Globalizing Palliative Care? A Multi-sited Ethnographic Study of Practices, Policies and Discourses of Care at the End of Life investigates the globalization and cultural mediation of palliative care practices, policies and discourses. With a research team consisting of the PI, a Postdoc and two PhD candidates we study global palliative care discourses and conduct case studies on end-of-life care in three countries: Brazil, India and Indonesia. In the first year we hired the post-doctoral researcher, the two PhD candidates and a project management assistant.
In the past 2,5 years of the project, the team has had biweekly team meetings, discussing literature, methods and fieldwork findings. We held online team meetings with experts in the social scientific study of palliative care and have invited experts to come over to talk with us about ethics and emotions of doing ethnographic fieldwork on end-of-life care, as well as for conversations on theoretical developments in the field. In September 2021 we started an ongoing three-monthly open access webinar series titled Unfolding Finitudes, in which renowned speakers highlight their recent work in the anthropological study of aging and end-of-life care. This series has had six successful sessions during the reporting period. The project has hosted an ongoing reading group called 'Caring Futures' at Leiden University, that has had 15 meetings during the reporting period. The PI and other research team members have presented on the project's methods, questions and initial findings in more than ten lectures, conferences and workshops. A project website (www.globalizingpalliativecare.com) provides information on the ongoing activities and output of the project. In addition, the team is contributing to creating interdisciplinary dialogues and networks on the topic of global palliative care.
All research plans of the individual researchers have been approved. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team has experienced some delay in conducting on-site fieldwork for the project. One part of the fieldwork has taken place during the reporting period, another part of the fieldwork is currently ongoing.
