Tara Lumpkin, PhD
medical and environmental anthropologist

Dr. Lumpkin holds a PhD in medical and environmental anthropology and has overseas experience in environment, Women in Development, health, communication and media.

BLACKSTONE RANCH INSTITUTE
Dr. Lumpkin was program consultant to the Blackstone Ranch Institute, a 170 acre ranch, located 15 minutes from downtown Taos, New Mexico. The ranch is a green area with many wetlands, which provide refuge for a variety of water fowl, and is currently home to a small population of horses, cows, donkeys, and buffalo. In addition, coyotes roam the land. The property offers one of the finest views of the mountains in Taos. At this time, the ranch is being designated a non-profit that will offer environmental education and will serve as an ecological retreat center and think-tank. Tara's role was to help develop the ranch's environmental mission and program.
 

 

PERCEPTION
Currently, Dr. Lumpkin is the president of Perception, a small non-profit that has successful global projects in the areas of Maternal and Child Health, writing, photography, video and film. She also has worked as a journalist, professor of writing and media, and in communications. Her most recent fieldwork for Perception took place in eastern Tibet where she conducted a needs assessment in Gargon on Maternal and Child Health. In 2001, Dr. Lumpkin returned to Rwanda under Perception to set up an ongoing photography project with genocide orphans at the Imbabazi orphanage. The children's photos have been exhibited worldwide.
   
RWANDA
Working as interim chief-of-party for USAID/Rwanda's Rule of Law, Dr. Lumpkin set up an information, education, and communication (IEC) process for the ethno-justice system known as gacaca.
   
PANAMA
As a WorldWid (Women in Development) fellow for USAID and the Panamanian National Commission on the Environment, Dr. Lumpkin spent a year in Panama focusing on ecotourism. She worked with communities in the Panama Canal Watershed, conducting research on ecotourism possibilities and creating an ecotourism blueprint for the area. Later, she was a consultant for Conservation International in Panama and in the United States in the areas of women, environment and ecotourism. This work included organizing and attending workshops for multiple stakeholders on ecotourism in Panama.
   
NAMIBIA
Dr. Lumpkin worked in Namibia for UNICEF and the Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services for a year conducting research on traditional medicine and community use of traditional medicine. She was one of the first people to research traditional medicine in Namibia on a broad basis. This work became the basis of her dissertation. In addition, Dr. Lumpkin made recommendations to improve communication between healers and biomedical personnel.
REPORTS

Maternal and Child Health Care in Gargon: Findings from Surveys, Focus Groups, and Clinical Data, Perception: Tibetan Video Archive Project, May, 2005.
(download PDF file)

Community-based Ecotourism in Gargon and Taju, Findings from Focus Groups, Perception: Tibetan Video Archive Project, May 2005.
(download PDF file)

Perceptual Diversity: Is Polyphasic Consciousness Necessary for Global Survival?, Anthropology of Consciousness, American Anthropological Association, Volume 12, Number 1, 2001.
(download PDF file)

Community Based Ecotourism in the Panama Canal Watershed, USAID/Panama and the Panama National Environmental Commission, Panama City, Panama, May 1998.
(download PDF file)

Ecoturismo com Participación Comunitaria en la Cuenca del Canal de Panamá, agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional en Panamá con el apoyo de la Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá, mayo de 1998.
(download PDF file)

Dissertation: Perceptual Diversity and its Implications for Development - Based on Research among Traditional Healers and upon Community Use of Traditional Medicine in Namibia, March 1996.
(download PDF file)

Traditional Healers and Community Use of Traditional Medicine in Namibia, UNICEF and Ministry of Health and Social Services, Windhoek, Namibia, May 1994.
(download PDF file)

Intercultural Communication Between Traditional Healers and Modern Health Practitioners in Namibia - A Pilot Study, UNICEF and Ministry of Health and Social Services, Windhoek, Namibia, April 1993.
(download PDF file)

 

Dr. Lumpkin is available for international and domestic consulting.
Please contact her for more information.
click here for a complete RESUME

 

Tara W. Lumpkin, PhD • Medical and Environmental Anthropologist
PO Box 2160 • El Prado, New Mexico USA • TaraLumpkin@cs.com • 575-779-0856 or fax 575-776-2727