Olivia Brophy
Research Area
Education
M.A., Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 2025
B.A., Global and Regional Studies, Saint Mary's College of California, 2019
B.A., Spanish: Hispanic Cultural Studies, Saint Mary's College of California, 2019
About
I am a settler Ph.D. student in Medical Anthropology focusing on the interactions of culture, health, governance, as well as human rights and developmnet discourses in the United States. My PhD research engages with Black feminist Reproductive Justice theory to consider the ways in which pregnant youth and their support providers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley understand their experiences with social stigma related to youth pregnancy.
M.A. thesis: Reconsidering Adolescent Pregnancy in the Willamette Valley: Engaging Adult Support Providers
B.A. thesis: The Problematization of Adolescent Pregnancy in Latin America: A Case Study
Research
Research keywords: Reproductive health; youth health; health risk narratives; social support networks; life histories and life course narratives; feminist anthropologies; neoliberal personhood; development cultures; North America.
Publications
Dana R. Herrera and Olivia Brophy.“Let’s Play: Digital Gaming as Tourism Practice” in Handbook on Tourism Imaginaries. Nelson Graburn, Maria Gravari-Barbas, Jean-Francois Staszak (eds.), UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. (Forthcoming)
Awards
2023: Canada Graduate Scholarship, Master’s (CGS-M)
2022: Warren George Povey Award in Global Health, UBC
2020: O’Brien Award for Teaching Excellence, San Miguel School of Washington, D.C.
2019: Margaret Clark Award, Association for Anthropology, Gerontology, and the Life Course
2019: Senior Thesis Award, Saint Mary’s College of California
Graduate Supervision
Ph.D. Supervisor: Dr. Vinay Kamat
Committe Members: Dr. Zahra Hayat and Dr. Helena Zeweri