Biography
Dr Kiran Pienaar is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology, with expertise in gender, sexuality and health. She has a multidisciplinary background in Gender Studies, Sociology and Applied Linguistics. Her theoretical interests include feminist science studies, queer theory, new materialisms and posthumanisms. Her research program centres on two main areas: 1) gender, sexuality and the body, particularly in relation to identity politics, drug consumption and LGBTQ+ cultures; and 2) the social dimensions of health and illness. She is a CI on a DP24 Understanding the role of trauma in alcohol and other drug-related problems. Applying a feminist lens, the project explores how gender and sexuality shape experiences of trauma and addiction.
Kiran's research has contributed new understandings of the performativity of drugs in shaping queer subjectivities and cultures; ontologies of addiction and the self; the emergence of ‘more-than-human’ forms of care; and the impact of public policy on minoritised communities. In line with these interests, she has published on topics related to gender, drugs, 'addiction' and the self; identity politics, agency and health citizenship; public health and drug policy. Her work seeks to inform policy, particularly in relation to interventions for marginalised communities. Kiran’s research has appeared in leading international journals including Sexualities, Social Science and Medicine, Sociology of Health and Illness, International Journal of Drug Policy, and Sociological Review. Her first book Politics in the Making of HIV/AIDS in South Africa was published by Palgrave, and she recently published an edited collection titled Narcofeminisms: Revisioning Drug Use. Inspired by the narcofeminist activist movement, and featuring contributions from global drug user activists, the collection considers the political potential of drug consumption as a mode of resistance to dominant social orders. Reviews have praised the volume for its contribution to feminist scholarship and critical drug studies: 'Narcofeminisms: Revisioning drug use is a carefully curated, provocative and compelling collection of cutting-edge alcohol and other drug research. [...] In bringing narcofeminist activism in conversation with sociology, the collection not only provides sophisticated new frameworks for examining alcohol and other drug practices, it also imagines a new politics of worldbuilding with far-reaching implications for responding to other controversial issues.' (Adrian Farrugia, La Trobe University).
Kiran has worked on several ARC-funded projects, on topics including diagnostic testing, experiences of 'addiction' and most recently, trauma-informed care (DP24). With colleagues at the University of Sydney, she was a Chief Investigator on a DP17 exploring drug use in queer communities. Kiran also collaborated on a Monash-funded interdisciplinary project on online alcohol and other drug counselling. She recently led an interdisciplinary project applying a feminist lens to explore COVID-19 responses and practices of care.
Kiran is an invited international member of the Centre for Critical Global Change (Goldsmiths, University of London). She serves on the international editorial boards of the journals Health Sociology Review, International Journal of Drug Policy, and Contemporary Drug Problems.
Before joining Deakin, Kiran was a lecturer at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS), La Trobe University, where she was responsible for the curriculum development of two subjects for ARCSHS new Graduate Certificate in Sex, Health and Society.
Read more on Kiran's profileResearch interests
- Gender, sexuality and the body
- Social studies of drugs
- Sociology of health, with a particular interest in in HIV
- LGBTQ identities and cultures
- Identity politics and digital publics
- Feminist theory
- Science and technology studies
- Posthumanisms
Affiliations
Professional associations and affiliations
- Co-convenor of Deakin's Sociology and Social Change Collective
- Member of the Australian Women and Gender Studies Association (AWGSA)
- Member of The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) Gender & Sexuality and Health Sociology Thematic Groups
- Member of the Alfred Deakin Institute (ADI), Deakin University
- Member of the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S)
- Member of Nexus: Monash Social Science, Humanities and Medicine Network
- Associate of the Monash Health and Biofutures program
Teaching interests
- Health sociology
- Sexuality, gender and the body
- Research methods
Units taught
Kiran is Unit Chair and Lecturer for:
- ASC206 Sociology of Health
- ASC250 Contemporary Social Research
She also teaches into:
- AIX493 - Honours Research Design
- AIX494 - Honours Research Communication
Knowledge areas
- Gender, sexuality and the body
- Narcofeminisms
- LGBTQ+ sexualities
- Sociology of drugs
- Feminist theory
- Science and technology studies
- Posthumanisms
- Health sociology
Professional activities
- Invited member of the Centre for Critical Global Change (Goldsmiths, University of London), a research centre focusing on planetary change, health and sociality
- International editorial board member of the journals International Journal of Drug Policy, Contemporary Drug Problems and Health Sociology Review
- Invited reviewer for a range of international journals and academic publishers in the fields of health sociology and medical humanities; social studies of drugs; science and technology studies; and gender, sexuality and cultural studies
- Co-editor of an edited collection for The Sociological Review monograph series titled Narcofeminisms: Revisioning Drug Use (with Fay Dennis and Marsha Rosengarten, Goldsmiths, University of London)
- Co-editor of a special issue of the journal Science, Technology and Society titled Testing for life?: Regimes of governance in diagnosis and screening (with Alan Petersen, Monash University)
Publications
Paul Kelaita, Kiran Pienaar, Jaya Keaney, Dean Murphy, Hassan Vally, Catherine Bennett
(2023), pp. 1-16, Health Sociology Review, London, Eng., C1
Renae Fomiatti, Kim Toffoletti, Kiran Pienaar
(2023), pp. 009145092311549-009145092311549, Contemporary Drug Problems, C1
Staying with the silence: Silence as affording care in online alcohol and other drug counselling
Michael Savic, Anthony Barnett, Kiran Pienaar, Adrian Carter, Narelle Warren, Emma Sandral, Victoria Manning, Dan Lubman
(2023), Vol. 116, pp. 1-8, International Journal of Drug Policy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1
Alan Petersen, Kiran Pienaar
(2023), pp. 1-19, Sociology of Health and Illness: a journal of medical sociology, London, Eng., C1
Refusing recovery, living a 'wayward life': A feminist analysis of women's drug use
F Dennis, K Pienaar
(2023), Vol. 71, pp. 781-800, Sociological Review, London, Eng., C1
Renae Fomiatti, Kiran Pienaar, Michael Savic, Helen Keane, Carla Treloar
(2023), Vol. 121, pp. 1-9, International Journal of Drug Policy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1
'Uninhibited play': The political and pragmatic dimensions of intoxication within queer cultures
Kane Race, Kiran Pienaar, Dean Murphy, Toby Lea
(2022), pp. 272-289, Routledge handbook of intoxicants and intoxication, London, Eng., B1
K Pienaar, A Petersen
(2022), Vol. 44, pp. 25-40, Sociology of Health and Illness, Chichester, Eng., C1
Managing risks or generating uncertainties? Ambiguous ontologies of testing in Australian healthcare
K Pienaar, A Petersen, D Bowman
(2021), Vol. 25, pp. 669-687, Health (United Kingdom), England, C1-1
A Barnett, M Savic, K Pienaar, A Carter, N Warren, E Sandral, V Manning, D Lubman
(2021), Vol. 94, International Journal of Drug Policy, Netherlands, C1
Injecting as a sexual practice: Cultural formations of 'slamsex'
K Race, D Murphy, K Pienaar, T Lea
(2021), Sexualities, C1
The "Be All and End All"? Young People, Online Sexual Health Information, Science and Skepticism
A Farrugia, A Waling, K Pienaar, S Fraser
(2021), Vol. 31, pp. 2097-2110, Qualitative Health Research, United States, C1
Making publics in a pandemic: Posthuman relationalities, 'viral' intimacies and COVID-19
K Pienaar, J Flore, J Power, D Murphy
(2021), Vol. 30, pp. 244-259, Health Sociology Review, United States, C1
Kiran Pienaar, Dean Murphy, Kane Race, Toby Lea
(2020), pp. 139-163, Cultures of intoxication: key issues and debates, Cham, Switzerland, B1-1
Drugs as technologies of the self: Enhancement and transformation in LGBTQ cultures
K Pienaar, D Murphy, K Race, T Lea
(2020), Vol. 78, International Journal of Drug Policy, Netherlands, C1
Adrian Farrugia, Kiran Pienaar, Suzanne Fraser, Michael Edwards, Annie Madden
(2020), Vol. 30, pp. 95-110, Health sociology review, Abingdon, Eng., C1
J Flore, K Pienaar
(2020), Vol. 29, pp. 279-293, Health Sociology Review, United States, C1
C Treloar, K Pienaar, E Dilkes-Frayne, S Fraser
(2019), Vol. 26, pp. 140-147, Drugs: education, prevention and policy, Abingdon, Eng., C1-1
Matters of fact and politics: generating expectations of cancer screening
K Pienaar, A Petersen, D Bowman
(2019), Vol. 232, pp. 408-416, Social science and medicine, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1-1
K Pienaar, D Murphy, K Race, T Lea
(2018), Vol. 55, pp. 187-194, International journal of drug policy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1-1
E Dilkes-Frayne, S Fraser, K Pienaar, R Kokanovic
(2017), Vol. 44, pp. 164-173, International journal of drug policy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1-1
Telling different stories, making new realities: the ontological politics of 'addiction' biographies
K Pienaar, E Dilkes-Frayne
(2017), Vol. 44, pp. 145-154, International journal of drug policy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1-1
K Race, T Lea, D Murphy, K Pienaar
(2017), Vol. 14, pp. 42-50, Sexual Health, Australia, C1-1
Rethinking the Poverty-disease Nexus: the Case of HIV/AIDS in South Africa
K Pienaar
(2017), Vol. 38, pp. 249-266, Journal of Medical Humanities, United States, C1-1
Challenging the addiction/health binary with assemblage thinking: an analysis of consumer accounts
D Moore, K Pienaar, E Dilkes-Frayne, S Fraser
(2017), Vol. 44, pp. 155-163, International journal of drug policy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1-1
Addiction stigma and the biopolitics of liberal modernity: a qualitative analysis
S Fraser, K Pienaar, E Dilkes-Frayne, D Moore, R Kokanovic, C Treloar, A Dunlop
(2017), Vol. 44, pp. 192-201, International journal of drug policy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1-1
K Pienaar, D Moore, S Fraser, R Kokanovic, C Treloar, E Dilkes-Frayne
(2017), Vol. 21, pp. 519-537, Health (United Kingdom), England, C1-1
Kiran Pienaar, Ella Dilkes-Frayne, Suzanne Fraser, Renata Kokanovic, David Moore, Carla Treloar, Adrian Dunlop
(2017), Melbourne, Vic., A6-1
Claiming rights, making citizens: HIV and the performativity of biological citizenship
K Pienaar
(2016), Vol. 14, pp. 149-168, Social Theory and Health, C1-1
K Pienaar, M Savic
(2016), Vol. 30, pp. 35-42, International journal of drug policy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1-1
New narratives, new selves: complicating addiction in online alcohol and other drug resources
K Pienaar, S Fraser, R Kokanovic, D Moore, C Treloar, A Dunlop
(2015), Vol. 23, pp. 499-509, Addiction research and theory, Abingdon, Eng., C1-1
(Re)reading the political conflict over HIV in South Africa (1999-2008): A new materialist analysis
K Pienaar
(2014), Vol. 12, pp. 179-196, Social Theory and Health, C1-1
R Adendorff, Kiran Pienaar
(2013), pp. 31-54, Choice in Language Applications in Text Analysis, Sheffield, Eng,, B1-1
C Marshall, K Pienaar
(2008), Vol. 26, pp. 525-546, Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, C1
The body as a site of struggle: Oppositional discourses of the disciplined female body
K Pienaar, L Bekker
(2007), Vol. 25, pp. 539-555, Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, C1
Invoking the feminine physical ideal: Bitch-slapping, she-men and butch girls
K Pienaar, I Bekker
(2006), Vol. 24, pp. 437-447, Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, C1
Funded Projects at Deakin
No Funded Projects at Deakin found
Supervisions
No completed student supervisions to report