MA, University of Cincinnati, 2019, Arts and Sciences: Communication

This study analyzes the discourse of community participation within a multi-stakeholder bureaucratic model of public health intervention in West Bengal, India, and highlights the role that vulnerable populations play in the well-meaning participatory health interventions designed for them. A total of 13 individuals (including 5 in-depth interviews and one focus group discussion with 3 community health worker s and 5 affected individuals) were interviewed for the project. Two research questions guide this thesis including: RQ1: How do stakeholders across various agencies construct the discourse of the nature of arsenic problem in West Bengal? and RQ 2: What roles do members from the affected communities play in the current well-meaning participatory processes and with what implications? The dataset revealed stakeholders depended on specific discourses (technical, economic, bureaucratic and moralistic) to discuss the nature of the problem of groundwater arsenic. It also highlighted how marginalization and gender inequalities are played out in the participatory health discourses.

Committee: Shaunak Sastry Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Zhuo Ban Ph.D. (Committee Member); Stephen Depoe Ph.D. (Committee Member); Heather Zoller Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication