Georgetown University Initiative to Reduce Health Disparities: Pilot Project Chosen for Funding
March 26, 2012
The Office of the Executive Vice President for Health Sciences and Executive Dean announced that my project with Leslie Hinkson and Brian McCabe, and in collaboration with colleagues from the School of Medicine, School of Nursing & Health Studies, and the HOYA Clinic, are among the three interdisciplinary pilot projects funded by the initative. As the announcement states: "The new initiative stems from the University's ongoing commitment to identify ways in which our research and scholarship can make contributions to the betterment of human health, locally and globally."
We will be investigating how people access health resources and information through religious congregations in Washington DC, whether through social networks or directly from religious institutions themselves, and how that plays a role in reducing health disparities.
Research: Creation of a Multidisciplinary Diabetes Education and Medication Therapy Management Service (DEMTM)
Collaborators:
MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and Georgetown School of Medicine: Alex Montero, MD, Jose Delgado, MD, Eileen Moore, MD, and Adam Wolk, MD
School of Nursing & Health Studies: Patricia Cloonan, PhD, and Jonathan Puhl, PhD
Department of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences: Leslie Hinkson, PhD, Brian McCabe, PhD, and Becky Hsu, PhD
HOYA Clinic in Southeast Washington, DC
See launch of the initiative on April 18, 2012
See earlier announcement of the initiative
See Georgetown Initiative to Reduce Health Disparities website
Interview by Georgetown University Forum
March 23, 2012
The Georgetown University Forum interviewed me about my research into happiness in China, NGOs, microfinance, and poverty reduction. The Georgetown University Forum is a program highlighting the research and expertise of the Georgetown University faculty. The program airs internationally via National Public Radio, Armed Forces Radio Network, Voice of America, and other syndicated broadcast networks. The host, Dr. Carole Sargent, works for the Office of the Provost.
Listen to the podcast:
(coming soon)
Interview by Peter-Christian Brondum
March 16, 2012
Peter-Christian Brondum, a Danish associate professor in political science and history at Oregard Gymnasium in Denmark, interviewed me for a book project that includes video clips of interviewed American professors on the website. He working together with Danish Washington-based journalist, Annegrethe Rasmussen, on the book.
Watch the video:
(coming soon)
Works
Books
Solving Global Poverty in Rural China: Moral Understandings, Microfinance, and Unexpected Consequences. Under review.
Microfinance has often been designated as the domain of cost-benefit analysis and utility calculations. However, the moral understandings specific to each of the participants, not just religious groups, are deciding factors over outcomes in global assistance to the poor.
Based on interviews and fieldwork, Becky Hsu explores how moral understandings affect international aid in a rural county in southwestern China where people barely live above subsistence despite economic growth in other areas of the country. It examines the moral understandings of all participating parties-donors from across the globe, international voluntary organizations, local administrators, and recipients-and why they matter.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
2011. Grim, Brian and Becky Hsu. "Estimating the Global Muslim Population: Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population." Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 7(2).
2008. Hsu, Becky, Amy Reynolds, Conrad Hackett, and James Gibbon. "Estimating the Religious Composition of All Nations: An Empirical Assessment of the World Christian Database." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 47(4):678-693.
2007. Hsu, Becky. "Social Capital as the Underlying Mechanism Linking Religion and Economic Development." The International Scope Review 8(13).
2004. Wuthnow, Robert, Conrad Hackett, and Becky Hsu. "Effectiveness and Trustworthiness of Faith-Based and Other Service Organizations: A Study of Recipients' Perceptions." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 43:1-17.
• Winner, Distinguished article award, ASA Sociology of Religion Section
Other Publications
2011. Hsu, Becky. "Eritrea" in Wade Clark Roof and Mark Juergensmeyer, eds., Encyclopedia of Global Religion. Oxford: SAGE Publications.
2011. Hsu, Becky. "How Culture Matters in Poverty Alleviation Efforts: Microcredit and Confucian Ideas in Rural China" in Kathleen Odell Korgen, Jonathan White, and Shelley White, eds., Sociologists in Action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge/SAGE.
2011. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "The Future of the Global Muslim Population: Projections for 2010-2030." Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
2010. Hsu, Becky. "Microcredit" in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, ed. George Ritzer. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
2009. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population." Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
• Cited in The New York Times, The Economist, CNN, BBC
2006. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals." Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
Blog
I write about China, NGOs, happiness, altruism, and everything else that interests me.
Teaching
Photo from March 22, 2012: Brought students from my Global Inequalities and Social Justice class to a World Water Day event at the World Bank.
Syllabi:
SOCI-001 Introduction to Sociology
SOCI-220 Global Inequalities and Social Justice
About
Becky Hsu is assistant professor of sociology at Georgetown University. Her research interests include China, religion, economic sociology, organizations, sociology of emotion, and public sociology. Her research examines efforts to solve poverty in rural China, paying attention to the moral understandings embedded in NGO organizational structures and government programs, as well as those held by recipients. She has published articles on how to estimate the number of Muslims worldwide, international religion data methodology, religion and economic development, and faith-based organizations in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, and the International Scope Review. She received a B.A. in Sociology with 'cum laude' and distinction in the major from Yale University, M.A. with distinction and PhD from the sociology department at Princeton University.