Jenny Munro

I work in medical anthropology and critical global health in Indonesia and Fiji. Funded by the Australian Research Council, I am currently researching obstetrics and childbirth experiences in Indonesian maternity care settings. This project is conducted with Dr Els Rieke (Universitas Papua), Associate Professor Najmah (Universitas Sriwijaya), Dr Elan Lazuardi (Universitas Gadjah Mada), with further support from Dr John Wantania and Dr Grace Korompis (Sam Ratulangi University). We are looking at diverse experiences in North Sulawesi, West Papua, South Sumatra, and Central Java.

I also value recent collaborations with researchers at the National University of Singapore (Associate Professor Shefaly Shorey, Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies) and Fiji National University focused on maternity care. In 2026, I will begin working with collaborators in Fiji on community-based ethnographic research on maternity care and cultural difference, supported by an ARC Future Fellowship. This involves ethnographic research in health settings in Fiji, looking at interactions and cultural norms to understand local ideals and practices of respectful care.

Prior to this I have worked closely with West Papuan and other international researchers on studies of maternity care and hospital experiences, older women's life stories, and HIV/AIDS. I completed a study with Dr Els Tieneke Rieke and Meki Wetipo on how urban Papuans understand and experience hospital childbirth, as part of an effort to understand dire maternal health conditions in this location (2023, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology). This was published in a special issue on 'Reproducing Life in Conditions of Abandonment in Oceania', I edited with Alexandra Widmer (York University, Canada).

Other recent publications look at competing ideas of respectful maternity care in Singapore, gender inequality in Indonesia's frontier economy, older Papuan women’s narratives of economic agency and survivance (co-authored with Yohana Baransano), and the challenges faced by Indonesian newlyweds. My article in Asian Studies Review, "West Papuan ‘Housewives’ with HIV: Gender, Marriage, and Inequality in Indonesia," was awarded the 2025 Wang Gungwu Prize by the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA).

I am an experienced PhD supervisor in medical anthropology and welcome research students who wish to conduct anthropological research in Indonesia or the Pacific Islands, especially in medical anthropology and hospital ethnography. My teaching experience includes undergraduate and postgraduate courses in medical anthropology (ANTH2250/7250), Pacific anthropology (ANTH2020) and gender (SOCY2050). I also enjoy contributing to Oceania journal as an associate editor.