Dr Katinka Weber

• PhD in Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool, 2011
• MA in Research Methodology, University of Liverpool, 2005
• MA in Social Development, University of Sussex, 2005
• BA (Hons) in Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool, 2003

Dr Weber is an Anthropologist with interests in Political Anthropology, the Anthropology of Development and Social Change, political ecology, and more recently Medical Anthropology. Her research has focused particularly on Latin America (Bolivia and Ecuador), but over the years she has also carried out research in the UK and Germany, and more recently, West Africa (Mali).

Dr Weber was educated at the University of Sussex (MA in Social Development) and the University of Liverpool (BA in Latin American Studies, MA in Research Methodology, PhD 2011).  Her doctoral research (ESRC 1+3 Fellowship) was an ethnographic study of the engagement of lowland Bolivian Chiquitano people with the state. Based on 11 months’ field research, it documented the effects of neoliberal multicultural state reforms on Chiquitano people and how this shaped their organisational forms, perceptions of citizenship, identity construction, territoriality and human-environment relations.

Over the years Dr Weber has carried out research for various projects thematically broadly revolving around state and non-state political processes and the dynamics sparked through their encounters (e.g. Oxfam-CEJIS Governance Project Santa Cruz, Bolivia (2007), Guardian and LSE Reading the Riots’ project (2011) and UoL Chiemgauer Regional Currency Project (2012).

More recently, she has focused on Health Research. As Research Fellow in International Women’s Health at Liverpool John Moores University (2022-2023) she carried out a Maternity Services Needs Assessment and research into socio-economic and ethnic inequalities in the provision of maternity services, with the aim of pinpointing areas for action and the development of tailored interventions. She also focused on modes of identification in health research, and the political implications of labelling and categorising participants.

Additionally, she continues her research into modes of identification in the light of Amerindian peoples’ struggles for land and rights (especially indigeneity) and their political implications.

Dr Weber taught, supervised and mentored students in the Sociology and Anthropology of Latin America and research methods modules at the University of Liverpool for ten years.  She convened and lectured on the following courses:

• Multicultural Societies in Latin America (level 1)
• Introduction to Latin American Sociology (level 1)
• Social Movements in Latin America (level 2)
• Culture and the Individual in the Americas – An introduction to life histories (level 2)
• Country Case Study (level 2)
• Research Methods in Latin American Studies (level 2)
• Rural Sociology and Politics in the Andean Zone (level 3)
• The Anthropology of States, Citizens and Politics in Latin America (Masters)
• Anthropological Perspectives on Indigenous Peoples, Politics and the State in Latin America (Masters)
• Ethnographic Methods and Qualitative Research Methods modules (Masters).

Katinka is interested in Political Anthropology, the Anthropology of Development and Social Change, Medical Anthropology, political ecology, modes of identification, qualitative methods in health research and decolonial approaches. Owing to her roots in the interdisciplinary environments of Latin American Area and Development Studies, her approaches in research and theorising often draw on perspectives from across Anthropology, Sociology and Development Studies.

In particular, her research interests lie in understanding indigenous and socially and economically marginalised peoples’ responses to development processes, (changing) regimes of governance, and environmental change. Katinka has focused on the emergence of popular movements, overt and subtle forms of resistance, citizenship and identity politics, the formation of modes of identification, territorial governance, matters concerning Amerindian peoples, and gender and development issues.

Recently, Katinka has also been interested in how such processes intersect with health and health inequalities – specifically focusing on women’s and child health, and critical approaches to development and community-based solutions.

Current projects

The MaaCiwara project (cluster RCT): a low-cost, scalable, and adaptable community intervention to reduce diarrhoea and improve the growth of young children in poor urban and rural Mali.