives, livelihoods, and health of coastal communities around the world. This threat is even more pressing in the global South, where coastal zones bear a disproportionate brunt of anthropogenic climate change. In coastal Sierra Leone, where the current study is based, the impact of coastal erosion, storm surges, and precipitation changes has been devastating to local communities, many of which have h…
Sociology (13 works) · Political science (9 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Law (5 works) · Social science (5 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Law (4 works)