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Work experience

2019 - Present

Senior Researcher

Riga Stradiņš University

Work of the research project State performance and Biosocial Relatedness (RELATE.LV), funded by Latvian Science Council.

2018 - Present

Researcher

Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia

Work of the research project Narrative perspectives on intergenerational transmission of memory funded by Latvian Science Council.

2017 - 2018

Researcher

Communication Studies Department, Riga Stradiņš Univesity.

Acting as a researcher - expert on social integration for the research project funded by the European Union Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, “Developing responsible journalism in Latvia’s national and regional media in order to facilitate integration of third country nationals into Latvia” ( No.PMIF/7/2016/1/03, administered by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia).

2013 - Present

Docent

Faculty of Communications, Riga Stradiņš University

  • Teaching BSc and MSc students of Communication Studies Department.
  • Supervising PhD, MSc and BSc theses.
  • Applying for grants, conducting research, writing publications.

2007 - 2013

Acting docent

Faculty of Communication, Riga Stradiņš University

  • Teaching BSc and MSc students of Communication Studies Department.
  • Supervising PhD, MSc and BSc theses.
  • Applying for grants, conducting research, writing publications.

2007 - 2009

Senior researcher

Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia, Akadēmijas laukums 1, Riga. www.fsi.lv

  • Writing grant applications.
  • Conducting research on the service users' movements and organizations in Europe and Latvia.
  • Conducting the research project (funded by Latvian Council of Science for 2007-2008): "Overcoming stigmatizing stereotypes of mental disorders in Latvia: Integration of personal experience and everyday and professional knowledge”.
  • Writing academic publications.

2006 - 2006

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Department of Sociology, University of Bristol

  • Writing publications based on the doctoral research
  • Conducting a postdoctoral fellowship project Mental distress in relation to social exclusion: the case of Latvia and prospects of a comparative study.

1989 - 2001

Research Assistant

Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Latvian Academy of Sciences (University of Latvia since 1995).

  • Conducting research on the following fields and subjects: history of ideas in Latvia; anthropology of religion, new religious movements; medical anthropology.
  • Preparing and delivering conference papers at local and international conferences.
  • Writing chapters (in Latvian and English) for edited academic books.
  • Writing a research paper for a peer-reviewed journal.
  • Translating academic​ texts from English, German and Dutch in the fields of Philosophy of Religion, History of Ideas, and Social Anthropology.

1986 - 1989

Assistant Lecturer

Department of Social Sciences, Riga Polytechnic Institute (now: Riga Technical University).

  • Teaching Ethics and Aesthetics to ​2nd year students.
  • Conducting seminars in Social and Political Theories with 4th year students.

Education and training

2001 - 2005

Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Bristol

Principal subjects studied:

  • Social Anthropology
  • Medical Anthropology
  • Research methods in Anthropology and Sociology
  • Philosophy and Social Theory

Doctoral thesis defended: Changing discourses of distress and powerlessness in post-Soviet Latvia.

1994 - 1995

Master of Sciences (M.Sc.)

Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political Science

1980 - 1985

Diploma of Teacher of Philosophy

University of Latvia

Achievements

Relevant publications in English

Research articles

  • Leff, M. S.; J. Vrubļevska, A. Lūse, and E. Rancāns. 2017. "Latvian family physicians’ experience diagnosing depression in somatically presenting depression patients: A qualitative study". European Journal of General Practice 23 (1): 91–97. doi:10.1080/13814788.2017.1291626.
  • Lūse, A., and D. Kamerāde. 2014. "Between Disabling Disorders And Mundane Nervousness. Representations Of Psychiatric Patients And Their Distress In Soviet And Post-Soviet Latvia,"in Disability in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, BASEES/Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies. Edited by M. Rasell and E. Iarskaia-Smirnova, pp. 97-121. London: Routledge.
  • Darbiņa, G., and A. Lūse. 2012. Development Of Suburbs In The Context Of Post-Socialist Consumption Models: The Case Of Pierīga. European Integration Studies 6:101-110.
  • Lūse, A. 2011. 'From social pathologies to individual psyches: psychiatry navigating socio-political currents in 20th-century Latvia'. History of Psychiatry 22 :20-39.
  • Lūse, A., and D. Kamerāde. 2011. "Redrawing the Boundaries of Psychiatry and Mental Illness in the Post-Soviet Period: The Case of Latvia," in Szmigiero, K. (Ed.) Probing Madness, pp. 55-66. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press.
  • Lūse, A., and L. Kāpiņa. 2011. "Intimacy and Control, Reciprocity and Paternalism: Madness and the Ambivalence of Caring Relationships in a Post-Soviet Country," in Probing Madness. Edited by K. Szmigiero, pp. 67-80. Oxford: Inter-disciplinary Press.
  • Lūse, A. 2009. 'Tapping the sources of healing. Some themes of distress narratives in towns and villages of contemporary Latvia' in: AM. Rivista della Società Italiana di antropologia medica, vol.17-
    18: 147-162.
  • Lūse, A. 2009. 'How can the number of psychiatric disabilities be reduced in Latvia? An evaluation of patient care needs in the light of the UN Convention' in: Zelda Newsletter, 4: 9-14.
  • Lūse, A. 2009. 'I am an important and needed person.' A study of a support group movement in post-Soviet Latvia. Atslēgvārdi/Keywords. Academic Journal for New Research in Humanities and Social Sciences in the Baltic States, 1, 1-21.
  • Lūse, A. 2004. “Neo-Pentecostal Missionaries in Latvia: A Network of the Anointed" in: H. Tyrell, B. Holtwick & A. Bogner (eds.), Weltmission und religiöse Organisationen Protestantische 
    Missionsgesellschaften im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert
    . Würzburg: Ergon-Verlag, 721-738.
  • Lūse, A. 2003. 'The Rise of Network Society and Structural Transformations in the Field of Religion' in: Adreas P. Mueller, Alfred Kieser (eds.) Communications in Organizations: Structures and Practices. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 261-276.
  • McKevitt, CH., A.Luse and Ch. Wolf) “The Unfortunate Generation: stroke survivors in Riga, Latvia" in:
    Social Science and Medicine, 56 (10), 2097-2108.
  • Lūse, A. 2000. “The network society and some tendencies in religious life" in: Humanities and Social Sciences in Latvia. Vol. 4 (29) 76-91.
  • Lūse, A. 1997. Latvian Religious Philosophical Literature (1988-1991) in: H. Biezais (ed.).Reliģiski-filozofiski raksti VI. Riga: LU Filozofijas un socioloģijas institūts, 266-268.
  • Lūse, A. 1996. "Rudolph Otto and the early phenomenology of religion" in: Phenomenological Inquiry: A Review of Philosophical Ideas and Trends. October 1996, Vol. 20, 90-96.
  • Lūse, A. 1996. "Intersubjectivity and Love: In Search of the Other" in: A. T. Tymieniecka (ed.), Analecta Husserliana. Vol. XLVIII. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996, 401-407.

 

Books and brochures

  • Lūse, A. and I. Lázár. Editors. 2007. Cosmologies of Suffering: Post-communist Transformation, Sacral Communication, and Healing. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Lūse, A. Editor. 2002. Cilvēks, dzīve, stāstījums: rakstu krājums [Persons, lives, and stories - in Latvian]. Rīga: Latvijas Antropologu biedrība; Latvijas Universitātes Literatūras, folkloras un mākslas 
    institūts.

 

Conference theses (since 2016)

  • Lūse, Agita. 2018. "Care as a form of life. Living with a palliative patient in family in Latvia" to the Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies at Stanford University, 1-3 June 2018. Panel 042. The contours of health care in the Baltic states, 1. Stanford: The Stanford Libraries.
  • Lūse, A. 2018. "Responding in style: moral, economic and juridical framing of asylum policies" to the Panel 122 of the 15th biennial conference of EASA (European Association of Social Anthropologists), Staying, Moving, Settling, (Stockholm University, 14-17th August 2018).
  • Lūse, A., and A. Žabicka. 2016. "Mothers as Providers of (Re) Habilitative Care for Severely Disabled Children: Challenges in Collaboration with Medical Practitioners and Obtaining Necessary Training" to the 6 th International Interdisciplinary Scientific Conference "Society. Health. Welfare": Living in the World of Diversity: Social Transformations. Innovations. Solutions (Rīga, 23–25 November 2016) Rīga, 2016, P. 71.

 

 

Awards and recognitions

2007. Kone Foundation Fellowship at Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki.

2006. A Postdoctoral Fellowship from UK Economic and Social Research Council.

2005. Charles Hughes Fellowship in Cultural Psychiatry, awarded by Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture.

2001-2004. A University of Bristol Postgraduate Scholarship.

2000. Grant from the Open Society Institute of Macedonia for attending the SummerUniversity “The Face of the Other" (Skopje, July 2000).

1999. Grant from the Open University in Budapest for attending the CEUSummerUniversity course “The Plight of the Gypsies".

1996-1997. Grant from Soross Foundation Latvia for translating K. Geertz's “The Interpretation of Cultures" into Latvian.

1996-1997.Tempus Phare Individual Mobility Grant for 21 weeks retraining and research at the University of Manchester.

1994-1995. Studentship from the London School of Economics for MSc course in Social Anthropology.

Memberships

2006-2010. Board member of Medical Anthropology Network of the European Association of Social Anthropologists.

Since 2004. Member of the European Association of Social Anthropologists.

2005-2007. Member of Nordic and East / Central European Network for Qualitative Social Research.

Since 1999. Member of Latvian Association of Anthropologists.

1999-2004. Chair-person of Latvian Association of Anthropologists.

Since 1996. Member of the Association of Oral History Researchers of Latvia.

Contacts

Colleagues