As an anthropologist, I analyze how socioeconomic, cultural, political, and ecological forces shape livelihoods and resource use in low-income countries.

My work and research have mostly focused on artisanal and small-scale mining yet I am also involved in other projects related to rural development, public health, sexual and reproductive health, and education.

Recent project in Suriname's small-scale gold mining areas have focussed, among others, on mercury use and on malaria treatment behavior.

In addition to Suriname, I have conducted research on artisanal and small-scale mining in African countries. In 2007-8, I assisted in the Project for Support to Artisanal Miners (Projet Appui à l'orpaillage - PASMI) in Senegal. Here I helped design a baseline survey of artisanal mining sites in the department of Kédougou, and trained a team of twelve young Senegalese in use of the survey instrument and other social science research methods.

During my work in Senegal I made use of the toolkit, a document with guidelines and practical tools for baseline research in artisanal and small-scale mining areas. In 2004-5, commissioned by the World Bank, Division for Communities and Small Scale Mining (CASM), I worked with a team of mining engineers to develop the toolkit. We tested this handbook in Nigeria, where we trained a team of Nigerian senior researchers in its application in an artisanal gold mining area in Birnin Gwari district.

Other projects in Africa include a gender baseline study in artisanal gemstone and limestone mining areas in Zambia, and a project planning study for sustainable small-scale Barite mining for the government of Nigeria.

In Mongolia I worked with the Asia Foundation to conduct a gender baseline study of the artisanal and small-scale mining sector (2013).

In recent years I have expanded my working terrain to include work on
 
Sexual and Reporductive Health. In collaboration with the National AIDS Programme, my colleagues and I have conducted Sexual Surveillance Surveys and Sero-Prevalence studies among several Most At Rist populations such as sex workers in Paramaribo-city (2009 and 2012), sex workers and their clients in the gold mining areas (2012), and Men having Sex with Men (2011).

Other assignments in this area were research on Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Suriname schools for UNFPA; a study on condom use among sex workers in paramaribo and Albina for the UNFPA; a Situation Analysis of Gender Equality, Gender Relations and the Position of Women in Suriname for the National Bureau for Gender Policy; and a study on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in the Trio Indigenous community of Kwamalasamutu (2007).

Social Impact Assessments.I have worked in close collaboration with natural scientists and other researchers to conduct (Environmental and) Social Impact Assessments of proposed oil, bauxite, and gold mining projects.

Last updated October 2014