Elizabeth A. Carpenter-Song
Research Professor
As a medical and psychological anthropologist, my work aims to contribute to flows of knowledge and practice between anthropology and medicine. Over the course of my career, I have sought to attend closely to the lived experiences of those marginalized by mental illness, stigma, social exclusion, and poverty in the U.S. My scholarship is grounded in experience-based and meaning-centered approaches in medical and psychological anthropology, which aim to unite engagement with lived experiences of distress with attention to how structural forces produce and exacerbate suffering. Through ethnographic methods, I engage closely with individuals, families, and communities to examine lived experiences of illness and how people navigate through complex landscapes of care. In this work, I center issues of health equity by critically examining missed opportunities in clinical care and the high-stakes consequences that occur when systems of care fail those they are intended to help.
Contact
Department(s)
The Dartmouth Institute, Psychiatry, Community and Family Medicine, Anthropology
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical School, Department of Global Health & Social Medicine
- PhD, 2007, Case Western Reserve University
- M.A., 2004, Case Western Reserve University
- A.B., 2001 Dartmouth College
Selected Publications
Sosin, Anne N., & Carpenter-Song, Elizabeth A. 2024. Reimagining Rural Health Equity: Understanding Disparities And Orienting Policy, Practice, And Research In Rural America. Health Affairs, 43(6), 791-797.
Carpenter-Song, Elizabeth. 2023. Families on the Edge: Experiences of Homelessness and Care in Rural New England. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Carpenter-Song, Elizabeth. 2020. Promoting meaningful recovery with digital mental health care. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 29, e105.
Sosin, Anne N. & Carpenter-Song, Elizabeth. 2020. Village Versus Virus: Rural Ethos Protects Where Public Health Fails. Health Affairs Forefront.