Sara Randall

After an undergraduate degree in Anthropology my PhD in Demography at the LSHTM focused on the demographic dynamics of rural Malian populations. I integrated anthropological approaches to both data collection and interpretation in order to understand the key factors influencing the diversity of demographic dynamics in these isolated rural populations. Such a mixed methods approach to understanding demographic issues has informed much of my subsequent research from the demography of nomadic pastoralists to more recent research orientated around unpacking the mismatch between the concepts used in demographic data collection and respondents’ own ideas and representations of their demographic lives.
I have worked on health behaviour, marital and reproductive decision making, the impact of migration on those left behind (Senegal), the interplay between development and demography and the dynamics and support systems of the urban poor, especially the changing situation of the elderly in urban areas (Ouagadougou).