Dr. R.P.M. (René) Gerrets PhD
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Programme group: Anthropology of Health, Care and the Body
Visiting address
- Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
- Room number: C5.11
Postal address
-
Postbus 15509
1001 NA Amsterdam
Contact details
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Profile
Trajectory
Extending a career in laboratory science, I studied social anthropology at New York University where I developed a keen interest in African societies and cultures, linguistic anthropology, international development, and the sociocultural and political-economic dimensions of disease, medicine and science. Early in these studies, malaria became a leitmotiv in my studies, a lens for exploring various sociopolitical phenomena across time and place. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Tanzania, my dissertation research investigates the recent proliferation of (public-private) partnerships in the domain of international health. It explores howthe growing dominance of 'partnership'isreshaping malaria research and control efforts, governance and knowledge practices, both on the ground and on the transnational plane. Presently I am reworking dissertation chapters for publication in peer-reviewed journals and developing postdoctoral research projects.
Research
In cooperation with members of the fellow group Law, Organization, Society and Technology (LOST) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany, I continue to explore the relationship between biomedicine and governance in African contexts.
Jointly with colleagues from the Anthropologies of African Biosciences research group (AAB) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Paris, I am developing a project investigating the material and immaterial legacies of biomedical research in Tanzanian settings. It uses a combined ethnographic and historic approach to explore malaria research and control efforts across the colonial and post-colonial eras to shed light on the shifting ideological visions underlying these efforts as well as their intended and unintended effects in a field site.In collaboration with a newly-formed network of scholars anchored in the Institute for International Law and Justice at New York University School of Law, I am developing a project exploring the growing role of indicators in global governance. Promoted to increase transparency and accountability of development interventions, indicators are increasingly influencing the behavior of organizations and actors in the global North and South. This project will examine how these technologies reshape prevailing thinking and practice in international malaria research and control.
Links
- UvA-AMMA: http://www2.fmg.uva.nl/amma/organisation.html
- MPI-LOST: http://www.eth.mpg.de/deutsch/index.html
- LSHTM-AAB: http://aab.lshtm.ac.uk/Rene%20Gerrets
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Publications
- refereed (39)
- conference contributions (1)
- recognitions (13)
- supervised theses (8)
- doctoral thesis (1)
- datasets (1)
2023
Rafiq, M. Y., Krugman, D. W., Bapumia, F., Enumah, Z., Wheatley, H., Tungaraza, K., Gerrets, R., Mfuko, S., Hall, B. J., Kasogela, O., Litunu, A., & Winch, P. J. (2023). Kansa talk: mapping cancer terminologies in Bagamoyo, Tanzania towards dignity-based practice. BMJ Global Health, 8(8), Article e012349. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2023-012349 [details]
2022
- Grietens, K. P., Kingori, P., Friesen, P., Gerrets, R., Douglas-Jones, R., & Kuhn, G. (2022). Misdirection in Global Health: Creating the Illusion of (Im)possible Alternatives in Global Health Research and Practice. Science and Technology Studies, 35(2), 2-12. https://doi.org/10.23987/STS.115410 [details]
- Irani, J., Rujumba, J., Mwaka, A. D., Arach, J., Lanyuru, D., Idro, R., Colebunders, R., Gerrets, R., Peeters Grietens, K., & O’Neill, S. (2022). ‘There Were Moments We Wished She Could Just Die’: The Highly Gendered Burden of Nodding Syndrome in Northern Uganda. Qualitative Health Research, 32(10), 1544-1556. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323221085941 [details]
2021
- Camara, B. S., Delamou, A., Grovogui, F. M., de Kok, B. C., Benova, L., El Ayadi, A. M., Gerrets, R., Peeters Grietens, K., & Delvaux, T. (2021). Interventions to increase facility births and provision of postpartum care in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review. Reproductive Health, 18, Article 16. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-021-01072-4 [details]
- Jaiteh, F., Muela Ribera, J., Masunaga, Y., Okebe, J., D'Alessandro, U., Balen, J., Achan, J., Gerrets, R., & Peeters Grietens, K. (2021). Complexities in Defining the Unit of Intervention for Reactive Community-Based Malaria Treatment in the Gambia. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, Article 601152. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.601152 [details]
- Masunaga, Y., Jaiteh, F., Manneh, E., Balen, J., Okebe, J., D'Alessandro, U., Nieto-Sanchez, C., de Vries, D. H., Gerrets, R., Peeters Grietens, K., & Muela Ribera, J. (2021). The Community Lab of Ideas for Health: Community-Based Transdisciplinary Solutions in a Malaria Elimination Trial in The Gambia. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, Article 637714. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.637714 [details]
- Nguyen, T. T., Gryseels, C., Tran, D. T., Smekens, T., Gerrets, R., Nguyen, X. X., & Peeters Grietens, K. (2021). Understanding Malaria Persistence: A Mixed-Methods Study on the Effectiveness of Malaria Elimination Strategies in South-Central Vietnam. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, Article 742378. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.742378 [details]
- Nguyen, T. T., Nguyen, X. X., Ronse, M., Nguyen, Q. T., Ho, P. Q., Tran, D. T., Gerrets, R., Thriemer, K., Ley, B., Marfurt, J., Price, R. N., Grietens, K. P., & Gryseels, C. (2021). Diagnostic Practices and Treatment for P. vivax in the InterEthnic Therapeutic Encounter of South-Central Vietnam: A Mixed-Methods Study. Pathogens, 10(1), Article 26. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10010026 [details]
2020
- Alenichev, A., Peeters Grietens, K., & Gerrets, R. (2020). Conceptions within misconceptions: Pluralisms in an Ebola vaccine trial in West Africa. Global public health, 15(1), 13-21. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2019.1632368 [details]
- Geissler, P. W., Gerrets, R., Kelly, A. H., Mangesho, P., Poleykett, B., & Okwaro, F. M. (2020). Remembering Africanization: two conversations among elderly science workers about the perpetually promissory. Africa, 90(1), 18-34. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972019000925 [details]
2019
- Cremers, A. L., Alege, A., Nelissen, H. E., Okwor, T. J., Osibogun, A., Gerrets, R., & Van't Hoog, A. H. (2019). Patients’ and healthcare providers’ perceptions and practices regarding hypertension, pharmacy-based care, and mHealth in Lagos, Nigeria: a mixed methods study. Journal of hypertension, 37(2), 389-397. https://doi.org/10.1097/HJH.0000000000001877 [details]
- Geißler, P. W., Gerrets, R., Kelly, A. H., & Mangesho, P. (Eds.) (2019). Amani – Auf den Spuren einer kolonialen Forschungsstation in Tansania. (Postcolonial Studies). Transcript . [details]
- Gryseels, C., Bannister-Tyrrell, M., Uk, S., Set, S., Suon, S., Gerrets, R., & Grietens, K. P. (2019). A Critical Enquiry into Variability of Insecticidal Net Use in Cambodia: Implications for Assessing Appropriateness of Malaria Elimination Interventions. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 100(6), 1424–1432. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.18-0730 [details]
- Irani, J., Rujumba, J., Mwaka , A. D., Arach, J., Lanyuru, D., Idro, R., Gerrets, R., Grietens, K. P., & O'Neill , S. (2019). "Those who died are the ones that are cured". Walking the political tightrope of Nodding Syndrome in northern Uganda: Emerging challenges for research and policy. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 13(6), Article e0007344. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007344 [details]
- Kingori, P., & Gerrets, R. (2019). The masking and making of fieldworkers and data in postcolonial Global Health research contexts. Critical public health, 29(4), 494-507. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2019.1609650 [details]
- Kingori, P., & Gerrets, R. (2019). Why the pseudo matters to global health. Critical public health, 29(4), 379-389. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2019.1605155 [details]
- Kingori, P., & Gerrets, R. (Eds.) (2019). Pseudo Matters in Global and Public Health. Critical public health, 29(4), 379-516. https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ccph20/29/4 [details]
- Okello, G., Molyneux, S., Zakayo, S., Gerrets, R., & Jones, C. (2019). Producing routine malaria data: an exploration of the micro-practices and processes shaping routine malaria data quality in frontline health facilities in Kenya. Malaria Journal, 18, Article 420. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-3061-y [details]
2018
- Cremers, A. L., Gerrets, R., Colvin, C. J., Maqogi, M., & Grobusch, M. P. (2018). Tuberculosis patients and resilience: A visual ethnographic health study in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Social Science & Medicine, 209, 145-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.05.034 [details]
- Dierickx, S., O'Neill, S., Gryseels, C., Anyango, E. I., Bannister-Tyrrell, M., Okebe, J., Mwesigwa, J., Jaiteh, F., Gerrets, R., Ravinetto, R., D'Alessandro, U., & Peeters Grietens, K. (2018). Community sensitization and decision-making for trial participation: A mixed-methods study from The Gambia. Developing World Bioethics, 18(4), 406-419. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.12160 [details]
- Okello, G., Gerrets, R., Zakayo, S., Molyneux, S., & Jones, C. (2018). “Every day they keep adding new tools but they don’t take any away”: Producing indicators for intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in pregnancy (IPTp) from routine data in Kenya. PLoS ONE, 13(1), Article e0189699. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189699 [details]
2017
- Hörbst, V., Gerrets, R., & Schirripa, P. (2017). Revisiting medical pluralism. L'Uomo Società Tradizione Sviluppo, 2017(1), 7-26. [details]
- Hörbst, V., Schirripa, P., & Gerrets, R. (Eds.) (2017). Revisiting medical pluralism: an old concept inspiring new theoretical horizons. L'Uomo Società Tradizione Sviluppo, 2017(1). [details]
2016
- Cremers, A. L., Gerrets, R., & Grobusch, M. P. (2016). Visual Ethnography: Bridging Anthropology and Public Health. Practicing Anthropology, 38(4), 7-11. https://doi.org/10.17730/0888-4552.38.4.7 [details]
- Cremers, A. L., Gerrets, R., Kapata, N., Kabika, A., Birnie, E., Klipstein-Grobusch, K., & Grobusch, M. P. (2016). Tuberculosis patients' pre-hospital delay and non-compliance with a longstanding DOT programme: a mixed methods study in urban Zambia. BMC Public Health, 16, Article 1130. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3771-9 [details]
- Dierickx, S., Gryseels, C., Mwesigwa, J., O'Neill, S., Bannister-Tyrell, M., Ronse, M., Jaiteh, F., Gerrets, R., D'Alesandro, U., & Peeters Grietens, K. (2016). Factors Associated with Non-Participation and Non-Adherence in Directly Observed Mass Drug Administration for Malaria in The Gambia. PLoS ONE, 11(2), Article e0148627. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148627 [details]
- Gerrets, R. (2016). Treasure diggers. In P. W. Geissler, G. Lachenal, J. Manton, & N. Tousignant (Eds.), Traces of the Future: An Archaeology of Medical Sciences in Africa (pp. 162-167). Bristol: Intellect. [details]
- Gerrets, R., & Mangesho, P. (2016). The botanical garden. In P. W. Geissler, G. Lachenal, J. Manton, & N. Tousignant (Eds.), Traces of the Future: An Archaeology of Medical Sciences in Africa (pp. 168-173). Bristol: Intellect. [details]
- Kingori, P., & Gerrets, R. (2016). Morals, morale and motivations in data fabrication: Medical research fieldworkers views and practices in two Sub-Saharan African contexts. Social Science & Medicine, 166, 150-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.08.019 [details]
2015
- Cremers, A. L., de Laat, M. M., Kapata, N., Gerrets, R., Klipstein-Grobusch, K., & Grobusch, M. P. (2015). Assessing the consequences of stigma for tuberculosis patients in urban zambia. PLoS ONE, 10(3), Article e0119861. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119861 [details]
- Gerrets, R. (2015). Charting the road to eradication: Health facility data and malaria indicator generation in rural Tanzania. In R. Rottenburg, S. E. Merry, S. J. Park, & J. Mugler (Eds.), The world of indicators: the making of governmental knowledge through quantification (pp. 151-187). (Cambridge studies in law and society). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316091265.007 [details]
- Gerrets, R. (2015). International health and the proliferation of "partnerships": (un)intended boost for state institutions in Tanzania? In P. W. Geissler (Ed.), Para-states and medical science: making African global health (pp. 179-206). (Critical global health: evidence, efficacy, ethnography). Duke University Press. [details]
- Gryseels, C., Durnez, L., Gerrets, R., Uk, S., Suon, S., Set, S., Phoeuk, P., Sluydts, V., Heng, S., Sochantha, T., Coosemans, M., & Peeters Grietens, K. (2015). Re-imagining malaria: heterogeneity of human and mosquito behaviour in relation to residual malaria transmission in Cambodia. Malaria Journal, 14, 165. Article 165. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-015-0689-0 [details]
- Gryseels, C., Peeters Grietens, K., Dierickx, S., Nguyen Xuan, X., Uk, S., Bannister-Tyrrell, M., Trienekens, S., Muela Ribera, J., Hausmann-Muela, S., Gerrets, R., D'Alessandro, U., Sochantha, T., Coosemans, M., & Erhart, A. (2015). High mobility and low use of malaria preventive measures among the Jarai male youth along the Cambodia-Vietnam border. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 93(4), 810-818. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.15-0259 [details]
- Gryseels, C., Uk, S., Sluydts, V., Durnez, L., Phoeuk, P., Suon, S., Set, S., Heng, S., Siv, S., Gerrets, R., Tho, S., Coosemans, M., & Peeters Grietens, K. (2015). Factors influencing the use of topical repellents: implications for the effectiveness of malaria elimination strategies. Scientific Reports, 5, Article 16847. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep16847 [details]
2014
- Aggarwal, S., & Gerrets, R. (2014). Exploring a Dutch paradox: an ethnographic investigation of gay men's mental health. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 16(2), 105-119. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2013.841290 [details]
2013
- Cremers, A. L., Janssen, S., Huson, M. A. M., Bikene, G., Bélard, S., Gerrets, R. P. M., & Grobusch, M. P. (2013). Perceptions, health care seeking behaviour and implementation of a tuberculosis control programme in Lambaréné, Gabon. Public Health Action, 3(4), 328-332. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.5588/pha.13.0038 [details]
- Gryseels, C., Uk, S., Erhart, A., Gerrets, R., Sluydts, V., Durnez, L., Muela Ribera, J., Hausmann Muela, S., Menard, D., Heng, S., Sochantha, T., D'Alessandro, U., Coosemans, M., & Peeters Grietens, K. (2013). Injections, Cocktails and Diviners: Therapeutic Flexibility in the Context of Malaria Elimination and Drug Resistance in Northeast Cambodia. PLoS ONE, 8(11), Article e80343. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080343 [details]
2012
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (2012). Governing Malaria: How an old scourge troubles precepts in social theory. In P. W. Geissler (Ed.), Rethinking Biomedicine and Governance (VerKörperungen; Vol. 15). Transcript .
2011
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (2011). The public of public health: In search of 'civil society' within contemporary malaria control in Africa. Paper presented at Building states and societies in Africa - U Aberystwyth, .
Membership / relevant position
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (2011-2012). Member scientific committee first EASA medical anthropology network conference on "Medical Pluralism: Techniques, Politics, Institutions", University of Rome - Sapienza.
Media appearance
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (06-11-2016). Duitse geesten in de jungle (documentaire L. Stek) [Radio] http://www.vpro.nl/programmas/ovt/speel~RBX_VPRO_5890553~het-spoor-terug-duitse-geesten-in-de-jungle-11-21~.html. Duitse geesten in de jungle (documentaire L. Stek).
Journal editor
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (editor) (2011). Medische Antropologie (Journal).
- Deville, W. L. J. M. (editor), van der Geest, J. D. M. (editor), Gerrets, R. P. M. (editor), Groen, S. (editor), Meurs, P. (editor) & van der Sijpt, E. (editor) (2011). Medische Antropologie (Journal).
Talk / presentation
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (invited speaker) (9-4-2019). The Dutch quinine monopoly and colonial rivalry: contemporary traces in Tanzania, Haarlemse Chemische Kring.
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (invited speaker) (9-5-2018). Het Nederlandse kinine monopolie en koloniale rivaliteit: hedendaagse sporen in Tanzania, Bossche Chemische Kring.
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (invited speaker) (27-11-2014). "‘If a boss is friendly, I want to work better and harder because I feel free’: How management practices shape workplace communication, motivation and performance in a Tanzanian malaria project.", Conference "The Human Factor: Social sciences in global health research", Institute for Troipical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (invited speaker) (16-4-2014). On indicators as a tool of governance in global health: exploring health facility data production on ‘malaria’ in Tanzania., STePS Colloquium, University of Twente, Enschede.
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (invited speaker) (28-10-2011). "Medical Anthropology and Global Health: Research and teaching experiences from the University of Amsterdam.", STI seminar series, Swiss Tropical Institute (STI), Basel, Switzerland.
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (invited speaker) (16-8-2011). "If a boss is friendly, I want to work better and harder because I feel ‘free’", Social Science Research Seminar Series, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kilifi, Kenya.
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (invited speaker) (27-4-2011). Partnership and (dis)empowerment in international health: perspectives from a rural setting in Tanzania, Anthropology and Development Studies Seminar, Irish National University, Maynooth, Ireland.
Others
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (other) (27-1-2017 - 26-3-2017). Art exhibit “Traces of the Future: archaeology of modern science in Africa. Exhibition (other).
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (organiser) (24-11-2014 - 27-11-2014). The Human Factor: Social sciences in global health research, Antwerp, Belgium (organising a conference, workshop, ...).
2022
2021
2020
- Alenichev, A. (2020). Precarious subjects: Ethics and etiquette in an Ebola vaccine trial in Liberia. [Thesis, fully internal, Universiteit van Amsterdam]. [details]
- Keys, H. M. (2020). Exploring discrimination, stigma and health in the Dominican Republic. [Thesis, fully internal, Universiteit van Amsterdam]. [details]
2018
2017
- Gryseels, C. (2017). Resistant humans, mosquitos and parasites in Cambodia: Producing contested evidence for malaria elimination strategies in the margins of a repellent trial. [Thesis, externally prepared, Universiteit van Amsterdam]. [details]
- Holtrop, T. J. (2017). Questions and Answers: An ethnography of evaluation in Afghanistan. [Thesis, fully internal, Universiteit van Amsterdam]. [details]
- Lasco, G. (2017). Height matters: The making, meanings and materialities of human stature in the Philippines. [Thesis, fully internal, Universiteit van Amsterdam]. [details]
2010
- Gerrets, R. P. M. (2010). Globalizing International Health: The cultural politics of 'partnership' in Tanzanian malaria control.
2016
- Cremers, L., Kapata, N., Kabika, A., Birnie, E., Klipstein-Grobusch, K., Grobusch, M. P. & Gerrets, R. (2016). Additional file 1: of Tuberculosis patientsâ pre-hospital delay and non-compliance with a longstanding DOT programme: a mixed methods study in urban Zambia. Figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3608264_d1.v1
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Ancillary activities
- No ancillary activities
Rafiq, M. Y., Krugman, D. W., Bapumia, F., Enumah, Z., Wheatley, H., Tungaraza, K., Gerrets, R., Mfuko, S., Hall, B. J., Kasogela, O., Litunu, A., & Winch, P. J. (2023). Kansa talk: mapping cancer terminologies in Bagamoyo, Tanzania towards dignity-based practice. BMJ Global Health, 8(8), Article e012349.