Dr Suzanne Fraser
- Tel: +61 3 990 20322
- Fax: +61 3 990 52410
- Email: Suzanne.Fraser@arts.monash.edu.au
- Room W10.18 10th Floor
- Building 11 (Menzies), Clayton Campus
Research
Suzanne's research focuses on the relationships between ideas of the body, gender, addiction and body modification. Her background is in gender and cultural studies, and her PhD thesis analysed cosmetic surgery as a technology of gender. In 2003 this work was published as a book entitled ‘Cosmetic Surgery, Gender and Culture’.
Suzanne's main research focus at present is an ARC-funded study conducted with Associate Professor Carla Treloar (UNSW), Associate Professor David Moore (Curtin University of Technology) and Emily Lenton (Monash University) entitled 'Under construction: The social and cultural politics of hepatitis C'. This project is based on interviews conducted with people affected by the disease. These will be read alongside hepatitis C self-help books, medical accounts of the 'discovery' or 'isolation' of the disease, and relevant prevention education literature to trace the constitution of hepatitis C over time. The project's research focus combines two related questions drawn from feminist science studies and social sciences of health: 1) how diseases come to be constituted as stable medical objects and, 2) how politics inform this process of materialisation, shaping the meaning, distribution and trajectory of disease.
Recently Suzanne completed a three-year NHMRC funded project examining social and cultural aspects of methadone maintenance treatment. A book based on the study findings was published in 2008. Entitled ‘Substance and substitution: Methadone subjects in liberal societies’, it is co-authored with Dr Kylie Valentine of the University of NSW.
Suzanne also recently concluded a collaborative study bringing together work on ideas of pharmacological substitution, enhancement and replacement by looking at the connections between medical treatments including methadone maintenance treatment and hormone replacement therapy. Along with her collaborators on the study, Dr Celia Roberts of Lancaster University, UK, and Dr Kylie Valentine, she has edited a special issue of the journal Science as Culture based on a workshop held as part of the project.
Additional major publishing activities:
- Book: Vanity: 21st century selves. Due out early 2012. (Palgrave).
- Edited Collection: Fraser, S. and Moore, D. (Eds). Reformulating drugs: Health, crime and society. Due out early 2011. (Cambridge University Press).
- Special issue of Critical Public Health (with Petersen, Davis & Lindsay): ‘Healthy living and citizenship’. Due out June 2010.
Publications
A list of Suzanne's publications can be found here.Grants
A list of some recently received grants can be found here.Professional Profile
Suzanne is a member of the following professional organisations:
- Drug and Alcohol Nurses of Australasia (Associate member)
- Cultural Studies Association of Australasia
- International Harm Reduction Association
- European Association for the Study of Science and Technology
- Australian Women's and Gender Studies Association
She is a visiting fellow at the National Centre in HIV Social Research, University of NSW, and a research associate with the Centre for Somatechnics, Macquarie University.
Teaching
Suzanne teaches:
CRI2030 / CRI3030: Drugs, crime and society
GND3020 / GND4020: Feminist research
Higher Degree Research Supervision
Postgraduate research students currently being supervised include:
| Student | Thesis Title / Topic | Supervisor(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Annette Brömdal | "Intersex in South Africa" (PhD) | Steven Angelides / Suzanne Fraser |
| Emily Lenton | "Hepatitis C and sexuality" (MA) | Suzanne Fraser / Jo Lindsay |
|
Dean Murphy (University of NSW) |
"Kinship practices among gay men who have become parents through commercial surrogacy" (PhD) | Suzanne Fraser / Robert Reynolds (University of NSW) |
| Karolyne Quinn | "The body in talk therapy" (PhD) | JaneMaree Maher / Suzanne Fraser |
| Nicola Thomson | "Chaotic", "erratic" and "aggressive" clients? Exploring the limitations and possibilities of service provision for methamphetamine users (PhD) | David Moore (Curtin University of Technology) / Suzanne Fraser |
Recent Completions
| Student | Thesis Title / Topic | Supervisor(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Neeti Aryal Khanal | "The cradle and the gun: Nepali women in armed conflict" (MA) | Maryanne Dever / Suzanne Fraser |