Dr Paul Boyce

Biography

My research has predominantly focused on sexual and gendered subjectivities. Doctoral research at the London School of Economics (ESRC funded) took place in West Bengal, India, and explored ways in which sexualities between men were conceived and represented in HIV prevention discourse and practice as contrasted to the lived, day-to-day experience of male-to-male sexual intimacy. This research took shape out of prior work within community-based sexual health work and activism in India, and close connections to community-based interventions remain central to much of my research; I have an MA in Applied Anthropology and Community and Youth Work from Goldsmith College, University of London. In particular I aim to develop practical and analytical connections between ethnographic practice, community work and anthropological theorization of gender, sexualities, health and socio-economic change and continuity.

From 2005-2006 I was an ESRC funded post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Education, University of London and between 2007-2011 I was the recipient of an ESRC 'First Grant,' which funded further research on same-sex and transexualities in West Bengal. This work focused on the emergence of discourses of sexual individualism in regional towns and the ambivalence about such discourses in respect of people's mixed responses to 'modernity.' This project was especially concerned with 'non-subjective' aspects of day-to-day experience, and was also set against political agitation in the Darjeeling Hills area of West Bengal (exploring parallels between ethnic and sexual politics in this context). This research also had a strong visual component, working with people in the region as co-researchers in a project that explored sexual subjectivty through the use of photography.

Aside from academic anthropological work I also work as a consultant in sexualities, gender and health internationally. Recent work includes acting as co-research leader on a 14 site, community-based study of male-to-male sexualities in India, funded by DFID and resulting in three 'briefing papers' for the Indian National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), all of which inform NACO's forthcoming 5 year plan for HIV prevention. I consult for UNDP on issues relating to sex work, male-to-male sexualities, drug use and HIV prevention in S.E. Africa (with recent work in Kenya and Mauritius). I also act as a research manager for the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA) and am currently working with ASWA and UNFPA on a research project that involves exploring and developing support for young people who sell sex in Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria and Mozambique.

I was also recently co-researcher on an evaluation of 'key populations' interventions in the Caribbean, for the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. Between 2007-2010 I was a member of the external evaluation team for the Ford Foundations 'Global Dialogue on Sexual Health and Wellbeing.' During this period I also worked as a writing support and publication mentor for new researchers in Vietnam seeking to publish work on gender and sexuality in international journals (co-editing two special editions of Culture, Health and Sexuality). I was also a member of the international curriculum development team for a Ford Foundation funded programme in international sexuality studies and research (managed by LaTrobe University, Melbourne). Additionally I have conducted a range of consultancies on sexuality and community-based HIV prevention in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand and Turkmenistan.

Overall my work takes place at the interface of anthropological research and theorizing on sexual and gendered subjectivities and critically applied work in policy and programme development internationally. Conceptual and practical engagement across these fields of practice, and in collaboration with others, brings momentum to my research, its influences and applications. 

Role

I am a lecturer in anthropology (part-time)

Boyce, Paul (2013) The object of attention: same-sex sexualities in small town India and the contemporary sexual subject. In: Sexuality studies. Oxford India studies in contemporary society . Oxford University Press India, New Delhi. ISBN 9780198085577

Aggleton, Peter, Boyce, Paul, Moore, Henrietta L and Parker, Richard, eds. (2012) Understanding global sexualities: new frontiers. Sexuality, Culture and Health, 8 . Routledge, Abingdon & New York. ISBN 9780415673471

Boyce, Paul (2012) The ambivalent sexual subject: HIV prevention and male-to-male intimacy in India. In: Understanding global sexualities: new frontiers. Sexuality, culture and health series , 8 . Routledge, Abingdon and New York. ISBN 9780415673471

Edström, Jerker and Boyce, Paul (2011) Eastern Caribbean Community Action Project (EC-CAP): Evaluation Report. Technical Report. International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Brighton.

Boyce, Paul and Hajra, Anindya (2011) Do you feel somewhere in light that your body has no existence? Photographic research with men who have sex with men and people of transgender in West Bengal. Visual Communication, 10 (1). pp. 3-24. ISSN 1470-3572

Boyce, Paul and Khanna, Akshay (2011) Right and representations: querying the male-to-male sexual subject in India. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 13 (1). pp. 89-100. ISSN 1369-1058

Boyce, Paul and Isaacs, Gordon (2011) An Exploratory Study of the Social Contexts, Practices and Risks of Men Who Sell Sex in Southern and Eastern Africa. Technical Report. Oxfam GB, Oxford.

Boyce, Paul, Chakrapani, Venkatesan and Dhanikachalam, D (2011) Hard-to-reach men who have sex with men in India, recommendations for HIV prevention. Technical Report. NACO, New Delhi.

Boyce, Paul, Chakrapani, Venkatesan and Dhanikachalam, D (2011) Sexual Violence against Men who have Sex with Men in India Intersections with HIV. Technical Report. NACO, New Delhi.

Drew, Roger, Aggleton, Peter, Boyce, Paul, Chalmers, Helen, Maxwell, Clare, Pachauri, Saroj, Thomas, Felicity, Warwick, Ian and Wood, Kate (2011) Social network analysis to evaluate organisational networks on sexual health and rights. Development in Practice, 21 (8). pp. 1062-1079. ISSN 0961-4524

Boyce, Paul, Chakrapani, Venkatesan and Dhanikachalam, D (2011) Women Partners of Men who have Sex with Men in India. Technical Report. NACO, New Delhi.

Anh, Hoang Tu, Ha, Vu Song, Aggleton, Peter and Boyce, Paul, eds. (2010) Special Issue: Sexuality and Health in Vietnam - New Directions. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 12 (S1). Taylor & Francis, Abingdon & New York. ISBN 1369-1058

Boyce, Paul (2008) Truth and (mis)representations: Adrienne Rich, Michel Foucault and sexual subjectivities in India. Sexualities, 11 (1-2). pp. 110-119. ISSN 1363-4607

Anh, Hoang Tu, Ha, Vu Song, Aggleton, Peter, Boyce, Paul and Tan, Michael, eds. (2008) Special Issue: Researching sexuality and health in Vietnam. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 10 (S1). Taylor & Francis, Abingdon & New York. ISBN 1369-1058

Boyce, Paul (2007) (Dis)locating men who have sex with men in Calcutta: Subject, space and perception. In: The Phobic and the Erotic: The Politics of Sexualities in Contemporary India. Seagull Books, Calcutta. ISBN 9781905422142

Boyce, Paul (2007) 'Conceiving kothis': men who have sex with men in India and the cultural subject of HIV prevention. Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness, 26 (2). pp. 175-203. ISSN 0145-9740

Boyce, P, Huang Soo Lee, M, Jenkins, C, Mohamed, S, Overs, C, Paiva, V, Reid, E, Tan, M and Aggleton, P (2007) Putting sexuality (back) in HIV/AIDS: issues, themes and practice. Global Public Health, 2 (1). pp. 1-34. ISSN 1744-1692

Aggleton, Peter, Warwick, Ian and Boyce, Paul (2006) Young people's same-sex relationships, sexual health and well-being. In: Promoting Young People's Sexual Health: International Perspectives. Sexuality, Culture and Health, 3 . Routledge, Abingdon & New York, pp. 98-112. ISBN 9780415374828

Boyce, Paul (2006) Moral ambivalence and irregular practices: contextualizing male-to-male sexualities in Calcutta/India. Feminist Review, 83 (1). pp. 79-98. ISSN 0141-7789

Khan, Shivananda and Boyce, Paul (2005) Assessment of sexual health needs of males who have sex with males in Laos and Thailand - Part Two: A Rapid Needs Assessment. Technical Report. Naz Foundation International, London.

Boyce, Paul, Aggleton, Peter and Malcolm, Anne (2004) Rapid assessment and response adaptation guide on HIV and men who have sex with men. Technical Report. World Health Organization, Geneva.

Warwick, Ian, Douglas, Nicola, Aggleton, Peter and Boyce, Paul (2003) Young gay men and HIV/AIDS: towards a contextual understanding of sexual risk. Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning, 3 (3). pp. 215-229. ISSN 1468-1811

Boyce, Paul and Pant, Sunil (2001) Rapid Ethnography of Male to Male Sexuality and Sexual Health. Technical Report. Family Health International, Durham, NC.