Rachel R. Chapman, PhD, is a social cultural applied anthropologist. Her current research interests are gender, race, reproductive health and social justice in the urban United States and Southern and East Africa. Her research focus is the political economy of race, gender, and reproduction, especially the impact of transglobal policies on reproductive stratification within and outside the United States. Chapman has conducted ethnographic research in Los Angeles, Cleveland and Central Mozambique. Her recent research was conducted in East Cleveland, Ohio on prenatal care, domestic violence and DV screening experiences of women in an urban safety net hospital, as well as youth resilience and peacemaking. In Mozambique Chapman focused on women's perceptions of reproductive risk, community health mobilization, and household management of febrile illnesses (malaria) in children. Her current research is collaborative and involves following up women in Mozambique to understand the influence of the HIV epidemic on their daily lives and choices. Her work seeks to identify why HIV+ pregnant women frequently do not access antiretroviral treatment for themselves and their unborn or newborn infants and to find ways to decrease loss to follow up of HIV+ pregnant women in prevention of mother-to-child transmission and their own antiretroviral treatment. Her current work with collaborators in the UW Department of Global Health also examines the influence of Pentecostal churches on HIV treatment seeking and adherence in Mozambique and the urban United States.
Research/Teaching Areas: Health Disparities, Political Economy, Race and Ethnicity, Reproduction, Social Justice, Urban Studies, Decolonization, Black feminism
