Fiona C. Ross is Professor of Anthropology, a Fellow of the University of Cape Town and an NRF rated scholar (B2).

Her work is concerned with redress in the aftermath of apartheid. In its current formation, it centres on how ‘life’ is formulated by scientific disciplines, and what that means for the project of social recovery.

To address this question, she held an AW Mellon Chair in the Anthropology of the First Thousand Days of Life (2013-22).  That project focuses on how scientific knowledge about reproduction enters public policy and articulates with local social worlds. It considers the relation between ‘life’ and ‘forms of life’. This philosophical question is grounded in three research programmes.  Formations of Life considers how life (material, social and emotional) takes for under given conditions.  Genes, Technologies, Genealogies explores technologies, understood as both instruments and tools, including conceptual tools.  The programme on Nutrition and Food Security considers the social relations around nourishment. 

Her previous bodies of work focused on:

• the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, particularly regarding gender and testimonies of violence; human rights; redress and recovery.
• Poverty and the making of everyday life in contemporary urban South Africa.

 

Academic Interests and Current Research Projects

My work is concerned with formations of social life in apartheid’s aftermath.

My interests span a variety of subfields in Anthropology, including urban, medical and linguistic anthropology, anthropological theory and critical ethnography.

My current research, supported by an AW Mellon Chair, explores how life is made social and how contemporary knowledge formations are mobilised in defence of well-being. More information is available at www.thousanddays.uct.ac.za.

I teach at all levels, and supervise research that focuses on Southern and Central Africa.

 

Selected Recent Publications

Saunders, R., R. Saunders and F. Ross. 2021.  The Saunders’ Fieldguide to Gladioli of South Africa. Struik/Random House: Cape Town. 

Lachman, Anusha, Astrid Berg, Fiona C. Ross and Michelle Pentecost. (2021).  ‘Infant Mental Health in Southern Africa: nurturing a field’ The Lancet. Volume 398, ISSUE 10303, P835-836.  https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(21)00998-3 

Fiona C. Ross & Tessa Moll. 2020. ‘Assisted Reproduction: politics, ethics and anthropological futures,’ Medical Anthropology, DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2019.1695130

Manderson, Lenore, Fiona C. Ross. 2020. ‘Publics, technologies and interventions in reproduction and early life in South Africa.’ Palgrave Communications (formerly Humanities and Social Science Communications) 7, 40. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-020-0531-3.

Fiona C. Ross. 2020. ‘Ethics, Histories and Redress: Ethical Orientations in the Southern African Context’. Working Paper 3.  World Council of Anthropological Associations.
https://www.waunet.org/downloads/wcaa/publications/working-papers/wp3.pdf

Fiona C. Ross. 2020. Response to Commentary: ‘Why are black South African students less likely to consider studying biological sciences?’ (Prof. N Nattrass). South African Journal of Science. 116(special issue), Art. #8481. DOI: 10.17159/sajs.2020/8481.

Fiona C. Ross. 2020. ‘Rising Tides and Anthropological Morals.’  Colloquium on a/moral Anthropology. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory. 10 (3): 1022-1025. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/711713

Pentecost, M and F. C. Ross. 2019. ‘The first thousand days: Motherhood, scientific knowledge, and local histories’ Medical Anthropology. Vol 38 (8): 747-761.  https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2019.1590825

Chekero, T and F C Ross. 2018. ‘On paper and having papers: Zimbabwean migrant women’s experiences in accessing healthcare in Giyani of Limpopo Province, South Africa.  Anthropology Southern Africa. Vol. 41 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23323256.2018.1442729