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Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 8629 Fax: +44 (0)20 7679 8632 E-mail: s.randall@ucl.ac.uk Room: 126 Office hours: Mondays 10-11am and Tuesdays 12-1pm
(Term 2) |
 PhD, Demography |
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Publications |
Biography
After an undergraduate degree in Anthropology my PhD in Demography at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine focused on the demographic dynamics of rural Malian populations with different production systems. I integrated anthropological approaches to both data collection and interpretation in order to understand the key factors influencing the diversity of demographic outcomes in these isolated rural populations. Such a mixed methods approach to understanding demographic issues has been a major dimension of most of my subsequent research.
My early research interests in the demography of nomadic pastoralists were oriented around the dynamics of Tuareg populations in Mali from 1981-2001 – both before and after they were involved in a forced migration and sedentarisation as a result of conflict. I have considerable experience of field data collection (both quantitative and qualitative) in Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso under a range of conditions: illiterate pastoral nomads, large agricultural villages, poor and more wealthy areas in small towns and capital cities and I have also undertaken more limited research in East Africa, Mongolia and have analysed Palestinian demographic data. I focus on issues such as health behaviour, marital and reproductive decision making, the impact of migration on those left behind as well as trying to understand the determinants of different patterns of demographic dynamics in poor, rural African populations and the interplay between development and demography. My research is currently orientated around unpacking the mismatch between the concepts used in survey data collection and respondents’ own ideas about what is important and their daily realities.
Indicators of esteem
Member of ESRC Grants Assessment Panel (2010+)
Member of ESRC Research Grants Board (2008-2010)
Research Groups
Migration
Research Projects
Harmonised Households – Ménages à ménager
(www.householdsurvey.info)
Funded by ESRC on
ESRC/ ANR collaborative programme from October 2010: Philippe Antoine is the PI for the ANR and other collaborators are Ernestina Coast
(LSE), Eva
Lelièvre (INED) and Valerie Golaz (INED/CEPED)
This research investigates the impact of definitions of the household used in household survey research on our ability to understand intergenerational relations. It follows up research on the Tanzanian pilot study below and is a comparative study focusing on North (England and France) and South (Burkina Faso, Senegal, Uganda) as well as allowing comparisons between East and West Africa and anglophone/francophone traditions.
The commodity chain of the household: from survey design to policy planning.
Funded by ESRC under the Survey Design and Measurement Initiative: Co-investigators Ernestina Coast (LSE) and Tiziana Leone (LSE). 2007-9.
More info regarding the project here.
Used a range of qualitative methods to investigate how the concept of the ‘household’ is used and understood at all the different stages of the production, publication and use of survey household data. Interviews were undertaken with members of complex households, survey enumerators, analysts, data producers, consumers and commissioners using Tanzania as a case study.
Selected Conference papers from this research: (see
www.householdsurvey.info)
Randall S., E. Coast, T. Leone Une culture disciplinaire et ses pièges : l’emploi du terme « ménage » en démographie Presented at AIDELF Colloque Démographie et Culture. Québec, août 2008 available on http://www.aidelf.org/images/stories/S8-5.pdf
Coast E., S.Randall, T.Leone The commodity chain of the household: from survey design to policy and practice. Presented at IUSSP International Conference, 2009, Marrakech http://iussp2009.princeton.edu/abstractViewer.aspx?submissionId=90286
The impacts of out-migration on those left behind: changing family dynamics in small town Senegal.
Funded by Nuffield: Social Science Small Grants
Scheme in collaboration with Alioune Diagne, (INDEPTH) and Nathalie Mondain, (University
of Ottowa)
More info regarding this project here.
This qualitative research focuses on one small town in Senegal from where a substantial proportion of young men have migrated to Italy. We are investigating the impacts of this migration on various aspects of family dynamics amongst those who remain in Senegal including marriage dynamics, residence patterns, old age support, education and gender roles. Further research including a biographical survey has been funded by CRSH to Nathalie Mondain (University of Ottowa) as PI with Pape Sakho (IPDSR, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal) starting in 2011 “Ceux et celles qui restent : les effets de la migration internationale sur les dynamiques familiales au Sénégal”
Pulications from this research project
Randall, Sara and Nathalie Mondain (in press) “Femmes, travail, milieu de résidence et logement : nouvelles dimensions du mariage chez les Wolof au Sénégal”, in : P. Antoine et R. Marcoux (eds), Le mariage en Afrique, pluralité des formes et des modèles matrimoniaux, Karthala
Conference papers from this research project:
Randall S., A.Diagne Separated from their parents: consequences for child well-being in modern Senegal. Presented at IUSSP International Conference, 2009, Marrakech. http://iussp2009.princeton.edu/abstractViewer.aspx?submissionId=90374
Diagne A., S.Randall, N.Mondain Migration et responsabilités intergénérationnelles: obligation, transformation ou les deux? Paper presented at AIDELF conference, Geneva 2010 http://www.aidelf.org/accueil-colloques/les-colloques-et-ateliers.html
Randall S., N.Mondain, A.Diagne Perspectives intergénérationnelles sur la reproduction au Sénégal. ? Paper presented at AIDELF conference, Geneva 2010 http://www.aidelf.org/accueil-colloques/les-colloques-et-ateliers.html
The Demographic Consequences of being Refugees for Malian Kel Tamasheq pastoralists.
Publications from this research project
Randall Sara (in press) ‘Fat and fertility, mobility and slaves: Long term perspectives on Tuareg obesity and reproduction’ Fatness and the Maternal Body: women’s experiences of corporeality and the shaping of social policy. edited by Maya Unnithan-Kumar and Soraya Tremayne., Berghahn
Randall Sara (in press) ‘Nomads, refugees and repatriates: histories of mobility and health outcomes in Northern Mali’ In special issue of Society, Biology and Human Affairs
Randall,S., Giuffrida,A. (2006). Forced migration, sedentarisation and social change: Malian Kel Tamasheq. in Chatty,D. (ed.) Handbook on Nomads in the 21st Century. Leiden: Brill, 431-462
Randall,S. (2005). Demographic consequences of conflict, forced migration and repatriation: a case study of Malian Kel Tamasheq. European Journal of Population 21(2-3), 291-320
Randall,S., Giuffrida,A. (2005). Mariage et menages chez les Kel Tamasheq du Mali: bouleversements socio-economiques et continuite demographique. in Vignikin,K., Vimard,P. (ed.) Familles au Nord, Familles au Sud. Louvain La Neuve: Academia-Bruylant, 233-266
Randall,S. (2004), Fertility of Malian Tamasheq repatriated refugees: The Impact of Forced Migration,Roundtable on the Demography of Forced Migration series. Washington DC: National Research Council, National Academies Press.
Using qualitative research methods to contribute to traditionally quantitative and survey based research fields.
Publications
Randall,S., Koppenhaver,T. (2004). Qualitative Data in Demography. Demographic Research 11(3), 57-96
Drury R Homewood K., Randall S (2010) Less is more: incorporating qualitative methods in conservation research Animal Conservation: online publication 17 June 20102
Other collaborations:
with Richard Marcoux (Université Lavalle, Quebec), M.Gueye & M.Konate (CAREF, Mali), on Fréquentation scolaire et travail des enfants au Mali : étude des populations vulnérables à partir de la mise en valeur de micro-données existantes.. Financed by CRSH Canada (from Sep 2008)
Ouagadougou OPO with ISSP Burkina Faso http://www.issp.bf/ : Co-Investigator on Wellcome Trust Funded project Health Inequities in a context of increasing urbanisation in West Africa £1,860,358 over 5 years from January. http://www.issp.bf/OPO/ This is an urban Demographic Surveillance System covering 4 poor districts in Ouagadougou, collecting demographic health and welfare data every 6 months. I am involved in research streams on (1) wellbeing of the elderly and (2) qualitative approaches
With Therese Hesketh (Institute of Child Health. Co-Investigator on ESRC funded project (2008+)The impact of high sex ratios in urban and rural China
General Interests
Most of my research experience is in francophone West Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal) and I am generally interested in all aspects of fertility, reproduction and health in this region and how they interplay with migration and development.
Specific research themes that I am actively pursuing and seek PhD students working in these domains are:
- Anthropological demography
- Reproductive decision making
- Marriage, sexual relationships and reproduction
- Migration, mobility, well-being and demographic change in West Africa
- Well-being of the elderly in Africa and the interplay between elderly well being and migration
- Demography of African nomadic pastoralists
- Demographic consequences of conflict and anthropological demography of refugee populations
- Methodological research: Integrating qualitative and quantitative data in demographic research: this has two dimensions (1) in order to improve our understanding of how demographic processes work and change and (2) examining the actual production of demographic data and the biases within them - through investigating how different people or groups conceptualise, understand and respond to the questions they are asked
PhD Students
Alice Elliot (2008+) Staying and leaving Morocco: migration, gender, youths and imagination between Morocco and Italy
Stephanie Riak Akuei (ongoing) Dinka Displaced: Imagining and Managing Lives Beyond the War Zone
Khurshida Begum (Submitted) A comparative study of ovarian reserve and reproductive aging in Bangladeshi and white women
Rebecca Drury (Awarded 2009) Wildmeat consumption in Vietnam
Beth Bishop (Awarded 2007) The consequences of schooling for pastoralism and pastoralists’ livelihoods
Katerina Georgiadis (Awarded 2006) Understanding low fertility in Athens and London: a comparative ethnographic study
Ernestina Coast (Awarded 2001) Maasai Demography
Kate Hampshire (Awarded 1998) Fulani mobility in Burkina Faso
Second/co-supervisor
Farid Belbachir (2008+) Human wildlife conflict in the Hoggar, Algeria
Claire Bedelian (2007+) Conservancies and community conservation around the Maasai Mara
Dave Lawson (Awarded 2009) The human behavioural ecology of modern family size
Muna Rizig (ongoing) Solar cooking technology in Sudan
Eshetu Gurmu (Awarded 2005) Fertility in Ethopia
Mick Thompson (Awarded 2002) Livestock, Cultivation and Tourism: Livelihood Choices and Conservation in Masaai Mara Buffer Zones
Mhari Gibson (Awarded 2002) Effects of water development project on Ethiopian reproductive behaviour
Rebecca Sear (Awarded 2001) Evolutionary approaches to reproductive decision making in the Gambia
Solveig Buhl (Awarded 2000) Gender aspects of Fulani production
Dan Brockington (Awarded 1998) Issues around Mkomasi Game Reserve, Tanzania
