Qualifications
Ph.D. in Social Anthropology, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 2003
Personal/work Web page addresses
https://www.lalombe.info/
https://www.tmgh.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/professors/ken-masuda
Research gate or Linked-in account links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-masuda-a8376327/
Background
2004-2014 Associate Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies (Environmental Anthropology)
2008-2015 Associate Professor, Graduate School of International Health Development (Medical Anthropology)
2014-2024 Associate Professor, School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences (African Studies and Fieldwork Methods)
2015-2023 Associate Professor, School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health (Medical Anthropology)
2024-present Professor, School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health (Medical Anthropology)
Research
- Population ageing and social protection in sub-Saharan Africa
- Application of anthropological and ethnographic methods in global health research
- Mixed methods in health-seeking behavior
The country/countries where you work currently
Sub-Saharan Africa (especially Kenya and Ethiopia)
Japan
Five Key Recent Publications
- Kobayashi K, Masuda K, Wu JTK, Lin LK. Impact of digital communication message on HPV vaccine decision-making among Japanese mothers: A randomized controlled trial. Vaccine. 2025; 61:127327.
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増田 研「コミュニティを基盤とした原爆関連慰霊碑：体験的記憶の自然的滅却をめぐって（Community-based Memorials to the Atomic Bomb Victimsin Nagasaki: On the Extinction of “Experiential Memories”）」『多文化社会研究』. 2025; 11:15-46.
- Kon K, Imoto A, Rashid SF, Masuda K. Barriers and facilitators for treatment-seekingamong women with genital fistula: A facility based-qualitative study in Bangladesh. Trop Med Health. 2025; 53(1):34.
- Harada R, Imoto A, Ndunyu L, Masuda K. The reasons for and influences of unintended teenage pregnancy in Kericho county, Kenya: a qualitative study. Reprod Health. 2024; 21(1):143.
- Miyachi K,Masuda K. A Preparatory Study of Care for Elderly Women in Rural Kenya. Ethnogr. Catal. 2021; 22:127-146.
Message
I began my research career in Ethiopia in northeastern Africa in 1993, conducting ethnographic research in an agro-pastoralist village of about 2000 people, describing context-dependent phenomena, and analyzing social structures and cultural norms through my own participatory observations. Thus, my research style is still back and forth between the field and desktop.
Cultural anthropology (and social anthropology) have a strong affinity for interdisciplinary research designs, and I do not hesitate to combine different research methods, including quantitative and qualitative research, observation, textual analysis, media analysis, historical and archaeological approaches, and cartographic analysis.