Back to Expert Directory
Emma Varley

Emma Varley

Request This Expert Engagements are contracted through Communitology

Countries of Expertise

India | Pakistan

Specialties

  • Addiction/Drugs/Drug Policy
  • Caste Discrimination/Persecution
  • Coercive Population Control
  • Disability
  • Ethnic Discrimination/Persecution
  • Forced Marriage
  • Gang-Related Violence/Non-State Actors
  • Gender-Based Violence (GBV)/Domestic Violence/Family Violence
  • Government/State Actor Persecution
  • Healthcare Access/Health Systems Capacity
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Likelihood Of Destitution/Homelessness
  • Mental Illness
  • Political Persecution
  • Religious Discrimination/Persecution
  • Specialized Medical Services
  • Sufficiency Of Protection
  • Tribal Discrimination/Persecution

About Emma Varley

Emma Varley’s research highlights the forces associated with poor maternal and neonatal health indicators in the Global South and reveals the complexity of the social determinants of health during conflict and in zones of weak governance. Drawing on data collected over five years of ethnographic fieldwork in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan, her medical anthropology research has explored the impacts of sectarian conflict on global maternal health interventions and women’s use of medical services and hospitals for pregnancy and childbirth.

Additional areas of expertise include the impacts of austerity measures on labor and delivery services in government hospitals, the development and implementation of social audits to evaluate public sector healthcare services, and immunization initiatives as well as vaccine hesitancy and skepticism in Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. Overall, her work provides in-depth and engaged analysis of the cultural, ethical, and experiential textures of medicine, and the political etiologies underlying health service delivery and medical outcomes, particularly during times of instability and crisis.

Between 2021 and 2024, Varley served on the Executive of the Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA), including as President in 2022-2023. She also serves as the Co-Chair of CASCA’s Cultural Expertise Network alongside Dr. Livia Holden (Pantheon-Sorbonne).

Back to Expert Directory