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Paper No. : 10 Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology Module : 24 Feminism in Anthropology I Development Team Principal Investigator Prof. Anup Kumar Kapoor Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Paper Coordinator Prof. Anup Kumar Kapoor Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Naila Ansari Content Writer Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Prof. Subir Biswas, Department of Anthropology, West Content Reviewer Bengal State University, Barasat, West Bengal 1 Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology Anthropology Feminism in Anthropology I Description of Module Subject Name Anthropology Paper Name 10 Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology Module Name/Title Feminism in Anthropology I Module Id 24 2 Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology Anthropology Feminism in Anthropology I Table of Content Introduction 1. Emergence of Feminism Anthropology 2. Definition of Feminism 3. Anthropology of Gender and Beyond 4. Feminist Theory . Feminism . Feminist . Cultural Feminism . Ecofeminism . Individualist or Libertarian Feminism . Material Feminism . National Organization for Women . Radical Feminism . Amazon Feminism . Separatists 5. Types of Feminist Theory . Gender Differences . Gender Identity . Gender Role . Gender Expression 6. Types of Oppression . Individual 3 Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology Anthropology Feminism in Anthropology I . Institutional . Societal/Cultural 7. Feminist Approaches Summary Learning Objectives . To able to define the concept and characteristics Feminism anthropology . To probes into the Emergence of Feminist Anthropology . To determine the identity of impact of feminist theory on mainstream disciplinary development of Anthropology. To able to define the major contemporary anthropological theories, which analyzes the status of women and men in society 4 Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology Anthropology Feminism in Anthropology I Introduction In the past several years, feminist anthropologists, sociologists, and social historians have produced a literature on women’s. The literature on women – both feminist and anti-feminist – is a long rumination on the question of the nature and genesis of women’s oppression and social subordination. The question is not a trivial one, since the answers given it determine our visions of the future, and our evaluation of whether or not it is realistic to hope for a sexually egalitarian society. Women are the backbone of a wide range of social activities, including rural and urban settled women population for improved living conditions, student movements, feminist activity, and movements for human rights, land reclamations, relatives of the disappeared, labour unions, abortion and reproductive rights, democratization of political systems, and more. Women were not recognized as individuals or autonomous beings. Women had to face many obstacles in the academic circuit, which symbolizes the effects of an educational culture that radically restricts the scope of women’s intellectual exposure. The task of representing the field of feminist anthropology has been enormously challenging. Not only is the field growing before one’s eyes a truly moving target but it has broadened over the years in ways that make a succinct statement of its contributions all but impossible. 1. Emergence of Feminism Anthropology Feminist anthropology first burst onto the scene only about 30 years ago, in the early to mid-1970s. Along with similar efforts taking hold throughout the academy in this period, it was inspired and shaped by the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s; with scholar-activists asking questions that they thought might help them to formulate strategies for addressing persistent social injustices. Departing from anthropological conventions of the time, their concern was not only focused on the parts of the world traditionally studied by anthropologists – small scale, exotic, technologically primitive cultures, or populations defined as ‘‘others’’ close at hand – but with relating the insights yielded in cross-cultural study to the societies in which they lived. Curiosity about ‘‘the other’’ was filtered through a sense that the problems facing women in societies were urgent and that the more banal versions of cultural relativism could no longer be used to disguise their significance. Feminist anthropology may be said to have its roots in the work of a number of earlier scholars, including many who would have been surprised to know that their writings had inspired this particular disciplinary turn. Who may be counted as ancestors varies, of course, but I would argue that they should include both stylistic and intellectual predecessors, as well as individuals whose professional contributions stood as beacons to women anthropologists who followed after them. There were actually many women active in US anthropology as early as the late nineteenth century, some of them self- taught, but their accomplishments have tended to fade with time, partly because, in some cases they 5 Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology Anthropology Feminism in Anthropology I produced few publications, but also because their heritage was erased by the professionalization of the discipline at the turn of the twentieth century. Feminist anthropology is a four-field approach to anthropology (archaeological, biological, cultural, and linguistic) that seeks to reduce male bias in research findings, anthropological hiring practices, and the scholarly production of knowledge. The subfield of Feminist Anthropology emerged as a reaction to a perceived andocentric bias within the discipline. Two related points should be made concerning this reaction. First of all, some of the prominent figures in early American anthropology (e.g. Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict) were women, and . Discipline has traditionally been more egalitarian, in terms of gender, than other social sciences. However, is the fact that the discipline has been subject to prevailing modes of thought through time and has certainly exhibited the kind of andocentric thinking that early feminist anthropologists accused it; Furthermore, in insisting on what was then a very unpopular interrogation of taken-for-granted assumptions about women and men, many of these early feminist anthropologists felt themselves to be outsiders in their own cultures. At the same time, however, in line with a strong belief in the common humanness of all the peoples anthropologists studied and the existence of fundamental commonalities between women across cultural boundaries, the originators of feminist anthropology were convinced that lessons relevant to their own concerns could be drawn from the study of women in other cultures. The notion that there were cultural regularities awaiting discovery was implicit in this venture, as was an as yet unexamined reliance on sexual categories as real and cross-culturally valid. In moving toward originating a new field, these scholars were moved, as well, by the desire to do justice to women in various cultures, a group they saw as having been ethnographically disenfranchised. 2. Definition of Feminism What is feminism? Who is a feminist? How do we understand feminism across national boundaries? Across cultures? Across centuries? These questions and their corollaries are raised every day, both here and abroad, by activists in the contemporary women's movement, by scholars, in the press, and in informal conversation. Everyone seems to have different answers, and every answer is infused with a political and emotional charge. 6 Theories and methods in social and cultural Anthropology Anthropology Feminism in Anthropology I . The terms "feminism" or "feminist" first appeared in France and The Netherlands in 1872, Great Britain in the 1890s, and the United States in 1910. The Oxford English Dictionary lists 1894 for the first appearance of "feminist" and 1895 for "feminism". "Woman's Rights" was probably the term used most commonly, hence Queen Victoria's description of this "mad, wicked folly of 'Woman's Rights'". Defining feminism can be challenging, but a broad understanding of it includes the acting, speaking, writing, and advocating on behalf of women's issues and rights and identifying injustice to females in the social status quo. The word ‘Feminism’ seems to refer to an intense awareness of identity as a woman and interest in feminine problems. The subjugation of woman is a central fact of history and it is the main cause of all psychological disorders in society. According to Janet Richards, “The essence of Feminism has a strong fundamental case intended to mean only that there are excellent reasons for thinking that woman suffer from systematic social injustice because of their sex, the proposition is to be regarded as constituting feminism.” . Feminism is a complex notion that has vast differences in meaning and connotation for people spanning generations, ethnic identities, sexual orientations, social classes, nationality, and myriad identities. Feminism is not a static notion; rather it evolves with us throughout our lives and is shaped by the various lenses we use to view the world at large and, most importantly, ourselves. 3. Anthropology of Gender and Beyond Central to this approach was recognition that ‘‘women’’ could not be classified categorically as constituents of a population whose membership was simply self evident, an insight that was also beginning