I am a medical anthropologist and sociologist with a focus on public health domains such as parenting advice and nutrition.
I am currently coordinating the Gender Studies Platform at the University of Lausanne and am a research affiliate at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, University of Zurich.
My research is centered on the social construction of « good » parents and how public health programs contribute to the (re)production of social inequalities based on factors such as gender, sex, race, class, or nationality. I deploy qualitative research methods and inductive research designs to reveal the ways in which health polices perpetuate social hierarchies.
Latest news
📘 Book Reproductive Boundaries: Psychosocial Care and Pregnancy in Switzerland (2026, Rutgers University Press)
📝 Article Milk matters: The social imaginaries of plant milks in children’s diets (with Norah MacKendrick, Agriculture and Human Value)
🤝 Co-founder of SwissRepro | Research network for Reproductive studies
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2304-524X
Latest publications:
- Ballif Edmée. 2026. Reproductive Boundaries: Psychosocial Care and Pregnancy in Switzerland. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
- Ballif Edmée and MacKendrick Norah. 2026, « Milk matters: the social imaginaries of plant milks in children’s diets« . Agriculture and Human Values 43(34).
- Ballif Edmée. 2024. « Vegan Labor: The intensification of family foodwork at the intersection of dietary and gender norms« . Food, Culture & Society.
- Ballif Edmée, Zinn Isabelle. 2023. « Persistent Pandemic: The unequal impact of Covid labor on early career academics« . Gender, Work & Organization.
- Ballif Edmée. 2023. « Multispecies childcare: Child veganism and the reimagining of health, reproduction and gender in Switzerland » . Medical Anthropology 42:6, 565-578. **Recipient of a Diploma of Merit, 2024 Early Career Award of the Swiss Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities**
Dr. Edmée Ballif 