Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Recruiting Agencies: The Role of Recruitment Firms in Czech Healthcare Worker Migration Heidi Bludau As European healthcare shortages increase, the new EU member states provide a larger labor market on which to draw. Healthcare professionals are an especially in-demand population and are heavily recruited to fill these labor shortages. Therefore, they provide an interesting case through which to examine migration processes. I suggest that merely having the opportunity for migration does not inspire many people to migrate. However, that when informed and offered resources by recruitment firms, healthcare workers are more likely to leave their jobs and homelands to work in foreign countries. At the same time, the recruiters are representing migration as a benefit to not only the migrant herself but also to the larger national body. My research examines the ways in which migration recruitment firms influence migration flows while serving their own needs, the needs of their clients, as well as the needs of local social policy. I additionally explore the specific strategies of women in healthcare migration. Since November 2008, I have been in the Czech Republic collecting data for this project. In this paper I will present the initial findings and analysis my fieldwork. Key concepts that I will explore include the agency of various actors in the project, as well as gendered implications for healthcare migrants. HE I DI L. B LUD AU [email protected] EDUCATION 2004Indiana University, Bloomington, IN Ph.D., Anthropology present M.A., Anthropology (May 2007) 1996-1998 Texas A&M University, College Station, TX M. Ed., Curriculum and Instruction 1991-1995 B. A., Anthropology RESEARCH INTERESTS Migration, Gender, Globalization, Postsocialism, Food, Identity, Nationalism, Citizenship and the State, Ethnicity Central/Eastern Europe, Czech Republic, European Union TEACHING EXPERIENCE Associate Faculty, Women’s Studies Program, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, IN. Instructor of Record - WOST 105: Introduction to Women’s Studies (Fall 2007) Associate Instructor, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington IN. ANTH E210: Human Diversity (with Dr. Shane Greene, Fall 2007) Discussion Leader ANTH E105: Culture and Society (with Dr. Emilio Moran, Fall 2006) Discussion Leader Associate Instructor, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington IN. ANTH E260: Culture, Health and Illness (with Dr. Sarah D. Phillips, Spring 2007) PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2008 Graduate Assistant, West European Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. 2007 2006-2007 Associate Faculty, Women’s Studies Program, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN Associate Instructor, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN Graduate Assistant, Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center, Indiana University, Bloomington IN. 2004-2006 2002-2004 1996-2002 Assistant Director, Beyond the Classroom (BTC) Living & Learning Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD. Interim Assistant Director (2001 – 2002), Academic Coordinator (1999 – 2001), Freshman Services Coordinator (1997 – 1998), Graduate Assistant (1996 – 1997), Office of Honors Programs & Academic Scholarships, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS 2008-2009 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant from the U.S. Department of Education for dissertation research in the Czech Republic 2007 Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Student Conference Travel Grant 2006 Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Summer Research Feasibility Grant 2006 Russian and East European Institute, Indiana University, Student Pre-Dissertation Travel Grant 2005 Women in Science, Indiana University, Student Travel Grant 2005 Russian and East European Institute, Indiana University, Student Conference Travel Grant 2005 Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Student Conference Travel Grant 2005 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship for the Czech language, summer award PUBLICATIONS 2009. The Good Dissident Švejk: An Exploration of Czech Morality and Cultural Survival. Kosmas 22. 2007. Nursing New Ambition in the Czech Republic. REEIfication 30(1):3. PRESENTATIONS 2009 “Producing Migrant Nurses: How recruitment firms create successful migrants for the global market.” Paper Presentation, What is Capitalism and What Comes Next?, Joint conference of the Slovak Association of Social Anthropologists and Czech Association of Social Anthropology, September 21, 2009, Pezinok, Slovakia. 2008 “’Homemade is homemade’: Food and Gender in the Postsocialist Kitchen.” Paper Presentation, Central States Anthropological Society 85th Annual Meeting, March 26-28, 2008, Indianapolis, Indiana. 2007 “Calling All Nurses: (Re)constructing gender through nurse recruitment in the Czech Republic.” Paper Presentation, Life in Motion; Shifting Spaces, Transcending Times, Crossing Borders postgraduate conference, June 28-30, 2007, Brno, Czech Republic. 2007 "Never Beans? How Texas Chili makes Texas real." Paper Presentation, Inventing Cuisines: Traditions and identity in North American foodways panel, AGSA Student Research Symposium, February 16-17, 2007, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. 2006 “Exploring the Situation of the Nursing Profession in the Czech Republic since 1989". Paper Presentation, Modern History panel, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), 2006 World Congress, 25 June - 2 July 2006, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic 2005 AWARDS 2008 2007 “Monuments of the Collective: Memory, Identity and Monuments in Post-Soviet East Europe.” Poster Presentation, American Anthropological Association, 104th Annual Meeting, Nov. 30-Dec. 4, 2005, Washington, DC. Outstanding Associate Instructor Teaching Award, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences Josef Hasek Student Award for the paper “The Good Dissident Švejk: An Exploration of Czech Morality and Cultural Survival.” PROFESSIONAL SERVICE Student Representative, SOYUZ (Post-Communist Cultural Studies Interest Group), 2006-2009 Graduate Student Representative, Committee on the Status of Women, Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS), 2005-2007 Conference planning committee, SOYUZ, 2005 PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS American Anthropological Association (AAA) SOYUZ (Post-Communist Cultural Studies Interest Group of the AAA) Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) Association for Women in Slavic Studies (AWSS) Society for the Anthropology of Europe (SAE) National Association of Student Anthropologists (NASA) Central States Anthropological Society (CSAS) Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU)