Amy Nichols-Belo, Ph.D.

Amy Nichols-Belo, Ph.D., has taught in the global health studies and anthropology programs at Mercer since 2014. Trained as a cultural medical anthropologist, Nichols-Belo’s interests lie at the intersections of health, tradition, gender and belief. Her dissertation and subsequent publications focused on witchcraft belief and anti-witchcraft practices in Mwanza, Tanzania.

In 2024, Nichols-Belo taught at the University of Nairobi as a Fulbright Fellow. While in Kenya, she conducted research on the lived experience of COVID-19.

Education

• Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Virginia
• M.S., Science and Technology Studies, Virginia Tech
• B.A., History and International Affairs, James Madison University

Specialty

Medical anthropology, critical global health studies, women’s and gender studies, East Africa, science and technology studies

Professional Interests

Nichols-Belo regularly co-leads study abroad opportunities including a spring break study tour of the Cuban healthcare system (2018, 2020 and 2025) and Mercer On Mission programs to Tanzania in 2016, 2018, and 2023 and to South Africa in 2017.

Classes Taught

• ANT 101: Introduction to Anthropology
• ANT 310: Medical Anthropology
• ANT/WGS 345: Health and Gender
• ANT 360: Magic, Witchcraft and Religion
• GDS/WGS 308: Gender and Development
• GHS 200: Introduction to Global Health Studies
• GHS 325: Mental Health Around the World
• GHS 332: Qualitative Health Research
• WGS 375: Maternal and Child Health

Other Interests

Nichols-Belo enjoys travel, cooking, reading, exercising, and hanging out with her husband, son and dogs.

Recent publications

• 2026 “‘Waganga Use Culture Not Science’: Traditional Healing, COVID-19, and Epistemic Contestation in Tanzania” In Occult Afflictions and Public Health: Views from Africa and the African Diaspora, ed. Boris Koenig, Routledge
• 2025 “Occult Violence and the Savage Slot: Understanding Tanzanian Witch-killings in Historical and Ethnographic Context” In The Witch Studies Reader, eds. Soma Chaudhuri and Jane Ward. Durham: Duke University Press.
• 2021 “Behind the Door: Sukuma Mitunga (Zombie) Narratives as Social Critique in Northwestern Tanzania.” In Gender, Supernatural Beings, and the Liminality of Death, eds. Rebecca Gibson and James M. Vanderveen. Lanham: Lexington Books.
• 2018 “‘Witchdoctors’ in White Coats: The Politics of Traditional Healing in Tanzania.” Medical Anthropology 37(8): 722-736.
• 2017 Review of Popobawa: Tanzanian Talk, Global Misreadings by Katrina Thompson. African Studies Review 60(3): 237-239.
• 2010 Review of Beyond Bodies: Rainmaking and Sense Making in Tanzania by Todd Sanders. Magic, Witchcraft, and Ritual 5(2): 249-252.

Contact Dr. Amy Nichols-Belo

478-301-2848
nichols-belo_a@mercer.edu
Office: Groover Hall, Room 209