Hello everyone! I’m Sanjana, a rising senior pursuing a dual degree in Biology and Anthropology, with a Chemistry minor and a Conceptual Foundations of Medicine certificate. Outside of class, I love to hike and go on long walks! This summer, I feel honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with my peers as a part of the Brackenridge Fellowship. I plan to attend medical school in the near future, and strongly want to continue to do public health research related to women’s health, especially among underserved populations. I’m looking forward to learning more about the work of my fellow student researchers this summer, and maybe finding another area of research I have an interest in!
My research is an independent project conducted through the Global Women’s Health Research Collective (GLOWHER) under the mentorship of Dr. Sara Baumann. I’ve been a part of this lab since my freshman year at Pitt, and it’s been the perfect place for me to learn, grow, and explore the world of menstrual health, especially in South Asia. Additionally, Dr. Emily Wanderer serves as my advisor in the Anthropology department, and she has been instrumental in hearing out my ideas and helping me work through them. My work is titled “Menstrual Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices among the Indigenous Tribal groups living on the fringes of Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks of Southern Karnataka, India”.
In India, there is great diversity in menstrual traditions by region and ethnic group, ranging from very strict to not at all. The reasons behind these practices also vary. Some examples of menstrual practices include sleeping separately from the rest of the family, not cooking, and not praying while menstruating. I was interested in observing how these menstrual practices manifested themselves in the tribal communities who live on the outskirts on Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks, as these areas are often extremely rural and under resourced. I’ve always felt a desire to help underserved populations, and menstrual health of tribal women is a subject that is often overlooked in studies.
I conducted my research with the help of a local partner, the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM). I was based out of the Vivekananda Memorial Hospital in Saragur, India. This hospital services the local tribal and rural populations. Saragur is a rural town located in Karnataka, a state in south India. It’s also the state where I’m from! This is the first known study that explores the menstrual practices and traditions of tribal women in this region and the role that menstruation plays in their everyday lives.
In total, I conducted 28 semi-structured interviews with women across four different tribal groups who met the inclusion criteria. Interview questions consisted of questions such as “why does menstruation occur”, “tell me about your first time menstruating” and “describe what a normal day of menstruating looks like for you now”. I conducted all of the interviews in the language Kannada, and they were all audio-recorded. I later transcribed them and coded them in NVivo, a qualitative data analysis software. Initial results look quite interesting, and I’ll know more as I continue my analysis this summer through the Brackenridge Fellowship. I’m excited to see what I find and look forward to planning future interventions!
