She has lived, worked and conducted research in southern and central Africa since 1990. Her fieldwork-based book Running After Pills: Gender, Politics and Contraception in Colonial Zimbabwe (Heinemann 2004) was nominated for the 2005 Joel Gregory Prize awarded by the Canadian African Studies Association. She is also the author of numerous qualitative and fieldwork-based articles in major journals in sociology, health, development studies and African studies. Melanie Beres is a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, Gender and Sociology at the University of Otago. Her research is in the area of sexuality and is concerned with how young adults negotiate their casual and long-term relationships. She has conducted field research in areas ldquo;close to homerdquo; including a small resort community in the Canadian Rockies.