BIOSKETCH
I am a linguist-anthropologist interested in language contact, minority languages, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and language acquisition, and medical and pharmaceutical anthropology. Currently, I am working in developing studies in medical linguistics by exploring the interplay of linguistics, medicine, psychiatry and anthropology. I am looking at how intercultural miscommunication in the medical encounter contribute to health disparities.
My professional training includes a B.Sc. in Anthropology and Linguistics from the Université de Montréal, Canada, a M.A. in Linguistics applied to language didactics and acquisition and Ph.D. in Linguistics, both from the Université du Québec à Montréal. I am the co-founder and Director of Research of Runajambi - Institute for the Study of Quichua Culture and Health, in Otavalo, Ecuador.
My research has been done mainly in Ecuador and California. In Ecuador, I examined the social and linguistic constraints governing the bilingual speech of the Quichua community of Peguche. I also studied the cultural beliefs system shared by the Quichua people regarding language acquisition and social use of the language. In California, I co-directed a study on Tongva (Amerindians of California) knowledge of medicinal plants.
One of my most important work is the co-edition of the book Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers: Unwitting Partners in Global Mental Health published in 2009 by Wiley-Blackwell, UK. This book is a collaborative work between Runajambi and the Transcultural Psychiatry Section of the World Psychiatric Association. I also published more than sixty articles on medical and pharmaceutical anthropology in L'omnipraticien, and L'actualité pharmaceutique, two continuing medical education magazines targeting GPs and pharmacists in Québec. I am currently working on a multilingual medical lexicon (Quichua-Spanish-French-English).
I have taught French, Spanish and Quichua language, culture, and linguistics to learners from a wide array of backgrounds (adult immigrants, health practitioners, college students, children) in Québec and the US.
Lise Bouchard, Ph.D.
Director of Research
Runajambi - Institute for the Study of Quichua Culture and Health