The Expert is a medical anthropologist with an extensive research background on reproductive health and gender disparities, specifically in India, Nepal, and Guatemala. In India and Nepal, they worked with three NGOs in 1995-1996 on the issues of girl trafficking, gender-based violence, and refugee assistance. In 2001, they interviewed Nepali human rights advocates about efforts to change legislation and build advocacy to assist girls who had been trafficked. In Guatemala, they researched how reproductive health disparities were impacting indigenous women in the highlands region. The Expert conducted in-depth fieldwork in the north Indian region of Ladakh, where much of their research was focused on ethnic/religious tension among Buddhists and Muslims in the region. Their research analyzed the persistence of health disparities, ethnic/religious conflict, and gender discrimination.
LGBTQI issues; sexual abuse/assault; gender-based violence/domestic violence; forced marriage; human trafficking; Likelihood of destitution or homelessness; ethnic, religious, or tribal discrimination or persecution;risk of torture or political persecution; risk from state actors, risk from non-state actors; risk of retaliation; sufficiency of protection; possibility of safe internal relocation; healthcare access; health systems capacity; mental illness; HIV/AIDS; Reproductive abuses (forced sterilizations, etc.); Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal
The Expert worked with Tibetan refugees in Dharamsala, India in 1995, assisting an NGO (Tibetan Women's Association) with writing a UN report about the 'rights of the child.' They taught English to Tibetan refugees and understand how the rights that Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal differ.
Aengst, Jennifer (2014) “Silences and Moral Narratives: Infanticide as Reproductive Disruption,” Medical Anthropology. Vol. 33, Issue 5.
Aengst, Jennifer (2014) co-editor, Special Issue of Ethnos “Intimacies and Sexualities in Out-of-the-Way Places,” doi: 10.1080/00141844.2013.813057
Aengst, Jennifer (2014) “Adolescent Movements: Dating, Elopements, and Youth Policing in Ladakh, India” Ethnos, doi: 10.1080/00141844.2013.813057
Aengst, Jennifer (2013) “The Politics of Fertility: Population and Pronatalism in Ladakh” Himalaya: The Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, Vol. 32: No.1, Article 11.