My Biography
Dr. Townsend’s areas of expertise are environmental and medical anthropology. Her research in the Upper Sepik region of Papua New Guinea had a special focus on lowland subsistence based on the sago palm. Her research in the United States is concerned with public participation in projects dealing with toxic and nuclear waste and copper mining. Artifacts and photos from her dissertation research in 1966-67 in upper Sepik have been transferred to Buffalo Museum of Science. Dr. Townsend also worked on applied research in medical anthropology at the PNG Institute of Social and Economic Research (1980-84) (now the National Research Institute). She did field research on the involvement of religious organizations at toxic waste sites (2000-01). Dr. Townsend also worked on applied research in medical anthropology at the PNG Institute of Social and Economic Research (1980-84) and research on the involvement of religious organizations at toxic waste sites (2000-01). Dr. Townsend attended her first AAA annual meeting as a senior at the University of Michigan in 1962.