{"id":16210,"date":"2021-10-19T10:57:53","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T14:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/?post_type=cu_people&#038;p=16210"},"modified":"2025-06-10T09:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T13:23:19","slug":"sheila-rao","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/people\/sheila-rao\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheila Rao"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"mb-6 cu-pageheader cu-component-updated md:mb-12\">\n    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 pb-5 after:w-10 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px\">\n                    \n             \n                \n            <\/h1>\n\n    \n    <\/header>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"research-interests\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Research Interests<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 Anthropology of development<br>\n\u2022 Collaborative research and ethnographic methods<br>\n\u2022 Feminist political economy<br>\n\u2022 Agroecology and social reproduction<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am a socio-cultural anthropologist specializing in the feminist political economy of agri-food systems, communication technologies and organizational change and policy in international development; with domestic interests in feminist policies and social inequality and justice movements. My research experience with qualitative and collaborative research design and analysis includes a diverse range projects from large-scale, multi-country, multi-regional projects to more in-depth ethnographic studies with international research and non-governmental organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My PhD in Anthropology at Carleton University examined the gendered labour and natural resources investment of bio-fortified sweet potato production, provision and sales in Mwanza, Tanzania. My post-doctoral research with the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa and Cooperation Canada analyzed the role of civil society organizations in addressing systemic barriers to social and economic inequality in both the broader international development sector and more specifically in agricultural and nutritional development projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, my work is situated in two sites: in west and central Tanzania and in the Ottawa Valley, where I work with feminist and food justice organizations. Through the lens of feminist agroecology and social reproduction, my ongoing research and advocacy work examines food labour in relation to the varying perceptions and meanings of dietary and nutritional health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"selected-publications-and-contributions\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Selected Publications and Contributions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Rao, S. (2021) <em>The role of funders in facilitating a gender equal media<\/em>, Centre for International Media Assistance (CIMA), Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rao, S. (2020) \u2018Health and wealth\u2019 from biofortified crops, but for whom? A gendered analysis of sweet potato promotion in Tanzania. <em>Canadian Journal of Development Studies\/ Revue canadienne d&#8217;\u00e9tudes du d\u00e9veloppement<\/em>, Special Section, 41:2, 314-332.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moorsom, T.M, Rao, S., Gengenbach, H., &amp; Huggins, C. (2020) Food security and the contested visions of agrarian change in Africa, <em>Canadian Journal of Development Studies \/ Revue canadienne d&#8217;\u00e9tudes du d\u00e9veloppement<\/em>, 41:2, 212-223.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rao, S. and Tiessen, R. (2020) Whose feminism(s)? Perceptions of feminism from partner organizations, and implications for future implementation of Canada\u2019s Feminist International Aid Policy (FIAP) in the Global South. <em>International Journal<\/em>, Special Issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tiessen, R., Rao, S., and Lough, B. (2020) Everyday Interactions and relational dynamics in gender equality and women\u2019s economic empowerment programs: Volunteering for development (V4D) as spaces for transformational feminist practice? <em>Journal of Developing Societies<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rao, S., (2020) <em>Organizational and human resource capacity for addressing gender equality: Civil society engagement with the Feminist International Assistance Policy<\/em>. Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC), Le CQFD de l\u2019Association qu\u00e9b\u00e9coise des organismes de coop\u00e9ration internationale (AQOCI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rao, S., Huggins, C. (2017) Sweet Success? Contesting Biofortification in Tanzania. In James Sumberg (ed.) <em>Agronomy For Development: The Politics of Knowledge in Agricultural Research<\/em>. University of Sussex: Brighton, 104-120.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Masuki K.F.G. \u00b7 Mowo J.G. \u00b7 Rao, S. \u00b7 Kamugisha R., Opondo, C. Tanui J. (2011) Improving smallholder farmers\u2019 access to information for enhanced decision making in natural resource management: Experiences from South Western Uganda, in<em> Innovations as Key to the Green Revolution in Africa<\/em>, Publisher: Earthscan, Editors: Bationo A, Waswa BS, Okeyo J, Maina F, pp.1145-1159.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16160,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cu_people_first_name":"Sheila","cu_people_last_name":"Rao","cu_people_initials":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_people_type":[40],"cu_people_expertise":[],"class_list":["post-16210","cu_people","type-cu_people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_people_type-adjunct-research-professors"],"acf":{"cu_people_job_title":"Adjunct Research Professor","cu_people_degree":"PhD Anthropology (Carleton University), MES (York University), BES (York University)","cu_building":false,"cu_people_office_num":"","cu_people_pronoun":"none","cu_people_designation":"","cu_people_email":"","cu_people_phone":"","cu_people_phone_ext":"","cu_people_linkedin":"","cu_people_bluesky":"","cu_people_twitter":"","cu_people_instagram":"","cu_people_facebook":"","cu_people_website":"","cu_people_orcid":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/16210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_people"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/16210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19630,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/16210\/revisions\/19630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_people_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_type?post=16210"},{"taxonomy":"cu_people_expertise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/socanth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_expertise?post=16210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}