Craig Hadley
Assistant Professor
1557 Dickey Dr
Atlanta, GA 30322
My research and teaching center around the social and cultural production of health and coalesce at the intersection of anthropology, anthropological demography, public health nutrition, and population health. I am concerned with issues of food insecurity and how uncertain and unpredictable household environments influence physical and mental well-being across the life course and across generations. Much of this work is motivated by the observations that food insecurity and hunger are increasing in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that more than
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Much of my research also touches on issues of infant and young child feeding practices, and how cultural norms around infant feeding impact on health and demographic outcomes. In Ethiopia and Tanzania we are also exploring the potential intergenerational transmission of infant and young child feeding behaviors. All of the above projects are multi-method, multi-disciplinary, multi-university and multi-country collaborative projects.
1 billion people do not receive sufficient calories everyday (often interpreted as “going to bed hungry”) and that food insecurity and hunger are responsible for more deaths each year than TB, malaria, and HIV/AIDS, combined. Recent increases in the demand for meat, volatility in regional and local production, and non-food uses of grains will all place upward pressure on food prices. This trend will have a dramatic impact on access to food. Understanding the consequences of these changes and the impact of food insecurity on population health motivates much of my research program. I am increasingly interested in issues of food security measurement and the future of food and population.
I am involved currently in a number of projects that are examining issues related to food insecurity. These include: a cohort study of young children that is exploring the intergenerational links between food insecurity, parental mental disorders, and children’s growth and development; a cohort study of youth examining links between food insecurity and life course trajectories; and a study of food insecurity and acculturation among refugees resettled into the USA.
My graduate training was carried out at the University of California, Davis and I received my PhD in 2003 in biological anthropology with a designated emphasis in international nutrition. Following that I was fortunate to do a postdoc at the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University. From 2005-2007 I was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health at the University of Michigan. In September 2007 I joined the Department of Anthropology at Emory University.
“Applied anthropology, as I understand the term, designates analyses of particular human problems, situations, or processes for the purposes of comprehending their causes, dynamics, and consequences, and, in some instances, for developing course of action ... .”
- Roy Rappaport
