Dr Sangeeta Chattoo
Associate Professor/Senior Research Fellow

Profile

Biography

• PhD Sociology, The University of Delhi

• M.Phil Sociology, The University of Delhi

• MA Sociology, The University of Delhi

I am a medical anthropologist and my ethnographic journey dates back to 1985-90, exploring the interface between medicine and culture in Kashmir. After completing my doctorate from the University of Delhi, I taught at the University of Western Australia and, following a carrier break, worked at the University of Leeds and then Health Sciences at York.

My research and teaching have previously centred around inequalities and health, race, ethnicity, citizenship and social policy; family, kinship, gender and caring; and ethnographic and biographical methods. Having worked extensively with minority ethnic groups (largely South Asians) living in the UK, my interest has shifted to the field of genetics, genomics and embodiment of risk, reproductive technologies and global governance of health.

Current Grant

Addressing low uptake of COVID vaccination among Gypsy and Traveller communities: a community exchange approach (41, 428, August 2022- July 2023) UoY, priming fund, with K. Atkin, (PI), C. Hunter and M. Furgalska (Law School) and V. Cannon (York Travellers Trust).  

This small ethnographic project explores notions of risk and decisions related to health and COVID vaccination among the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in and around York.   Using a community engagement model of knowledge production and sharing, we hope to facilitate ways of challenging long standing, institutionalised forms of discriminatory practices and racism faced by communities literally living at the margins of the state. 

External activities

Memberships

I am on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Sociology (medical sociology) and previously was an editor for Ethnicity and Health (Routledge) 2009 - 2015. 

Lifetime patron, National Thalassemia Welfare Society, Delhi.

Scientific Advisor, Sickle Cell Society India, Nagpur.

Publications

Full publications list

• Only parents can understand the problems and needs of children with thalassaemia’: parental activism for thalassaemia care in Northern India, Anthropology and Medicine: https://doi.org/10.1080/13648470.2023.2180258

• Atkin, K., Berghs, M. and Chattoo, S. (2023)‘Representing disabling experiences: Rethinking quality of life when evaluating public health interventions’, Policy and Politics https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12515

• Introducing the relevance of medical sociology and ethnographic methods for addressing global health challenges to school children  https://futurumcareers.com/Issue-17.pdf 
  
  
• Sangeeta Chattoo's publications

Research

Projects

• Addressing low uptake of COVID vaccination among Gypsy and Traveller communities: a community exchange approach (41, 428, August 2022- July 2023) UoY, priming fund, with K. Atkin, (PI), C. Hunter and M. Furgalska (Law School) and V. Cannon (York Travellers Trust). 
  This small ethnographic project explores notions of risk and decisions related to health and COVID vaccination among the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in and around York.   Using a community engagement model of knowledge production and sharing, we hope to facilitate ways of challenging long standing, institutionalised forms of discriminatory practices and racism faced by communities literally living at the margins of the state. 

• ‘Why do we need social scientists to help us understand the real-life experiences of genetic disorders?’(develop an educational resource for Secondary school students and teachers, supporting social mobility), with K Atkin, ESRC/IAA and Sociology DRC (Jan-July 2022, £7699).
  
  
•  A ‘minimally safe-care practice’ toolkit for long term conditions: improvising protocols in  poorly resourced, rural healthcare settings in India,  with Karl Atkin, ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, £19,207 (July 2021- July 2022).
  
  
• ‘Vital Circulations’, White Rose Collaboration Fund, (March 2021- Dec. 2022, £10,970), with N. Brown (UoY), J Kim (University of Leeds) and R. Williams, (University of Sheffield).
  
  
• 'Inherited blood disorders, globalisation and the promise of genomics: an Indian case-study'. One of the overarching themes being pursed here relates to the wider social and political ramifications of a mapping of new technologies of genetic risk and prevention (genomics) onto older models and metaphors of communicable disease (contagion and spread); and how these might impact (both positively and negatively) on the lives of politically and socio-economically marginalised communities living at the margins of the state.
  
  ESRC, £514,981 (2016-2019). Principle Investigator with internal Co-Investigator Professor Karl Atkin. External Co-Investigators: Professor Veena Das, Johns Hopkins University; Professor Maya Unnithan, University of Sussex; Professor Ranendra Das, Institute of Socio-Economic Research on Development and Democracy (ISERDD), Delhi.
  
  
• 'Building Interdisciplinary Analysis and Capacity: the UoYSTS Network'. University of York Research Priming Fund, £4,162, March- July 2016. Co-Investigator with Andrew Webster, Dept. of Sociology; Chris Renwick, Dept. of History; and others.