Adia Benton, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Anthropology, Northwestern University

Modern Plagues and Structural Violence

Wednesday, May 4, 2022 | 7:30 p.m. | Music Recital Hall

Drawing on anthropological research on HIV/AIDS, Ebola and Covid-19 in Sierra Leone and the United States, Dr. Benton examines the political, economic, social and historical dynamics shaping disease emergence, official and community responses to epidemics, and the narratives arising from these dynamics. The conceptual framework of structural violence offers a starting point for analyzing these dynamics, with the express purpose of undoing the most harmful among them.

Adia Benton is a cultural and medical anthropologist whose research concerns how care is provided in humanitarian emergencies and development projects. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology from Brown University in 1999. She completed a Master of Public Health degree at Emory University in 2001. Professor Benton did her doctoral work at Harvard University, completing an A.M. and Ph.D. in Social Anthropology in 2007 and 2009.