This anthology introduces readers to the most significant topics in the field of anthropology of gender--drawing not only from classic sources, but also from the most recent, diverse literature on gender roles and ideology around the world. A clear, accessible approach to the subject matter includes topics such as biology, gender, and human evolution; gender and prehistory; domestic and public worlds; the cultural construction of gender and personhood; culture and sexuality; division of labor; property and the state; household and kinship; ritual and religion; politics; reproduction; colonialism, development, and the global economy. For individuals who appreciate how gender roles and gender ideologies are culturally constructed in political and economic contexts.
Includes bibliographical references. "Film list": p. 581-590.
Caroline Brettell received her BA degree from Yale University and her MA and Ph.D. degrees from Brown University. She joined the faculty of the Department of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University in 1988, and in 2003 was named Dedman Family Distinguished Professor. From 1989-1994 she served as Director of Women's Studies and from 1994-2004 she served as Chair of the Department of Anthropology. She is the author of
Men Who Migrate, Women Who Wait: Population and History in a Portuguese Parish (1986),
We Have Already Cried Many Tears: The Stories of Three Portuguese Migrant Women (1982, 1995),
Writing Against the Wind: A Mother's Life History (1999) and
Anthropology and Migration: Essays on Transnationalism, Ethnicity and Identity (2003); co-author with Richard Brettell of
Painters and Peasants in the 19th Century (1983); editor of
When The Read What We Write: The Politics of Ethnography (1993); coeditor of
International Migration: The Female Experience (1986),
Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective (Prentice-Hall 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005),
Gender and Health: An International Perspective (1996), and
Migration Theory: Talking Across Disciplines (2000). She is also the author of numerous book chapters and articles. She currently is Principal Investigator on a project funded through the Cultural Anthropology Program of the National Science Foundation titled "Immigrants, Rights and Incorporation in a Suburban Metropolis." Professor Brettell has served as a member of NIH Study Section-SNEM 3, and several selection panels for the Social Science Research Council and the NEH. She has served as President of the Society for the Anthropology of Europe and of the Social Science History Association.
Carolyn Sargent received her Bachelors degree from Michigan State University, her MA degree from the University of Manchester, and her Ph.D. from Michigan State University. She joined the faculty of the Department of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University in 1979. She has been serving as Director of Women's Studies since 1994. She is currently a research fellow at the University of Paris V. Sargent is the author of The Cultural Context of Therapeutic Choice: Obstetrical Decisions Among the Bariba of Benin (1982), and Maternity, Medicine and Power; Reproductive Decisions in Urban Benin (1989); and coeditor of Medical Anthropology: A Handbook of Theory and Method, Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective (Prentice-Hall 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005), Gender and Health: An International Perspective (1996); Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge (1997), and Small Wars: The Cultural Politics of Childhood. In addition to several book chapters, she has also authored numerous articles, many of them published in Medical Anthropological Quarterly and Social Science and Medicine. She is the recipient of many research grants and fellowships and is currently Principal Investigator of a project funded through the Cultural Anthropology Program of the National Science Foundation titled "Reproduction and Representations of Family among Malian Migrants in Paris." She is currently serving on a Senior Advisory Panel of the National Science Foundation and on the Executive Board for the Society for Medical Anthropology. In Dallas she serves as a Community Representative for both Parkland and Baylor Hospitals.
(NOTE: Each
new reading is bolded and indicated with an asterisk.) I. BIOLOGY, GENDER, AND HUMAN EVOLUTION. Animal Models and Gender, Marlene Zuk.
The Role of Women in Human Evolution, Margaret Ehrenberg.
Gender and War: Are Women Tough Enough for Military Combat? Lucinda J. Peach.
Lifeboat Ethics: Mother Love and Child Death in Northeast Brazil, Nancy Scheper-Hughes.
The Cultural Nexus of Aka Father-Infant Bonding, Barry S. Hewlett.
II. GENDER AND PREHISTORY. Gender in Prehistory: An Archaeological Challenge, Margaret W. Conkey.
Where Have All the Menstrual Huts Gone? The Invisibility of Menstrual Seclusion in the Late Prehistoric Southeast, Patricia Galloway.
Maya Royal Women: A Lesson in Pre-Columbian History, Davis Freidel and Stanley Guenter.
III. DOMESTIC WORLDS AND PUBLIC WORLDS. The Domestic Sphere of Women and the Public World of Men: The Strengths and Limitations of an Anthropological Dichotomy, Louise Lamphere.
“It's a Pleasure to Cook for Him”: Food, Mealtimes and Gender in Some South Wales Households, Anne Murcott.
Fatherhood and the Mediating Role of Women, Nicholas W. Townsend.
Cities of Women, Mary Weismantel.
IV. EQUALITY AND INEQUALITY: THE SEXUAL DIVISION OF LABOR AND GENDER STRATIFICATION. Woman the Hunter: The Agta, Agnes Estioko-Griffin and P. Bion Griffin.
The Sexual Division of Labor on Vanatinai, Maria Lepowsky.
Pastoral Nomadism and Gender: Status and Prestige, Economic Contribution, and Division of Labor among the Tuareg of Niger, Susan Rasmussen.
Women and Work in a Post Revolutionary Society: Urban Cooperatives and the Informal Economy in Nicaragua, Florence Babb.
V. THE CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER AND PERSONHOOD. Rituals of Manhood: Male Initiation in Papua New Guinea, Gilbert H. Herdt.
The Manhood Puzzle, David D. Gilmore.
The Named and the Nameless: Gender and Person in Chinese Society, Rubie S. Watson.
“The Making and Unmaking of Persons: Gender and Body in Northeast India,” Sarah Lamb.
“Acting Out of Control” as a Form of Control Among Pittsburgh Police Officers, Bonnie McElhinny.
VI. CULTURE AND SEXUALITY AND THE BODY. Is There a Muslim Sexuality? Changing Constructions of Sexuality in Egyptian Bedouin Weddings, Lila Abu-Lughod.
From Pollution to Love Magic: The New Anthropology of Menstruation, Alma Gottleib.
Women's Intimate Friendships and Other Affairs: An Ethnographic Overview, Evelyn Blackwood.
“Hijras: An «Alternative» Sex/Gender in India,” Gayatri Reddy and Serena Nanda.
“Measuring Up to Barbie: Ideals of the Feminine Body in Popular Culture,” Jacqueline Urla and Alan C. Swedlund.
VII. GENDER, PROPERTY, AND THE STATE. Thinking about Women and the Origin of the State, Rayna Rapp.
Dowry, Bride Burning and Female Power in India, Linda Stone and Caroline James.
Encountering the State: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women's Political Experience, Josephine Caldwell Ryan.
Japanese Mothers and Obentos: The Lunch Box as Ideological State Apparatus, Anne Allison.
VIII. GENDER, HOUSEHOLD, AND KINSHIP. Male Authority and Female Autonomy: A Study of the Matrilineal Nayers of Kerala, South India, Shanti Menon.
Domestic Networks: “Those You Count On,” Carol Stack.
Matrifocality, Power, and Gender Relations in Jamaica, Marsha Prior.
The Female World of Cards and Holidays: Women, Families, and the Work of Kinship, Micaela di Leonardo.
IX. GENDER, RITUAL, AND RELIGION. Spirit Possession and Gender Complementarity: Zar in Northern Sudan, Janice Boddy.
“Tradition” and Threat: Women's Obscenity in Giriama Funerary Rituals, Janet McIntosh.
Mama Lola and the Ezilis: Themes of Mothering and Loving in Haitian Vodou, Karen McCarthy Brown.
Shamans, Bodies and Sex: Misreading a Korean Ritual, Lauren Kendall.
X. GENDER, POLITICS, AND REPRODUCTION. Gender and Ritual: Giving Birth the American Way, Robbie Davis-Floyd.
The Politics of Reproduction in a Mexican Village, Carole H. Browner.
Surrogate Motherhood: Rethinking Biological Models, Kinship, and Family, Heléna Ragoné.
Female Genital Cutting: Cultre and Controversy, Ellen Gruenbaum.
XI. COLONIALISM, DEVELOPMENT, AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. The Impact of Development on Women: The Interplay of Material Conditions and Gender Ideology, Victoria Lockwood.
Doing Their Homework: The Dilemma of Planning Women's Garden Programs in Bangladesh, Margot Wilson-Moore.
Factory as Home and Family: Female Workers in the Moroccan Garment Industry, M. Laetitia Cairoli.
“Wild Pigs and Dog Men”: Rape and Domestic Violence as Women's Issues in Papua New Guinea, Laura Zimmer-Tamakoshi.
Consuming Desires, Contested Selvs: Rural Women and Labor Migration in Thailand, Mary Beth Mills.
FILM LIST.