Introduction: Tidemarks and Legacies of Feminist Anthropology Hanna Garth (UCLA) and Jennifer R
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Fall 2012 Vol. 12, No. 1 Introduction: Tidemarks and Legacies of Feminist Anthropology Hanna Garth (UCLA) and Jennifer R. Wies (Eastern Kentucky University) This collection traces the legacies of feminist anthropol- ogy of gender to incorporate the work of our predecessors ogy and the women who broke ground, made waves, and and recognize their contributions to anthropology as a whole. pushed the boundaries of the discipline of anthropology. Similarly, we need to be prepared to continue pressing for In the 1970s, feminist leaders within the anthropology of change when tides are slowly rising, as Crooks and Moreno gender rose up, etching tidemarks into the frameworks of the reveal in the way women and gender are treated in studies of discipline. Feminist anthropologists established an anthropol- human biology. Finally, both reflexivity and public anthro- ogy of women, bringing women and gender to the forefront pology lay the groundwork for continued critical reflection of ethnographic inquiry (cf. Rosaldo and Lamphere 1974). of the discipline. Haldane rises to this challenge to inter- These early works and those that followed exposed the ways rogate the anthropology of gender-based violence and calls in which women’s lives had been systematically devalued and for an expansion of a feminist anthropological framework to under-theorized within the anthropology literature. Femi- understand, and ultimately redress, violence against women. nist theorists revealed the ways in which women sought and Tandon’s piece also responds to this call by continuing to gained power, innovated solutions to oppressive patriarchal question how “woman” is constructed. societies, and played a significant role in economic produc- Collectively, and across subdisciplines, the authors tion and household-centered labor. Soon the construct of celebrate the influence of tidemark feminist theorists and gender was delineated from sex, and the concept of universal practitioners in our conceptualizations of women and gender “womanhood” was destabilized. The field was swept from within anthropology. By offering critical perspectives on the an empirical focus on women to include gender as a mode anthropology of women and gender, this collection offers of analysis (Lewin 2006), and broadened to include critical insight into the ways that feminist tidemarks influence our perspectives on social inequality. For example, Carol Stack own anthropological contributions. (1975) developed a women-based theory of family structure and kinship in an African American community to write References Cited against the culture of poverty ideology. Lewin, Ellen The works in this issue carry forth these feminist legacies 2006 Introduction to Feminist Anthropology: A Reader. through their theorizations of public anthropology, reflexiv- Blackwell. ity, and ongoing critical reflections about the discipline of an- thropology. As Wies’s piece illustrates, feminist movements in Rosaldo, Michelle and Louise Lamphere, Eds. anthropology mirror public concern and social movements. 1974 Women, Culture, and Society. Stanford: Stanford She traces the importance of continuous engagement with University Press. public interests and the ways that the incorporation of salient public issues maintains the relevance of the discipline. Roth- Stack, Carol stein’s analysis of June Nash’s theoretical contributions and 1975 All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Ardren’s tribute to the legacy of Annette Weiner demonstrate Community. New York: Basic Books. that it essential to feminist anthropology and an anthropol- Voices Vol. 12, No. 1 Fall, 2012 1 On the Material and Mentoring Cultures In this issue of Voices of Feminist Anthropology Introduction: Tidemarks and Legacies of Feminist Jane Henrici, August 2012, [email protected] Anthropology, Hanna Garth and Jennifer R. Wies, p. 1 On the Material and Mentoring Cultures of Feminist In July 2012, I spent a morning looking through some Anthropology, Jane Henrici, p. 2 of the letters sent out as part of the founding and setting up of the Association of Feminist Anthropology in late 1988. I Meet our 2012-2013 AFA Officers,p. 3 owed my opportunity to the fact that, thanks to the work of Sylvia Forman Prize, p. 4 previous AFA presidents, many of the records central to the history of the AFA now form a functioning archive. Cor- AFA Dissertation Fellowship Announcement, p. 4 respondence and other papers from the time of the estab- June Nash and the Gendering of Political Economy, lishment of AFA through 2010 are accessible for research at Frances Rothstein, p. 5 the National Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Slowly Rising Waters: Women in Human Biology, Institution’s Support Center (http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/ Deborah L. Crooks and Geraldine Moreno-Black, p. 9 about.htm) just outside of Washington, DC; in 2012, I also began discussions with the Smithsonian archivists to be able The Women-Nature Correlation: Mapping the Legacy of to add more recent and future AFA records digitally. Ecofeminism, Indrakshi Tandon, p. 15 Looking through those early letters it seemed to me that Women’s Production: Annette Weiner and the Study of nearly 25 years later many of the same issues that confronted Gender in the Prehispanic New World, Traci Ardren, feminists in anthropology, anthropologists interested in gen- p. 23 der, race, sexuality, and other aspects of identity, and women Report on the Zora Neale Hurston Travel Award, p. 27 globally remain pertinent. Certainly, those who contribute to AFA activities—through sessions, writings, workshops, award What Are We Missing? Expanding the Feminist Approach submissions, and meetings—continue to have to push com- to Gender-Based Violence, Hillary J. Haldane, p. 28 munications and the sharing of responsibilities to improve Join the Association for Feminist Anthropology Today!, conditions across borders, taxonomies, prejudices, policies, p. 31 practices, and stereotypes. These issues appear within our research, our jobs, our Feminist Anthropology for the Publics: Tidemarks, Legacies, correspondence, and our service to one another. Perhaps it and Futures, Jennifer R. Wies, p. 32 is unsurprising that a section such as ours, founded with an overtly politicized core, would support activist and some- times angry exchanges. In addition, it seems almost a cliché Voices Editorial Board about global feminisms that many of us who have volun- teered to serve as elected or appointed board members have Editor agreed to do so in large part because of some seemingly Amy Harper, [email protected] (2013) shared sense of the obligations and joys of mentoring. A quick search through past AFA candidates’ platform state- Guest Editor ments comes up often with variations on the idea of serving Jennifer R. Wies, [email protected] on the board as a way to help other feminist anthropologists, as the candidates themselves had been helped, as well as to Associate Editors encourage successive “generations” of anthropology to remain Beth Uzwiak, [email protected] (2013) feminist—however defined or understood. Linda Isako Angst, [email protected] (2012) The practice of mentoring—however defined or under- Rebecca Boucher stood—meanwhile has expanded in recent decades as an activity far beyond that of feminisms and feminist anthropol- ogies. Most of the activities that receive the title of “mentor- ing” internationally nevertheless remain informal, untrained, unsupervised, unevaluated, and perhaps of questionable Voices Vol. 12, No. 1 Fall, 2012 2 worth. At the same time, scholarship on the topic indicates history within our archives. For another, since mentoring that mentoring, like so many other exchanges, can be a itself is also a form of work, then standards for its improve- deliberately political act which, when part of a larger context ment also actually could benefit from forms skill training and of such support, indeed can strengthen and expand networks professional development, and perhaps should be reviewed and other resources for both individuals and collectives. for compensation. Regardless, along with so many other is- In research on women’s political and labor participa- sues critical to conditions affecting differences among and for tion and policies relevant to those, we find that informal women, mentoring seems part of not only the past quarter and formal, and between and across (peer) levels, of men- of a century of AFA history, but its present and immediate toring increasingly are regarded as fundamental to career future. development for a range of occupations at different income levels. Meanwhile, mentoring in many nations is touted as especially helpful within efforts toward staff and colleague development and diversity—however defined or under- stood. One example of this is the policy in several nations to encourage greater numbers of women and persons of other relatively marginalized groups to prepare for jobs that average higher wages, which at present means a focus on the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); mentoring is considered important to that intervention. This widening demand for mentoring however does not seem accompanied by a tightening of standards for its prac- tice. Instead, guidelines and limitations tend to proliferate for those supposedly being mentored while those who claim 2012 – 2013 AFA Officers the title of mentor seem to receive it as a sort of side effect of experiences and accomplishments. Jane Henrici, President In addition, existing research on mentoring shows that